White Mushrooms??????

[My2heartboys]

Anybody dealt with these?? I found a live rock at a LFS yesterday covered with these. How rare are they???



BTW-I did pick up the rock and put it in my tank.



Anne

 

[Curtswearing]

It sounds like they were stressed and or not under lighting for a long time and expelled their zooxanthellae. This makes it much more difficult for them to feed themselves until they are reinfected with some more zoox. The following statement is going to sound funny and against the grain.....make sure they are in a tank with some measurable Nitrates and dissolved organics so they have some food until they get more zoox.

BTW....this happened to me once in one of my nano tanks. I was on a business trip for 3 weeks and got a call that my lighting burned out like the first or second day I was gone. I returned to find that all mushrooms on the far side of the tank were white like you are describing. (The mushrooms on the left side of the tank could get a little ambient sunlight but the ones on the right couldn't due to the rock placement). I would say that 95% of them survived and recolored up.

Assuming that yours are white due to lighting issues, don't light shock them. Put them low in the tank and slowly move them up. If any of them expel their mesenterial filaments also (strings that will come out of the mouth in the center), cut that particular mushroom off the rock and dispose of it.

 

[My2heartboys]

It sounds like they were stressed and or not under lighting for a long time and expelled their zooxanthellae. This makes it much more difficult for them to feed themselves until they are reinfected with some more zoox. The following statement is going to sound funny and against the grain.....make sure they are in a tank with some measurable Nitrates and dissolved organics so they have some food until they get more zoox.

BTW....this happened to me once in one of my nano tanks. I was on a business trip for 3 weeks and got a call that my lighting burned out like the first or second day I was gone. I returned to find that all mushrooms on the far side of the tank were white like you are describing. (The mushrooms on the left side of the tank could get a little ambient sunlight but the ones on the right couldn't due to the rock placement). I would say that 95% of them survived and recolored up.

Assuming that yours are white due to lighting issues, don't light shock them. Put them low in the tank and slowly move them up. If any of them expel their mesenterial filaments also (strings that will come out of the mouth in the center), cut that particular mushroom off the rock and dispose of it.

So far none of them have expelled anything. At this time, I don't have MH lighting, though.

As far as dissolved organics---don't think that is a problem. I have been running all week without my skimmer due to treating the tank with melafix. I recently had two of my fish die due to pop eye--so I went ahead with a mostly full treatment course to hopefully wipe out any source that might be lurking in the tank. The two fish that are left are a blue damsel and a scooter blenny. Both of which are acting fine---scooter seems to be thrilled with looking at his/her/its reflection while swimming up and down the side of the tank fluttering its fins like it is saying "don't I look so pretty." Otherwise it is hopping around the pod motel quite happy and its coloration is great. Blue damsel is acting like a stinker trying to rearrange my frags and sand and his coloring is fine.

I am one day short on treatment--but I think I am going to go ahead and get my magnum with carbon back online tonight so I can do a water change tomorrow and have all major chores with the tank done so that I don't have to mess with it on Sunday. My nitrates are only at 20ppm--but the directions for the melafix say to do a 25% w/c after treatment (I am assuming that is to keep the skimmer from going too crazy with bubbles).

Does all of this sound right??

Anne