Mushrooms

My luck with corals continues, but here's the question: How do I take
care of mushrooms? I had a rock that was full of them, but they seem to
be dwindling steadily over about a 6 month period. AFAIK, nothing is
bothering them, but they just get smaller until they disappear.

--Kurt

Well considering that most mushrooms are the easiest
thing to keep,,,, :-)

What kind of mushrooms do you have?

Wayne Sallee



KurtG wrote on 11/19/2007 5:55 PM:
My luck with corals continues, but here's the question: How do I take
care of mushrooms? I had a rock that was full of them, but they seem to
be dwindling steadily over about a 6 month period. AFAIK, nothing is
bothering them, but they just get smaller until they disappear.

--Kurt

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Well considering that most mushrooms are the easiest thing to keep,,,, :-)


Yeah, so I hear. I'm also a master at killing off Xenia.

What kind of mushrooms do you have?

Looks like these: http://tinyurl.com/2q4la6

--Kurt

On Nov 19, 7:32 pm, KurtG wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
Well considering that most mushrooms are the easiest thing to keep,,,, :-)

Yeah, so I hear. I'm also a master at killing off Xenia.

What kind of mushrooms do you have?

Looks like these:http://tinyurl.com/2q4la6

--Kurt

Kurt,
I have some similar mushrooms in mine as well, in addition to an
unnamed brownish mushroom with filaments, and some random green
mushrooms and haven't found that they need anything additional really,
apart from the usual phytoplex supplement that was suggested to me by
the LFS (believe it was for feeding purposes for the corals). Apart
from the fact that they close up when the lights switch from day to
night (and open back up shortly thereafter) or when I'm doing a water
change, they seem to be pretty self sufficient so far...though
admittedly I've had mine a much shorter time (brown for about a month,
green for about 2 weeks)...
What are they doing in particular? Shrivelling up? spending more
time closed etc?

Mitch

So, they feed on phytoplankton? I guess I better read more about them.

--Kurt



Big Habeeb wrote:
On Nov 19, 7:32 pm, KurtG wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
Well considering that most mushrooms are the easiest thing to keep,,,, :-)
Yeah, so I hear. I'm also a master at killing off Xenia.

What kind of mushrooms do you have?
Looks like these:http://tinyurl.com/2q4la6

--Kurt

Kurt,
I have some similar mushrooms in mine as well, in addition to an
unnamed brownish mushroom with filaments, and some random green
mushrooms and haven't found that they need anything additional really,
apart from the usual phytoplex supplement that was suggested to me by
the LFS (believe it was for feeding purposes for the corals). Apart
from the fact that they close up when the lights switch from day to
night (and open back up shortly thereafter) or when I'm doing a water
change, they seem to be pretty self sufficient so far...though
admittedly I've had mine a much shorter time (brown for about a month,
green for about 2 weeks)...
What are they doing in particular? Shrivelling up? spending more
time closed etc?

Mitch

On Nov 20, 12:05 pm, KurtG wrote:
So, they feed on phytoplankton? I guess I better read more about them.

--Kurt


I don't know if they do or not...I just know that I was told to add it
by the lfs, and the back of the bottle seems to indicate that this is
what corals and the like chow on...here's a snippit I found on the
internet about it:
Kent Phytoplex is a highly concentrated complex of aqua cultured,
naturally occurring marine phytoplankton
It contains Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis and Isochrysis sp. Tahitian
ranging in size from 2 to 15 microns
Phytoplex provides necessary proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids for
live hard & soft corals, tube worms, clams and other invertebrates
It is rich in the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA and is useful in
feeding rotifers and other plankton and in raising larval fish

It seems that, depending on what else you've been adding, your corals
may be hungry But let one of the more experienced guys chime in,
since i'm basically just spitting back out what I've been told, not
what I've seen with my own eyes...for all I know, phytoplex may be a
big scam excuse to charge me 13 bucks every couple months.

Mitch

Mushrooms should just grow, no supplementary feeding necessary. These
things are hardy, you can cut them into four pieces and they should
all grow into new mushrooms.

