Mushroom trouble

[JGR]

I am a pretty experienced aquarist, and I have never seen this before.

My tank started life as a 10 gallon nano. I was keeping really hardy stuff bacause I travel quite a bit.

One finger leather specimin
Purple mushrooms
Green speckled mushrooms
Green Ricordia mushrooms
Lawnmower Blenny
Royal Gramma
One blue leg hermit
5 Astrea snails
One turbo snail
15 pounds of Figi rock
A few small to medium bristle worms

Over the last three weeks I have:

Moved everything to a 20 gallon long
Increased lighting from 30 watts to 80 watts (NO flourescent)
Used local tap water for large water changes. My tap water sucks but has never been a problem for this tank.
Added two rocks with a large number of brown "fuzzy" mushrooms.

Since I have had such great luck with the mushrooms previously I thought it was a no brainier to add some more. I have tried to keep water flow gentle and lighting somewhat subdued. My older specimins get HUGE and are shedding little clones everywhere. I thought I had stumbled onto a formula for happy mushrooms with low light levels and minimal current.

I left town for 4 days and returned to find my purple and green mushrooms rotting in the tank. I do not know if the other mushrooms are soon to go but they do not look full and extended. I have removed all of the "smooth" species that were troubled. I have not removed the "fuzzy"species that seem to be working out better. The verdict is still out on any of the mushrooms but I am hopeful that a rather agressive water change (30%), skimmer and filter cleaning will get the tank back on track. The tank actually smelled! I am not getting an ammonia spike yet but I am sure one is on the way. The newly cleaned skimmer is foaming like a cappicino machine since I hooked it back up this morning

I lost about 40 mushrooms and have another 45 at stake. The leather is doing great.

The newest brown "fuzzy" mushrooms never really showed me the vigor that the other specimens displayed. I chalked it up to a less than ideal life style in the LFS, etc and figured that a few weeks in my tank would show some improvement. Could it be that they carry a mushroom eating bacteria or virus? Is this chemical aggression? Any information that your group can share with me would be useful.

Thanks a bunch,

James

[Big Dave]

Hey James-

I am wondering the same thing. Is there a mushroom disease or infection that will hang around in your tank? I have no problems with my ricordia or hairy shrooms, but my 'regular shrooms' will slowly look worse over time. I have a 135 with 4 6'foot VHO (2actinic/2daylight). Doesn't matter if I put shrooms high or low in the tank, same thing every time. Anybody have any ideas for us? Thanks!

-Big Dave

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Don't really know the truth of this since I have not done alot of research on mushroom trouble shooting but I read that Iodine is essential for proper coloration, expansion, and growth of mushrooms. Anyone else care to expand on this! Johnny

[JGR]

It appeared to hit the loose mushrooms hardest - desintigrated within 4 days.

I started running carbon for the first time in the last three weeks.

The tank was new from a LFS. I rinsed it out before filling, but it could have been dusted with a glass cleaner or 409 in the store.

My skimmer has not been functioning for the last month. It is an external Amiracle rated for a 75 gallon tank.

I have noticed a rather large bristle worm (6 inches) cruising around at night.

Does any of this ring a bell?

James

[hamburglar]

The very same thing happened with my purple mushrooms after adding MarinOomed trying to get rid flatworms. The mushrooms recovered after a few months.

FYI - I only used half of the recommended "reef safe" dose. Oh yea, the flatworms survived.

[Doug1]

Until someone can point to definate iodine levels and tell me which form is needed i dont dose Iodine. It is a powerful antiseptic, and as such may be usefull as a prophylactic dip, helping stave off infections in newly fragged or unattached shrooms.
Untreated tap water can be subject to various aditions depending on time of year(muni water supply) and well water is subject to differening levels of environmental contaminating. I really, really recommend using an Ro/DI or at the very least a tap water purifier before adding to a reef tank.
Chemical contamination from a previous tank is always a possibillity, as is chem warfare between competing species.
large volume water changes may set the shrooms into a funk if the params are way different.
The fact that you have tank stink says something is terribly amiss. i would skim the hell outa it, slowermore frequent water changes, run carbo( change it every 3rd day) and maybe add a poly filter pad, FWIW
As an after thought check powerheads, pumps and wet accesories for possible metal contamination. DO a copper test

[Doug1]

Oh and Never assume some product is reef safe because the mfgr claims it is, always treat in a Q tank or seperate container