Ricordea and purple mushroom acclimation and quarantine

Piggy said:
If they're PC it would give you 7.5 watts. That should be plenty of light for the mushrooms seeing they like low light. Did you take the water out of the MT?
Click to expand...

No. It is just a regular small tank bulb. I started the water about three weeks ago but not from the DT. It was water that was mixed for the DT. Would it be better to have used DT water? I didn't think the QT would produce a cycle.

By the way, I'm heading to bed. Got to work later this morning - Yep, I'm a light weight who needs his sleep.

Thanks for helping so much.
 
I would of used the water from the DT. Seeing you used plain saltwater there isn't any nutrients in the water. Also any water movement?
 
I have a long air stone on one side that keeps the water moving in a circular motion, but nothing major. It's too small of a tank for a power head. I have target fed them and it's amazing to watch how quickly they open up. Not sure how often to do this though as most of the stuff I have read talks about supplemental feeding when discussing target feeding mushrooms. I don't plan on target feeding them once they are in the DT.
 
My wife took a look at the rock and said a second blue mushroom is turning brown, bringing the total down to eight. I'm going to slowly bring up the salinity of the DT so the shrooms can get settled in there. It will take a few days to bring the salt level back up to 1.024. Fortunately the Ricordia is still doing well. Hopefully I can help them along while the DT gets ready. Maybe they will take better to the actinic lights in the DT. I have a regular 15 watt bulb on the QT tank since it is only two gallons and eight inches tall. Maybe this is causing an issue with the shrooms. I could probably rig something up to get them under 6000K NO lights that I previously used with the DT. Any thoughts on if this might help?
 
Thanks for the help! This one is really annoying me :grumble:. I may be the only person who can kill shrooms :shock:.

I've got some nylon screening for windows in the basement. I'll put that over the top. Unfortunately the QT doesn't have anything in it except egg crate for the rocks to sit on (so anything loose can fall in the egg crate holes). The LFS used PCs, so I figured the lights would be OK. There are plenty of places that will provide varying light intensities in the DT, when I get it ready.
 
When you put them in the DT place them on the bottom under like a overhang. They'll recover once they are settled.
 
Will do. I should be able to get them there by Friday. Hopefully they will be OK until then. I'm thinking it is a good idea to skip the QT next time I get corals and use it just for fish.

Thanks.
 
Daugherty, good luck with them in the 75. Let me know how it goes.

I came home from work today to find all but two tiny (maybe 1/8") blue mushrooms completely wasted away :grumble:, although the Ric is still chugging along without any signs of stress. I moved the salt in the DT from 1.010 to 1.012. I'll move it up twice a day until I can get to the point I can put in the mushrooms (hopefully the last two blue ones survive with the ricordea). I kept thinking that I had to worry more about too little light than too much light. I just thought they would close up more with too much light. I'll try them again if the blue ones don't survive, but hopefully better prepared.
 
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How's the temp in the QT? Do you have them shaded? How long do you leave the light on? Hope the last two make it. As for the next corals. I don't QT mine I give them all a dip to get rid of all unwanted stuff.
 
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Thanks, Piggy. The temp is kept between 76 and 78. I left the lights on too long today. I meant to ask my wife to turn them off at noon, which would have been five hours. I also didn't have them shaded. I'm going to shade them tomorrow and only have the lights on for a couple hours tomorrow night, if that sounds OK.

I don't think I'll use the QT for corals again. It has been more difficult than helpful as I can't just move them to adjust the light.

I'll try blue mushrooms again if these don't make it. However, I told this to my wife and she said "yeah, until you spend all our savings". I figure just one more try for mushrooms should be OK. I'm thinking of ordering from Liveaquaria as I've heard great things about them and they have an guarantee of 14 days. Hopefully these will survive and I won't need to go that route.
 
Piggy,

I read the link from Garf. Great info. I now see why the ricordea is doing well when the other is not (site states the ricordea does well under higher lighting than the discosoma mushrooms, such my blue mushrooms). That should help a lot as I continue down the path of learning.
 
OK, I know this makes three replies in a row but ... I found two other blue mushrooms tonight. They are really tiny, but they opened up when I fed them a little phyto. All four look pretty good. Now, if I can just get the lights figured out while keeping them healthy. I still think I must be going crazy, worrying about these things. Never thought I would get this much into it.

Thanks to all of you for listening (or reading) my ramblings. Hopefully I can help someone else in the future.
 
Shade just them not the other one. I try to keep my tank between 78 and 80. I have ordered corals through liveaquaria. All the coral I got from them are still growing. I'm thinking about putting another order in. Trying to make up my mind on what I want. Plus I need to get my PH a little higher before I do. I'm sure once you get the lighting figured out you'll see a difference.
 
lightcs4 the mushrooms that i now have are opening up more they are small but are doing better in the 75 than they were in the 50 i have 7.5w pergal and in the 50 it was almost 12wpg
 

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