How do I control shroom overgrowth????

[Werdlone]

This may be a question for the sps forum, but my problem is with mushrooms so I will start here.

I was once a soft coral guy and had shrooms a plenty. Now, I am mostly sps. There were a few pieces of live rock that I re-used and some red shrooms have mysteriously appeared and spread like wildfire. I have tried manual removal but this is a big mucus mess and I worry about the sps corals with possible toxin release. how can I rid my tank of these. Here is what I have tried so far:

manual removal....messy, possibly toxic
injection with kalk paste...didn't work..grew back
covered with epoxy...worked, but i hate the look of epoxy all over the tank

any success stories would be helpful...thanks

[schminksbro]

Take some scissors and cut all the heads off that you can. Then mix up some kalk into a thick paste. Turn off all your flow. Take a syringe without the needle and coat the bases that are left. You should have a white blob covering them completely. Wait a few days and scrape away the remaining kalk. No more shrooms.


This may be a question for the sps forum, but my problem is with mushrooms so I will start here.

I was once a soft coral guy and had shrooms a plenty. Now, I am mostly sps. There were a few pieces of live rock that I re-used and some red shrooms have mysteriously appeared and spread like wildfire. I have tried manual removal but this is a big mucus mess and I worry about the sps corals with possible toxin release. how can I rid my tank of these. Here is what I have tried so far:

manual removal....messy, possibly toxic
injection with kalk paste...didn't work..grew back
covered with epoxy...worked, but i hate the look of epoxy all over the tank

any success stories would be helpful...thanks

[ReeferRob]

I have had success with running a syphon over the shroom your working on while doing a water change and scraping and poking with end of the tube and a tooth brush. Of course just after cutting the head off.
Good luck!

[jojo22]

Could treat like aptasia cut it, and then shoot with boiling water, I would think the risks of cutting would be less than those of trying to outright kill a full shroom in the tank.

[graphixx]

if your able to take the rocks out of the tank... you could chip them off the rock entirely... I have had to do that in the past with one particular rock that was growing them that I didnt want them to grow on... I then sold the shrooms off... worked great.

if you cannot get the rock out then the idea of cutting them down and pasting them would work as well.

[schminksbro]

Just to expand on this Andy, if you cut the heads off you can throw them in a tupperware container with some rock rubble or crushed coral. Stretch some bridal veil over the container and toss it in your frag tank or even your sump. In a week or two you can sell the newly attached shrooms.


if your able to take the rocks out of the tank... you could chip them off the rock entirely... I have had to do that in the past with one particular rock that was growing them that I didnt want them to grow on... I then sold the shrooms off... worked great.

if you cannot get the rock out then the idea of cutting them down and pasting them would work as well.

[ReeferRob]

Just to expand on this Andy, if you cut the heads off you can throw them in a tupperware container with some rock rubble or crushed coral. Stretch some bridal veil over the container and toss it in your frag tank or even your sump. In a week or two you can sell the newly attached shrooms.

Kuddos to you Andy, are you reading my thoughts?

[Werdlone]

thanks for the replies...sounds like it will take some work. Some of the shrooms are in tough to reach spots, but I'll do my best. I think I'll try the Kalk past after cutting their heads off. I tried injecting kalk saturated water and they only shriveled and then came back. I need full strength kalk!! I remember propogating shrooms with the mesh covered cups. Good thought Andy, Never waste...plenty of people love these red mushrooms and I'm only too happy to sell them at a very reasonable price:D

[schminksbro]

Kalk water only makes them multiply. LOL Kalk paste will kill em for sure. Same goes for aptasia, majano, gsp, stone polyps or any other weed.:)