Stubborn Mushroom?

[Avi1]

My 120 gallon tank is apparently very healthy...testing seems fine and the fish (just a pair of False Perculas and a Yellow Coral Goby with nothing more to be added until the quarantine tank's up and running) are fine. The inverts, which include a variety of shrimp, two Emerald Crabs, feather dusters and coral....some button polyps, star polyps, Xenia...except for the Mushroom Coral are also doing very well. The Mushroom Coral is what I would call deflated and not showing very well at all. I've moved it around the tank into places of varying degrees of light intensity and it didn't make any difference. It's puzzling to me because Mushrooms are said to be such adaptable animals and they are the only corals in the tank that don't seem to be adapting. It's been 10 days so far. All the other corals in the tank showed their stuff immediately upon being placed in the tank. Anyone with some experience with this kind of thing...Please advise...THANKS

 

[Avi1]

I've added a photo so you can see that the Mushrooms aren't sick, just not opening fully.....

 

[Anonymous]

Mushrooms are fairly adaptable to levels of low light and low current, but they won't appreciate being moved around much. Just find a spot you think they'll do good in and leave them. High light is fine but the flow shouldn't be whipping them around.

 

[Avi1]

Just find a spot you think they'll do good in and leave them

I guess what I am trying to find out is whether if I do leave it in one spot, is it unusual for the mushrooms to stay in this kind of condition for a week or even longer before opening up and showing themselves properly, or is this the sign of a mushroom that is doomed?

 

[Mihai]

I also notice that my mushrooms are not happy when the water is over 84-85F. I'd say to just leave them in a quiet spot. They'll recover.
M.

 

[Avi1]

I think you're on to it...The water temperature is a little over 86 degrees. I have to get it down somehow. I've looked at the literature on Mushroom Coral and nowhere does it say that they are particularly sensitive to the higher temps, more than the other corals....But, all of the other corals, feather dusters, fan worms, fish, etc. are okay despite the hightened temperature, so I think that has to be it...thanks for alerting me to this.

 

[Mihai]

Actually my mushrooms are very reliable as overheat indicators: they recently pointed to a failed fan in the canopy .

M.

 

[Avi1]

Could you tell me what you do to keep your temps down this time of year?

 

[Mihai]

A fan blowing in the surface of the water. It cools down the tank by helping with the evaporation. It makes wonders (5-6F less than without). The only drawback is that now I have some 1-2 gallons of evaporation per day. But it's much better than buying and operating a chiller. I can go even further by having another fan blowing in the sump, but I don't need it (for now).

Regards,
Mihai

 

[Avi1]

My lighting units on top of the tank, no doubt, are the cause of the of the heightened temperature would prevent me from having a fan blowing across the surface of the water in the tank. But, I do have plenty of room to mount a fan over the sump, blowing in the direction of the water. I have a contractor doing some work in the house, so I think I'll have him do the work....Just one thing....what size fan would you recommend? The tank is 120-gallons and the sump is in a wooden cabinet (Oceanic) under the tank. The sump is, I believe, the size of a 50 or 55 gallon tank. I already have a significant amount of evaporation, so a little more won't hurt when I regularly bring the water level in the sump back up to where it belongs...THANKS again...Alan

 

[Mihai]

My lighting units on top of the tank, no doubt, are the cause of the of the heightened temperature would prevent me from having a fan blowing across the surface of the water in the tank.

I'm not sure what do you mean by that... my advice is to put the fan blow right there, on top of the tank. There will make the maximum difference, not only by speeding evaporation, but also by carying some of the heat away from the tank (and into the room :-( ). In the sump will make you some good, but I'm sure the maximum will be achieved if you cool the canopy/top of the tank.

Here people use all kind of fans, some big, and some bigger (3-6").
Personally I use very small, 12V fans -> 80mm diameter, i.e. about 3", similar to the ones in the PCs. Furthermore, I got the slow speed, super-quiet ones (as my tank is in the livingroom, so quiet is a must), so they don't push as much air a a bigger or a faster one. And yet that's enough for me. So my advice is not to go for a bad-ass fan, but rather for one or a couple of small ones that you can fit in your canopy.

M.

 

[Mihai]

Sorry, double post.
M.

 

[Avi1]

What I mean is that I have glass over the tank and lighting units that more or less sit on the that, which cover the tank. A four bulb power compact unit, which is one of the fixtures on top of the tank, has a fan. But basically, there's no way to get a fan to blow on the surface of the water because the glass canopy and the lighting units would be in the way.

 

[tgfrench]

Radio Shack carries a 4" 120v fan for around $20