PLEASE HELP!!! What is this?

[Beeba]

Yesterday when I came home from work I noticed that my new rock with mushrooms and an anemone (just paid $160 for this set) looks like it is not doing well. I bought it one week ago after watching it at the LFS for months. The rose bubbletip anemone attached itself to the rock so I bought the whole set along with a clown that was in love with it. I noticed some brownish slime on the back side but thought I was panicing for nothing. I tested for nitrates and ammonia and it was perfect. Today when I came home the mushrooms were very small and the brownish slime was even larger. My anemone had withdrawn into the rock and didn't look good. I called the LFS and he told me to do a water change of about 50% so I did. I had just done one last Thursday and everything looked awesome all week. Until yesterday. Can anyone tell me what this might be? It appeared that some of my mushrooms were dead and slimy in this brownish/purple slime. It looks kind of like the algae I used to have but that has been gone for months and it is not on any of the rest of my rock or sand. Everything else in the tanke seemed okay except for my green star polyp wasn't fully open and my condy anemone was not looking great. All fish and other inverts seemed good.

 

[jlehigh]

Well here is some non-help... (few thoughts)

Thoughts/Questions:
Anenome's eat and pooh out of the same place. The stuff that comes out is usually brown/purpleish in color and slimy however in my experience it floats and would not paste a rock like that.

I have not heard of an algae type that could be toxic like that to mushrooms nor an anenome

Why on earth would a LFS reccomend a 50% water change for an anenome still acclimating when the levels look good!!?? IMO this would only stress the animal further. hehehe might stress is enough to end up with two

On your water changes are you using RO/DI water? If not your tap water may be introducing food for the algae life compounding the problem.

Hang in there!

 

[mojoreef]

Beeba its looks like cyano. I would imagine that some sponge inside the rock is dieing from the rock being exposed to air. The cyano is taking advantage of the situation. I would also imagine that this has caused the corals and anenome not not feel so good either. It should pass fairly quick but it is a good idea to keep a eye on them all in the mean time. Between the bateria in the rock and the cyano they should take care of the decay pretty quick.

good luck

Mike

 

[mojoreef]

agreed on the 50% water change that alone can do alot of damage.


Mike

 

[Beeba]

The LFS told me that it wouldn't hurt to do the water change. Considering I spend most of my money at his two stores he should offer a bit more help. His tank is awesome so I assumed he knew what he was talking about. He actually said to do 30 gallons (my tank is 72). When I first saw the slime I thought of cyano but I haven't had a sign of it for months so it seemed odd. I didn't test today but yesterday the ammonia and nitrate looked just fine. The condy has perked up but the rose bubbletip is still withdrawn in the rock. I did clean up the slime when I did the water change. Hopefully in the morning things will look better. I was so upset after work. The thought of a $160 rock becoming only a rock brought me to tears.

 

[mojoreef]

Good news on the anenome perking up. Beeba doing a water change is ok, its just that one was a tad large IMHO. Dont be affraid of the cyano, its a good thing and in most everything in your tank. It formed thier because that particular area was skewed to an enviroment of its liking. it is basically thier fixing nitrogen based biproducts, which is really what you want, better in the cyano then in the water column where it can harm other critters. Cleaning up the cyano is also OK as you are basically exporting what ever it sucked up. I would imagine it will hang around for a couple of days.

good luck


Mike

 

[Beeba]

This morning the BTA is out of the rock and looking good. The mushrooms are still very small but that is normal when only the moonlights are on for another few hours. The spot where the slime was now has no mushrooms on it. All other creatures seem to be fine. I placed a powerhead near the green star polyp as this helped it to brighten up in the past.

 

[acropora]

This morning the BTA is out of the rock and looking good. The mushrooms are still very small but that is normal when only the moonlights are on for another few hours. The spot where the slime was now has no mushrooms on it. All other creatures seem to be fine. I placed a powerhead near the green star polyp as this helped it to brighten up in the past.

It was difficult to see in the picture above,but from what you stated it appears that a couple of mushrooms have died off,since they are no longer present where you noticed the slime.They become a jellied mess in the process.If you see more of this you should sypon it off the rock. A piece of platic rigid tubing attached to vinyl hosing will work well for this;as well as for removing detritus during water changes.It is also quite possible that the L.R. had some cyano on it when you bought it.You should always check the L.R. you purchase for critters as well as cyano.It can be removed right in the bucket you use to acclimate your new arrival, by scrubbing it with a tooth brush,before placing it in your tank.
If the RBTA moves off the Mushroom rock,take it out and place it in a bucket of tank water and take a better look at it.You can remove any die off at that time.
As a side note,keep in mind that your RBTA may do a lot of traveling until it settles in. You will have to be very careful with the powerheads in your tank.The use of eggcrate to prevent the RBTA from going into your overflows is also prudent.I learned that one the hard way.
Regards

 

[Beeba]

When I came home for lunch today the BTA was still out but the mushrooms didn't look any better. There was a little brown slime on a few of them. This afternoon when I came home from work it looked like the first picture below. I sucked off the slime again and it looked as if the mushrooms were dying and becoming slimy. The BTW was sucked back in teh rock again. I noticed a little pod on the back side where the mushrooms are and also one by the anemone. The second picture is it if you can see it. Is that a bad thing? The third picture is a closeup of the mushrooms after I sucked off the slime. A lot of the mushrooms have fallen off or gotten sucked up with the slime. I don't know what to think. I did testing and here are the results.
Amonia 0, pH 8, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Phosphate .03, Salinity 1.023, Temp 80.

 

[mojoreef]

Beeba couple of things. Your salinity is a tad lower then most. Do you know what the stores salinity was?? did you do a slow acclimation?? Also another thing to concider would be Lighting. Is your lighting pretty close to what the stores was, where they had the rock/mushroms??

Mike

 

[Beeba]

The LFS owner tells me he keeps his tanks at 1.023 but as far as the lighting I'm not sure. I looked under the lid when I was there to see if he was using MH but he only had the regular bulbs. I currently use power compacts and everything seems to be happy. The position of the rock in the tank from the lights is pretty close to the same. I took about 1 hr. to aclimate as I usually do. I know... I should use a separate tank for new creatures but currently I don't have an extra one to use.

 

[mojoreef]

sounds good Beeba on the lighting and salinity. hows things looking today.

Mike

 

[Beeba]

There are only a handfull of mushrooms left on the rock. The anemone looks good this morning. Most of the problems happen at the end of the day. Yesterday I had a few slimy mushrooms when I came home and the anemone was pulled back into the rock again. Here is what it looked like less than 7 days ago.

 

[Beeba]

This evening the mushrooms and anemone looked fine. That is what is left of the mushrooms. No more slime was seen. Not sure what happened to the rock with the mushrooms. It was so full of puffy mushrooms and all the sudden it is almost baren. My green star polyps are back out and look good. I bought a new lawnmower blenny today to help with the green hair algae. Just when I think I have this hobby figured out I realize I don't.

 

[Beeba]

Today my tank seems to be back to normal. The RBTA has been looking good and I haven't lost any mushrooms for two days now. My green star polyps are back out fully. All I can guess is that something in that new rock caused a short term havoc in my tank and it has now cycled through. I HOPE!!! At least I didn't lose all my mushrooms so that they can hopefully reproduce and cover the rock again in the future.

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[mojoreef]

Good news Beeba, sounds like your over the hump. Dont worry about your shrooms they will reproduce like crasy.


mike