Trimming a Hairy Shroom

[HeiHei29er]

Can you trim the edge of a hairy shroom without killing it or releasing a bunch of toxin into the water column?

This guy has grown MUCH larger than I ever imagined. It's now encroaching on my new ricordea garden and I'm afraid it will over take them. Can I cut the edge of it back an inch or so without screwing up the shroom or other inhabitants in the tank?

Will the ricordeas be able to defend themselves from the hairy shroom? Heard that some mushrooms do have a sting, but not sure if ricordeas fall into that category.

Thanks!

[MizTanks]

Is the Tonga permanently attached? Looks like there's still plenty of room between the two. Tonga's max size is about 7". Looks like you could move the ric easy enough
Everything I've read about Tonga shrooms says, semi-agressive.


Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

[dputt88]

Yeah you can. A lot of times when i frag my shrooms i miss the mouth and both grow fine. Making clen cuts and getting close to the center are the most imprtant things. It you get a successful frag im always looking to trade softies.

I reccomend cutting the mushroom off the rock entirely then fragging it. The part left on the rock will likely regrow.

[HeiHei29er]

Is the Tonga permanently attached? Looks like there's still plenty of room between the two. Tonga's max size is about 7". Looks like you could move the ric easy enough
Everything I've read about Tonga shrooms says, semi-agressive.


Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

Yeah, it's permanently attached. The only way I can get it off is to tear it. That rock is epoxied to the rest of the structure, so taking it out isn't a real option.

It wasn't fully expanded in that photo. It gets to within an inch of the ric during full expansion. Plus, I think it's grown since that photo. Started adding a couple scoops of Reef Chili to my daily feeding, and it seems to have taken off since I've been doing that.

I could move the ric, but I'm hoping that they split, and I've left some room between them for offspring.

---------- Post added at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 PM ----------

Yeah you can. A lot of times when i frag my shrooms i miss the mouth and both grow fine. Making clen cuts and getting close to the center are the most imprtant things. It you get a successful frag im always looking to trade softies.

I reccomend cutting the mushroom off the rock entirely then fragging it. The part left on the rock will likely regrow.

So, if I cut most of one side off but miss the mouth, it may survive?

Getting it off the rock will be tricky. Can't really take the rock out, so would need to try and cut it out in place. It's well attached.

May take you up on trades if successful. I'm looking for some zoas.

[dputt88]

typically when i frag or do weeding i cut the whoel polyp off first, leaving the whole rock in place. the tissue that remains on the rock almost always grows into a new shoom, sometimes 2. then wit the poly i cut off i usually cut that in half or sometimes thirds. when i miss the mouth nearly all pieces survive anyways.

i used to have some hairy mushrooms, and they followed this same trend.

so you can cut the whole shroom off and let a new on grow.

or you can try cutting it in half and removing one of the halves (likely to be more difficult)