Hi, fairly new here - love the forum, it's a wealth of knowledge, I've learnt lots over the last week or two, just browsing and reading topics, thanks

So now to my tank, my mushrooms seem to be looking very sorry for themselves. They were looking great! But since last night and today they aren't looking too clever.

On one piece of rock I had 3/4 small bright blue/green mushrooms (see picture 1) and today I came home at lunch time to find the biggest and best one had moved/fallen/been removed off the rock and laying on the bottom of the tank looking a bit 'bitten/stung' (is best I can describe) and the others all shriveled up (see picture 2).

Also I added some beautiful red/orange mushrooms a week ago, again were looking really good - glowing in fact!! But today, looking very sad (see pic 1+2)

The tank is an 8 gallon nano, and has been running for over a year, 3 weeks ago it was moved to a new location... I have tested the water regularly for KH/Salinity/Ammonia/pH/Nitrate/Nitrite and all has been doing well. This week the tank was looking a little 'off' and lots of algae has appeared. I tested the water on Tuesday evening and these are the results:

KH 170
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
pH 8.4
Nitrate 60ppm

So the Nitrate had increased over a few days (previously it had been below 20) therefore I performed a partial water change last night around 1-2 gallons. It was the first water change I have done - I am worried I did something wrong/bad to affect the tank adversely. My friend whom I got the tank from used to do water changes every 3-4 weeks, with sucess. The water was a little colder than the tank, could this be the reason? Have I shocked the life out of everything? Is there anything I can do?

I tested the water again at lunch time and all the results are the same as above with exception of the Nitrate which is now down to 20ppm

The only other thing I have noticed is the appearance of an urchin - which I have posted about in the ID forum, I've never seen it before and it was on the rock very near to where the mushroom has been dislodged - it immediately moved away quickly when I moved some light onto it.

Also am I feeding the tank enough/too much? I feed every 2-3 days some rotifers and mysis (for the yasha goby). What do the mushrooms eat?

Anything else I should add to help? Any other info you need to help me?

Thanks! I'm pretty new to this, I have kept freshwater fish for over 10 years, so this is all new and scary, but I'm totally addicted already

Looks to me like they may be getting a little too much light...

Hmmm, I only had one light on the tank, an ARC POD, with an 11 watt marine 50/50, I was told this wasn't enough for the tank, and to add another, so now I have 2 x ARC POD's with a total of 22 watts... I only added this last week the same day as the Red/Orange Mushrooms. This was on the recommendation of the LFS where I bought the Mushrooms.

Should I move the rock with the mushrooms on lower in the tank, or where it is darker? I have a fuzzy mushroom too, which apparently climed 4 inches to get to the light more! It's flourishing...

Do they need different amounts of light?

...or maybe turn one light off for a day or so and see if that makes a difference?

It just really seems that the water change I performed changed the tank almost immediately - is it just coincidence?

Let me clarify something. The tank has been running for a year and this is the 1st water change you have done! You should atleast do a water change every 2 weeks or very very least once a month. The move is probably what caused your nitrate spike. How/why was it moved?

Lets get to the water change. You said it was colder, how much colder? What is your tank temp normally? With an 8 gallon nano (what brand is it - Biocube?), the water volume is closer to 5-6 gallons. So any difference in temperature with the water you are adding will influence the overall tank water temperature. I have a Biocube 14 and always bring the new water to the temperature of the tank before I add it. Also, how much water did you change? What type of water did you use (RO/DI, tap, distilled, etc)? Was it the same salinity?

Another thing that needs to be addressed, why is your nitrates sitting at 20ppm? You really need to figure out whats causing your nitrates and try to get that down to 10ppm or less. What are you using for a filter?

Oops, looks like I missed that part, could be the water quality for sure.

The tank itself has been set up for a year... it was my friends, I bought it off her and we moved it from her house and set it up at my house 3 weeks ago. This was MY first water change, not the tanks! Sorry for not clarifying that. So therefore worried I did something wrong. When we set it back up we used 80% of the 'old' water and topped it up with some new RO water mixed with Reef Salt to 1.024.

All the tests had been fine over the last 3 weeks, and everything looked great and seemed to be flourishing, I didn't have a Nitrate test until last weekend, and it measured in at about 20 ppm, then on Tuesday it had shot up to around 60 ppm, so thought the best thing was to do a water change. However the water was a few degrees colder than the aquarium, at maybe 74/75, the tank being at 78... I haven't got a spare heater (getting one at the weekend) to warm up the water before adding it. It was only a small water change so *thought* it would be ok.

The tank is not a Bio cube, it is an Arcadia Acr tank, with an interpet PF1 and a Fluval plus 2 internal filters, and a Hydor deflector. There are 6 kilos of live rock inside.

Soooo what do I need to do? Please?

I've come home from work and the red/orange mushrooms are still looking the same, crumpled, with one of them almost off the rock - they almost look like they are separating themselves - and also they all look like they have been 'sick' out of the middles... The fuzzy mushroom at the top looks all shrivelled up It was looking amazing yesterday...

The Green Star Polyps look better and are all out, the cleaner shrimp is it's usual self and the goby is popping in and out of it's cave, the snails are busy chomping at the algae....

Whatever I need to do to save my mushrooms I'm happy to do! I thought they were pretty hardy?

Could it be that I've shocked the system, and the Nitrates are still too high?

Just couple pics taken just now...

The fuzzy looking all shrivelled up and sick, compared to the one above

And the red/orange mushies looking like they are separating themselves from the rock

Anyone? Please?

What other livestocks do you have? I notice when I placed my torch near my shrooms they didn't expand as large as they could. Sometimes when I change my water flow on my mp10 a lot of shrooms don't like it especially my yumas.

Perhaps the bulbs need to be replaced? Do a gallon water change every 3 days for the next several weeks. The fuzzy shroom will likely die off, but try to save those lovely red ones.

The Fuzzy has recovered lots! It's looking all plush again today!!

I think I might have cried if not

The Red/Orange ones are looking slightly better, still a bit crimpled/closed up... They might be getting too much flow, so will change that slightly. They are both new bulbs, so not that.

I'm going to do a small water change every couple days and see how it goes.

I think I shocked the whole system by doing a noobie rookie water change!! Not bringing the temp up and not mixing the salt properly, added to the high nitrates possibly caused by overfeeding (upon recommendation from someone else!)

Fingers crossed it will work out Thanks everyone!