On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:49:15 -0800 (PST), Big Habeeb
wrote:

On Nov 20, 12:05 pm, KurtG wrote:
So, they feed on phytoplankton? I guess I better read more about them.

--Kurt


I don't know if they do or not...I just know that I was told to add it
by the lfs, and the back of the bottle seems to indicate that this is
what corals and the like chow on...here's a snippit I found on the
internet about it:
Kent Phytoplex is a highly concentrated complex of aqua cultured,
naturally occurring marine phytoplankton
It contains Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis and Isochrysis sp. Tahitian
ranging in size from 2 to 15 microns
Phytoplex provides necessary proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids for
live hard & soft corals, tube worms, clams and other invertebrates
It is rich in the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA and is useful in
feeding rotifers and other plankton and in raising larval fish

It seems that, depending on what else you've been adding, your corals
may be hungry But let one of the more experienced guys chime in,
since i'm basically just spitting back out what I've been told, not
what I've seen with my own eyes...for all I know, phytoplex may be a
big scam excuse to charge me 13 bucks every couple months.

Mitch

On Nov 20, 9:49 am, Big Habeeb wrote:
I don't know if they do or not...I just know that I was told to add it
by the lfs, and the back of the bottle seems to indicate that this is
what corals and the like chow on...
for all I know, phytoplex may be a
big scam excuse to charge me 13 bucks every couple months.


i wouldn't expect it to be a scam, i always look at phytoplex as the
food source for the bottom of the chain, sort of like nitrates is. I
use it to keep the copepods, amphipods, and other invert happy, and in
turn the swimming half that get swirled around in the column in turn
feed the corals. I assume the corals eat this directly, but i use it
to keep the base chain healthy, and let the base chain feed the
corals. However, you will find that i do things uniquely in the reef
world. I dotn go out and buy expensive pieces, ever. i just stock my
tank with live rock, and samples of stuff and wait for them to grow,
biologically. I just keep the biological system at its best by paying
attention to the bottom of the chain, and ensuring that all the middle
species are in tact, like asturina stars(sponge and coral eaters i
suspect), a small tad of cyanobacteria, a small tad of slime algae, a
multitude of tube worms and the like in the substrate and on the
rocks, a healthy DSB, tons of pods crawling and swimming around, and
micro sized worms crawling around on the glass, baby snails, spawning
hermits, spawning snails. once I have this, I rest at ease and just
watch corals and sponge pop out of nowhere. it takes a healthy bio to
grow stuff from the smallest seed, such as stoways that are so small
you cant seem them until they grow. Most everyone else just goes out
to the store and buys what they need instead of culturing it from
birth. But, you will find alot of bio-heads on this board, and thats
why i like it, to me, taking care of the bio from the bottom up is the
only way to go, but alot of people are too impatient for that route
and tend to adhere to the buy-and-replace method, instead of the grow-
from-scratch method.

take a look at the phytoplex at marine depot, its pretty cheap there,
and if you ever need to make an order, throw a 16oz bottle in your
order and you will get it the cheapest this way i think.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...d~vendor~.html

i have the same shrooms, they have a bit more green on them than in
the picture. my nitrates hover near 10ppm frequently as i do very
infrequent water changes. i suspect this is why my mushrooms are
always hating it. everything else is fine including my porites
encruster coral.

KurtG wrote on 11/19/2007 7:32 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
Well considering that most mushrooms are the easiest thing to keep,,,, :-)


Yeah, so I hear. I'm also a master at killing off Xenia.

What kind of mushrooms do you have?

Looks like these: http://tinyurl.com/2q4la6

--Kurt

I didn't even notice the url the first time I read
this post. :-)

The mushrooms in the picture are easy to keep, so
there's definitely something quite wrong.

Wayne Sallee

gaijin wrote:
Mushrooms should just grow, no supplementary feeding necessary. These
things are hardy, you can cut them into four pieces and they should
all grow into new mushrooms.


It's pretty sad when I can't get the easiest of corals to grow. My
Heteractis magnifica anemone looks great. It's probably 10" across now,
but all my soft corals just whither and die.

Well, I'll get my refugium setup (so I can turn off my skimmer for 36
hours) and then start dosing phyto to see if that helps.

--Kurt