Migrating Mushroom Corals

Greetings-I have a 120G reef tank established about 5 months ago. As a
retiree, I have been patient about adding things and have put in mostly soft
corals and recently 2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1"exquisite" wrasse, and enjoy
watching things develop.About 1 month after set-up, I added about 75 hermit
crabs, and recently a Mithrax green crab and a short spined(?) sea urchin.
Chemistry in tank is checked on a regular schedule and seems fine. My
question is about mushroom corals. About 4 months ago, I added a live rock
with 15 or so purple mushroom corals with some hitch hikers. They seemed
happy and slowly waving in the soft current. About two weeks ago, I noticed
two mushroom corals on the top of the sand in the back(black)end of the
tank. Have not been able to see that any are missing from the piece of live
rock but the two new guys (?) seem happy on top of the sand and actually
move around a bit within a 5 or 6" area, perhaps from current flow.
Question--will these guys establish themselves on some of the other live
rock? Will they be o.k. hanging out on the sand--it is a part of the back
of the tank that is difficult to access. Should I intercede and try to put
them someplace--my guts tell me to let nature have its course. Is this
typical of mushroom corals?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

--
Al Waitz

The choice is really yours. You can leave them and they'll probably attach to a rock. I've had
some that have rolled around for a week before they attach. Sometimes they will attach on the
inside or back of your rocks, and will propagate and spread all over the place in a few months time.
If you want to retrieve loose mushrooms from a hard to reach spot, I use turkey baster. Put the
baster in the aquarium, and point it AWAY from the loose mushrooms and squeeze and hold
the bulb. With the bulb still squeezed, touch the baster tip to a loose mushroom, and let off a
little bit on the bulb, and the mushroom will stick on the tip. Drag it to the front of the tank. Then you
can mount them on a piece of rock. Lay them on a rock (outside of the water) wrap the rock with
a hairnet you can get at the drugstore) for a week or so - take off the hairnet, and they'll stay put
by themselves. Some people use superglue instead of the hairnet, or even sticking them to a rock with
a toothpick, but I never have tried it. Now adays, when I see a loose shroom, I just let it wander.
Keeping them in low current helps them stay put.

"Al Waitz" wrote in message news:t3jpg.57024$1i1.26047@attbi_s72...
Greetings-I have a 120G reef tank established about 5 months ago. As a retiree, I have been patient about adding things and have
put in mostly soft corals and recently 2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1"exquisite" wrasse, and enjoy watching things develop.About 1 month
after set-up, I added about 75 hermit crabs, and recently a Mithrax green crab and a short spined(?) sea urchin. Chemistry in tank
is checked on a regular schedule and seems fine. My question is about mushroom corals. About 4 months ago, I added a live rock
with 15 or so purple mushroom corals with some hitch hikers. They seemed happy and slowly waving in the soft current. About two
weeks ago, I noticed two mushroom corals on the top of the sand in the back(black)end of the tank. Have not been able to see that
any are missing from the piece of live rock but the two new guys (?) seem happy on top of the sand and actually move around a bit
within a 5 or 6" area, perhaps from current flow.
Question--will these guys establish themselves on some of the other live rock? Will they be o.k. hanging out on the sand--it
is a part of the back of the tank that is difficult to access. Should I intercede and try to put them someplace--my guts tell me
to let nature have its course. Is this typical of mushroom corals?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

--
Al Waitz

Yep, a turkey baster works well to pick them up. They are very hard to pick
up otherwise due to being so slippery.

Susan
"Yukon" wrote in message
...
The choice is really yours. You can leave them and they'll probably attach
to a rock. I've had
some that have rolled around for a week before they attach. Sometimes they
will attach on the
inside or back of your rocks, and will propagate and spread all over the
place in a few months time.
If you want to retrieve loose mushrooms from a hard to reach spot, I use
turkey baster. Put the
baster in the aquarium, and point it AWAY from the loose mushrooms and
squeeze and hold
the bulb. With the bulb still squeezed, touch the baster tip to a loose
mushroom, and let off a
little bit on the bulb, and the mushroom will stick on the tip. Drag it to
the front of the tank. Then you
can mount them on a piece of rock. Lay them on a rock (outside of the
water) wrap the rock with
a hairnet you can get at the drugstore) for a week or so - take off the
hairnet, and they'll stay put
by themselves. Some people use superglue instead of the hairnet, or even
sticking them to a rock with
a toothpick, but I never have tried it. Now adays, when I see a loose
shroom, I just let it wander.
Keeping them in low current helps them stay put.

