Reclamation project

[snostorm]

My Biocube 32 is essentially a mushroom garden.  Housing a pair of false percs, a skunk cleaner shrimp and about 5 nassarius snails.  My params are good except some phosphate which could be easily mitigated. I am rediscovering my passion and would like to retrofit my lighting and start adding some corals mostly LPS type stuff and softies.  But these damn mushrooms have totally taken over the tank and I need to rid myself of them.  I was planning on taking each peace of rock out and scrubbing the ubiquitous bastards off but am thinking it would be a futile effort.  Has anyone won the mushroom war?  Id love to keep my rock and not have to start over. 

[seabass]

It's a little pricey, but I feel that I recall someone using a majano anemone wand to get rid of unwanted mushrooms:

https://www.marinedepot.com/majano-wand-aiptasia-majano-eliminator

 

If I recall correctly, there may even be a thread on a cheaper DIY version.

 

*edit* here it is:

 

It may be better to just sell the rock (to your LFS or someone local).  Or, IDK, maybe you can get store credit for some new rock.

[Tired]

You could swap the rock out a piece at a time, relatively gradually. Assuming you replace it with cycled live rock, or wait long enough between each swapped piece, it shouldn't cause any issues. And you probably just have to replace the surface rocks, not everything. 

 

I would suspect that any measure involving manual destruction is likely to result in fragments that will eventually grow back. 

 

Let's see some pics- are they pretty mushrooms, at least, that someone might want? Either way, I'm curious what your situation looks like.

[snostorm]

[Ratvan]

3 minutes ago, snostorm said:

Damn you were not kidding

[snostorm]

[snostorm]

yeah its pretty bad.  They are even growing on snail shells😁

 

 

[seabass]

Hmm... maybe some sort of harsh dip.   IDK, I wonder what an alkalinity spike would do to them.  If you go that route, you might wish to do this outside of the tank so that the other inhabitants aren't affected (by the dying organic material).  Mushrooms are pretty hardy, but I'm sure there are some conditions that they won't survive.

[Ratvan]

Probably sell or trade I would think

[seabass]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

Probably sell or trade I would think

Even at $5 apiece, that'd be a sizable amount.

[seabass]

I wonder if another "invasive" species can be added and could hold its own (like Xenia or GSP)?  It might not be a bad look.  Then there are corals with nasty stings which might be able to clear a path for itself. 🤔

[snostorm]

28 minutes ago, seabass said:

I wonder if another "invasive" species can be added and could hold its own (like Xenia or GSP)?  It might not be a bad look.  Then there are corals with nasty stings which might be able to clear a path for itself. 🤔

I was thinking this could be a strategy.  Im not sure how aggressive these corals are.  Once I upgrade my lighting I could put maybe a torch or something...maybe an RBTA?

 

[seabass]

Another idea may be to temporarily put in some sort of non-reef safe predator into the tank (thinking something like a chocolate chip sea star).

 

4 hours ago, snostorm said:

Im not sure how aggressive these corals are.

TBH, I'm not sure which corals would be effective.  I just don't know for sure.

[snostorm]

manual removal will not be an option....lol.  I am thinking of getting Caribsea Life rock and swapping it out.  Really like the way they look and this will give me a new canvas.  Im doing all my water changes with Nutriwater i love that stuff. 

[snostorm]

Well I upgraded my lights to Steves LED retrofit for the Biocube.  I optioned the iridescence booster violet LEDS.  My tank in still rock and shrooms.  But its very purple thats for sure.😁

Im running them at the suggested 30 percent on both channels for now.  I received my 20lbs of caribsea liferock and will be planning on swapping out the rock to finally get rid of my shrooms. Ill put some rock in the back to help biologic filtration until the life rock spored bacteria kick in.  Never will I get mushrooms 

 again.  Gonna trade my rock with the shrooms at LFS will see what I can get for it. 

[snostorm]

The shrooms are not liking my new Steve’s LED retrofit..,,,

[seabass]

Probably light shock from an increase in PAR.  You mentioned that you are running both channels at 30%; you might try lowering them even more.

 

I realize that you don't wish to keep them, but you do want them looking good for the upcoming LFS trade.

[snostorm]

Good point. Im excited to swap my rock.  Question,  with the Caribsea life rock I was gonna put some of my old rock in the sump and remove the rest and scape with the new. almost a straight swap.  No die off so no ammonia spike.  Any issues with this approach?

 

[Tired]

Sounds reasonable. The old rock and your sand should hold enough bacteria to keep your cycle going, though you'll of course want to monitor the parameters thoroughly. 

[seabass]

CaribSea LifeRock is said to be free of organics (so no breakdown into ammonia).  It also is infused with AragAlive™ bacteria, so it should support a biofilter of some sort.  It might not initially be as much as your current rock, but will get there eventually.  As Tired suggested, monitor ammonia and have some Seachem Prime available just in case.

[snostorm]

more than anything I want my clowns to be ok.  Sounds silly but they have been with me for 13 years, 4 moves, 2 hurricanes and they are still chillin.  Id hate to lose them.

 

[seabass]

4 hours ago, snostorm said:

more than anything I want my clowns to be ok.

To be 100% sure, (before you switch the rocks) you might wish to build up the biofilter on the new rocks using the fishless cycling guide:

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

[Tired]

Oh, you've got some pretty old clowns! That's impressive. I will warn you that they're probably getting near the ends of their life cycles, but as long as they still seem active enough, they've probably got awhile left to go. 

 

Do you plan to add any other fish, after the rock is swapped over and everything is stable? 

[snostorm]

I always loved sixlines...2 years ago when on vacation my AC shit the bed and the tank temp spiked.  The sixline didnt make it.  But my clowns were near the surface hanging in.  Im not inclined to add more fish in this tank I just added a cleaner shrimp. Momma clown is pretty feisty,  She bombs my hand at times when cleaning the tank. They are well fed.  Im gonna be sad when they go...and sad for the one left when inevitably one goes.  They are inseparable. Not sure how long they live in captivity.  Im hesitant to disrupt there habitat with any other fish. I just want to do corals again and the damn mushrooms took over.  Shame really my rock is nice with coraline its as old as the clowns. 

 

[seabass]

Yeah, it'd be hard to start over when you already have mature rock.  New rock may invite new problems.  However, I get wanting to keep other species of coral.

 

On the plus side, a new aquascape may lessen the clownfish's aggression a bit (as she won't immediately recognize the tank as her territory.  Although I would guess that will be relatively short lived.

 

My clownfish pair is similar in age.  It will be sad when they go.