mushrooms starting to droop, and close up...

well recently had used tap water, but the past 5 months after switching to RO water started to notice after a few months of using, 3 of 4 emerald crab had died and mushrooms started to close, they turn white at the base and move upward and eventually they turn all white and fall off the rock...
salinity is 1.023, amon. 0 nitrate 0 ph 8.2 to 8.3, nitrite had a problem w/ use those dip sticks was about 80 ppm yes high i know, changed 10 gallons 2 weeks ago brought down to 40 ppm waited and changed again 2 days ago now reads at 20ppm... have been adding purple up, 2 times a week great stuff for the rock!!!! now before i used and changed water my calcium was 1050ppm i thought that was wrong rechecked and came out same did a water change and brought down to around 420ppm, now i had removed my bio-bale blue hair stuff from my cpr back pack skimmer, removed the bio sponge from trickle and added live rock... per heard from several stores, if u have a reef tank to remove the bio stuff ??? yes also add trace elements, tank has been up for little over 2 years now 55 gallon w/ about 60 pounds of live rock, I have for fish are, diamond goby, royal gamma, bi color blenny, 1 yellow tang, chromis damsel, and a clarkii...
1 banded starfish, now heres another thing my pollyps and candy coral are doing great, just a problem w mushrooms all easy care were multyplying like hell at first month and now they seem to just go away... there, there but like the size of dime when they were as big as a closed fist (diameter) ha ha
fish are doing great also................. :-/

 

Welcome to 3 Reef!


What is your alkalinity and what trace elements do you add ? Do you test for those trace elements?


Sounds like you ended up with too much purple up in your tank with a CA over 1000 (I think than number may be off tho. You should have had a snowstorm in your tank unless your alk is super low)

The nitrates could have been a problem, and/or the CA.

 

ill try to answer for the shrooms...im not sure if this is correct but...one day i bought 2 rocks both with shrooms...one of the rocks all the shroom turned white (a little greenish) and the other stayed brown, red etc...the white shrooms r still alive i think it just might be different and all the zooanthislfjfsklfjsklfjsldk...lol spelling but u know...the stuff that gives coral its color...thats my 2 cents

 

hi birdlady, well I had forgot to write that I had changed lighting also, well before I had up a coralife light w/ 2 65w 50/50 bulbs and a 20w atinic bulb, than switched to 220w system w/ 2 55w 50/50 bulbs and 2 55w blue bulbs, and night lights were 4 3/4w lunar lights, well this morning I switched back to what I had and now my mushrooms have accually perked up, but will see what happens, also checked out my calcium yes alittle high, 550ppm, alkalinity is about 210ppm which is ideal, essential elements, and strontium and molybdenum, is what I add nitrate is 0 and my nitrite at 20ppm at the moment...

 

OK, I am going with the light theory. They do not need bright light. Adjust over time. Only light for a short while each day and gradually increase the time, that should help. Ca is a bit high (and I am not sure about alk, I measure in dKH or meqL's) but I do not feel that is the main problem. Keep us posted.

 

hi again, is there a way to lower the ca in tank w/out doing another water change ???

 

It should go down on it's own if you stop adding the purple up for now. What salt brand are you using? (if I had to guess - I might guess Oceanic brand) What measurement is that alkalinity in? Usually, a good reading might be 4 MeqL or 12 dKH. I am not familiar with the unit of measure you referred to. Oops, I found it, CaCO3 equivalents? Range according to this article, is 124 - 200, so you are on the high side yet......

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

Here is a good article on the Calcium, Alkalinity, pH relationships..

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm


I would also take a water sample to your LFS and have them double check your results. I really doubt the first reading you had of over 1000 on the calcium.

Also, when your numbers come down a bit, test before adding the purple up. Then try adding a little less each week than you were. You should be able to find a sweet spot where your tank stays stable with a fixed amount added weekly.

Nitrates were probably what happened to the crabs....I would guess.

JMHO

 

according to the test strips, its right in the middle of ideal... for the alkalinity, and I had stopped using the purple up, for now, was using for 3 weeks strait, everyday,
stopped using about 2 weeks ago, when I get home tonight after work hope to see some improvement w/ changing the lights, but I guess thats what u get for buying a cheap lighting system, it was by jebo, ever heard of, 220w 4 bulb system for 49.95 I said hell ya what can go wrong, well see huh, thanks again bird...

 

It is not that it is a poor quality light! Don't get me wrong...sorry....I did not communicate very well.


Mushrooms are not high light animals. They do best in low to moderate light. They just need to be adjusted to the brighter light slowly..

 

well I messed up its nitrate not nitrite is high my nitrite is 0 checked out my nitrate levels yesterday night and there at 40ppm which is in the mark for ok, but I sure dont think so, calcium at 500ppm now, its lowering!!! woo hoo thats a good sign, the lights are not making any difference so far, I got a five day weekend off of work I will be doing another water change, oh and happy mothers day!!!