Help! Dieing mushrooms

[mynameisrodney]

Hi everyone.

About 10 days ago I added my first corals, some mushrooms. I have had decent coralline growth, all my hitch-hiker corals were doing quite well, and my parameters seemed ok so I thought I'd give it a shot. For the first week there was no problems, they all seemed fine. Then all the ones on one side of the piece of lr they are attached to started shrivelling up, the mouths opened up really wide, and they have these white squiggly things on them. I thought they might be flat worms, but they don't appear to move, and I have a sixline wrasse which I thought ate flatworms which is completely uninterested with them.

I thought it was wierd that it was only one side of the piece that it was happening to, some differences are:
- dieing side faces middle of tank and has more light
- dieing side is kind of close to a hitch-hiking coral i have growing


TANK SPECS

HARDWARE
36x15x18"
45 - 50 lb live rock
dodgy in tank skimmer
fluval 304 (primarily used for flow until i get my sump set up)
30kg of sand/coral sand
automatic fresh water top off
2x39w T5HO light with 1 white and 1 actinic tube

WATER PARAMETERS
SG = 1.023
ph = 8.2-8.4
kh = 13 dkh
calcium = 380
ammonia/nitrate/nitrite = 0
phosphate = 0 (but algae is growing so i'm assuming there's some there)

LIVESTOCK
2 blue chromis
1 sixline wrasse
10 hermit crabs
15 assorted snails
~5 small crab hitch-hikers

Here's the dieing side
i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/mynameisrodney/SDC10394.jpg

The Healthy side
i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/mynameisrodney/SDC10396.jpg

Another nearby
i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/mynameisrodney/SDC10397.jpg

The hitch-hiker coral which I'm unsure of
i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/mynameisrodney/SDC10401.jpg

[whatevva]

How long has the tank been up and running?

SG is a bit low for my taste.

1.025-1.026 is my target

[bb0029]

I had some similar problems in the past. Be careful what they are next too. I assumed that corals used "stinger tentacles" to attack neighbors. I had no idea that most use "chemical warfare" where water flow and such contributed to some of my corals being attacked rather then just dying.

I have also been told that sometimes a coral will kill some of itself off to preserve itself if it is not happy as well. Good luck to you and hopefully you will be able to figure it out. Lots of good folks and advice on these forums with tons of knowledge.

[REEFIN'ROB]

I'd try shading them for a couple of days. What kind of mushrooms and what coral are they close too? Mushrooms tend to be pretty tough so it would have to be a pretty aggressive coral. I'm betting it's a light issue.

[mynameisrodney]

Thanks for the replies.

The tank has been running for about 10 weeks now. I have been been using NSW so far and do realise that the SG is slightly low. Am i better off sticking with NSW and just using a small amount of the artificial stuff to bump it up a few points or should I switch to artificial altogether. The main reasons I have been using NSW are that I don't have to mix it and I don't have an RO/DI unit.

I'll try moving it to a spot in less light and away from the hitch-hiker and see what happens. Can anyone identify what that hitch-hiker is? If it's likely to be a problem I will remove it. Also the general consensus is that this is not flatworms correct? If it is, I'd hate to get them spreading throughout the tank.

Cheers
Chris

[mynameisrodney]

Well im up to 20 posts so i can put the pics in now.

Good mushrooms




Dieing mushrooms




Possible offending chemical warfare sprayer

[airbear77]

Mushrooms are obviously unhappy about something and spitting up their guts. They are not flatworms. I had a similar post sometime back. I have one or two that do that on occasion and then they get in a better mood and go back to normal. I seriously doubt that the encrusting leather is the culprit. I have a ricordia sitting in the middle of some of that and it is the biggest prettiest ric I have. Good luck!

[mynameisrodney]

Thanks airbear. that makes me feel a bit happier knowing it's not flatworms. I moved the piece to a shadier spot, then blew all the debris off my liverock to do a waterchange, and as soon as i did this a spiderweb type thing coming out of a tube became visible right next to the mushrooms (unfortunately on the piece they are attached to). What's the likelyhood of this stressing them out?

[mynameisrodney]

ok so after a week in a spot with less light, the healthy ones are still healthy, but the dieing ones are all shrivelled and brown. Should I cut them off the rock before they start to disintegrate in the tank or should I leave them in case there's a chance they pull through?