Ric's won't lay flat!

[Rene]

Okay, this may be a silly peeve, but I can see in photos that other people's ricordea lay nice and close to the substrate. I've had mine for months. They don't lay flat like that in my tank. Otherwise they seem healthy, the color is GREAT, they eat like pigs, they just...won't lay down. They're always looking puffy but a bit cupped up. I can see the stems an underside of the rics without too much effort. Is it too much light? Too little? Too much flow? My tank is as follows:

 

3 gallon plastic tank, approx. 10" high

2X13w 50/50 bulbs

Aquaclear Mini (or 20 as they're now calling it) running on the lowest setting

 

They're all ricordea florida. These would be a colony of three blue rics on a rock, and an orange and blue single. I moved the single to a very dark spot in the tank and it's laying flat, but the vesicles (pimples, bubbles, nipples, whatever) are now not expanding as well. I got this same ric to lay flat by putting it under current which literally pinned it to the rock, but I later decided this might not be the best thing for it . The only one that lays flat, ironically, is my teal one which bleached out when I left the aquarium for a few days and there was a freshwater topoff incident. It's right beside and partially under the blue ones, getting some shade from them.

 

So what the heck am I doing wrong? Where are all you people with nice, puffy, FLAT florida rics and what are your secrets to a handsome mushroom?

[Tigahboy]

too little light and they are thus reaching for it (thus you see the stem).

[EtOH_is_good]

my guess would also be too little light. no wonder that they are hungry.

[jmt]

Actually, that's a common misconception about shrooms.

 

It could be any number of reasons. Too much flow, something is irritating them, or they're cupping up in order to catch food.

 

How often do you feed them?

 

Also, check to see if there are any moderately sized bristle worm sslithering around them at night.

[Newbie527]

Rene,

For me to give you a true honest helpful assessment...you are going to have to send me a few polyps.

 

just kidding but to ask another question in your thread...do bristleworms pose a threat to any items in an aquarium?

[jmt]

Generally no. Aside from knocking stuff over they're said to be pretty harmless.

 

I said that b/c the rics might be over the top of a birstle hole. If worms are comming out from under them, in the sand or rock, they will become irritated and "stand up".

[Rene]

I tried moving the blue rics into better light to address the problem, and I left them there for a few days. Nada. If anything, they cupped quite a bit more when I moved them out of their dark, sheltered cranny and into a higher-flow, better lit area. I don't have a lot of areas in my tank with little flow and bright light. The light certainly didn't help, and the current seemed to irritate them.

 

I feed them weekly with formula one flake food, and they also seem to respond to the phyto I put in every other day. When they feed, they get nice and flat. I was just given a green one that is sitting in the sand below the blue ones...and staying flat and puffy and beautiful. Because I also have a teal ric that did this (until aformentioned bleaching incident) and both were just about flush with the sand, I'm thinking it actually may be too much flow. Even if I place these suckers less than 3" total from my 2 X 13 watt pcs, they still cup. This tank does have pretty high flow, an aquaclear mini set on full in a three gallon tank. And the orange non-cupping ric is in a low-flow area with very dim light...but still looks happier than the blues. Could the flow be the problem?

 

All my bristle worms are teeny-tiny And the rics lay flat at night after lights out, oddly enough.

 

Could 2 X 13 watts possibly be too little light? I've got various zoanthids, mushrooms, and a candycane coral thriving under that lighting. And it's 8.6 watts per gallon.

[thrasher1472]

what kinda flow. are they kinda flapping

[phergus_25]

mine cup in the morning but lay flat later, but it seems that they should have enough light, well if they are doing well then let them alone.

[Rene]

They, err, wobble, I guess.

[Rene]

They're doing well. They've been doing well for a while. I just wonder if they could do better. In a few months I'm going to be getting both stronger lighting and setting up a modified spraybar system to diffuse the flow, so hopefully that will help.

[thrasher1472]

without a pic to really tell anything, I would say they are fine.

[Rene]

I'm inclined to agree. I figure I'll slowly move the colony around the tank to see if it likes somewhere else better, or just wait until I revamp the tank flow. They may be cupping, but they're opened fully, colorful, expanded, and eating. Guess I'm just over-protective.

[Rene]

Very belated update: I switched tanks over to a new 5.5 with better lighting. Turns out all they wanted was brighter light. Go fig. I wouldn't have believed it, but there you go.