"Al Waitz" wrote in message
news:t3jpg.57024$1i1.26047@attbi_s72...
Greetings-I have a 120G reef tank established about 5 months ago. As a
retiree, I have been patient about adding things and have put in mostly
soft corals and recently 2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1"exquisite" wrasse, and
enjoy watching things develop.About 1 month after set-up, I added about
75 hermit crabs, and recently a Mithrax green crab and a short spined(?)
sea urchin. Chemistry in tank is checked on a regular schedule and seems
fine. My question is about mushroom corals. About 4 months ago, I added
a live rock with 15 or so purple mushroom corals with some hitch hikers.
They seemed happy and slowly waving in the soft current. About two weeks
ago, I noticed two mushroom corals on the top of the sand in the
back(black)end of the tank. Have not been able to see that any are
missing from the piece of live rock but the two new guys (?) seem happy
on top of the sand and actually move around a bit within a 5 or 6" area,
perhaps from current flow.
Question--will these guys establish themselves on some of the other
live rock? Will they be o.k. hanging out on the sand--it is a part of
the back of the tank that is difficult to access. Should I intercede and
try to put them someplace--my guts tell me to let nature have its course.
Is this typical of mushroom corals?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

--
Al Waitz

Hmm tell me about it! After spending 15 mins chasing one around! I bought a
rock with about 5 green/brown mushrooms with 1 loose on a small pebble. The
small one went wandering but didn't look to happy so I chased him about a
bit and lodged the pebble into a nook in one of my live rock out of the high
flow!

Dave
"Susan" wrote in message
...
Yep, a turkey baster works well to pick them up. They are very hard to
pick up otherwise due to being so slippery.

Susan
"Yukon" wrote in message
...
The choice is really yours. You can leave them and they'll probably
attach to a rock. I've had
some that have rolled around for a week before they attach. Sometimes
they will attach on the
inside or back of your rocks, and will propagate and spread all over the
place in a few months time.
If you want to retrieve loose mushrooms from a hard to reach spot, I use
turkey baster. Put the
baster in the aquarium, and point it AWAY from the loose mushrooms and
squeeze and hold
the bulb. With the bulb still squeezed, touch the baster tip to a loose
mushroom, and let off a
little bit on the bulb, and the mushroom will stick on the tip. Drag it
to the front of the tank. Then you
can mount them on a piece of rock. Lay them on a rock (outside of the
water) wrap the rock with
a hairnet you can get at the drugstore) for a week or so - take off the
hairnet, and they'll stay put
by themselves. Some people use superglue instead of the hairnet, or even
sticking them to a rock with
a toothpick, but I never have tried it. Now adays, when I see a loose
shroom, I just let it wander.
Keeping them in low current helps them stay put.

"Al Waitz" wrote in message
news:t3jpg.57024$1i1.26047@attbi_s72...
Greetings-I have a 120G reef tank established about 5 months ago. As a
retiree, I have been patient about adding things and have put in mostly
soft corals and recently 2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1"exquisite" wrasse, and
enjoy watching things develop.About 1 month after set-up, I added about
75 hermit crabs, and recently a Mithrax green crab and a short spined(?)
sea urchin. Chemistry in tank is checked on a regular schedule and seems
fine. My question is about mushroom corals. About 4 months ago, I added
a live rock with 15 or so purple mushroom corals with some hitch hikers.
They seemed happy and slowly waving in the soft current. About two
weeks ago, I noticed two mushroom corals on the top of the sand in the
back(black)end of the tank. Have not been able to see that any are
missing from the piece of live rock but the two new guys (?) seem happy
on top of the sand and actually move around a bit within a 5 or 6" area,
perhaps from current flow.
Question--will these guys establish themselves on some of the other
live rock? Will they be o.k. hanging out on the sand--it is a part of
the back of the tank that is difficult to access. Should I intercede
and try to put them someplace--my guts tell me to let nature have its
course. Is this typical of mushroom corals?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

--
Al Waitz

I follow the same guidlines as well with wandering mushrooms. But
occasionallly I will round them up, put them in some empty snail shells
and then set the shells where I want. They sometimes dont care to be in
the shells and wont attach but more often then not they stay in the
shell and then I add a little apoxy to make the shell stay where I want
it.

That's a good idea. I once had a mushroom attach to a snail for a few days.

"Sandbag" wrote in message ups.com...
I follow the same guidlines as well with wandering mushrooms. But
occasionallly I will round them up, put them in some empty snail shells
and then set the shells where I want. They sometimes dont care to be in
the shells and wont attach but more often then not they stay in the
shell and then I add a little apoxy to make the shell stay where I want
it.