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Easy mushroom corals dissapearing

5K views 6 replies 2 participants last post by  minireef8 
#1 ·
29 gallon biocube, Set up about a month, I have had many successful SW tanks and this is my 4th one. 2 normal clown fish, royal gramma, blue damsel, and a few sand sifting snails. Just added a couple mushroom corals to the tank and one was loose and still getting used to the tank and I saw one of my larger snails go over to it and then the next day all that was left of the one mushroom was bits and pieces:cry:. I am adding iodine iodide and other essential reef minerals, water is perfect no nitrite,nitrate, ammonia, ph is great and everything. Are the sand sifting snails know to eat mushroom corals? Because it certainly looks like that's what happened. Have other bigger mushrooms in the tank and they still seem stressed but they have only been there a couple days so far.
 
#2 ·
what kind of lights? whats your lighting schedule? how much flow is in the tank?

its possible the mushroom detached and floated to another spot.

what are you exact water parameters? ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SG, temp, pH, calcium, mag, alk, and since you are dosing- whats your iodine level?

and welcome to the forum.
 
#3 ·
Thanks! The lights are compact florescent (ones that come with the Bio cube). The mushroom was not attached when I bought him so I know he was floating around the tank, just never found a spot in time. moonlight at night (8pm-8am) and then comes the blue light for a couple hours then i turn on the other full light. Flow is low to medium, have a power head but i turn it off at night and only some parts of the day, I placed the mushrooms is low water flow areas. ammonia is 0, nitrate 10ppm, nitrite 0 alk is fairly high, salinity is right on the mark (have an automatic gauge in tank) temp 78F ph 8.4 I dont test for any others because I have not yet gotten any test kits for those ones. I just use the exact amount it says to use or less each day for my dosing. (2cc drops a day)
 
#4 ·
to start, stop dosing iodine. you dont have enough demand in your tank for it and more importantly your not testing for it. water changes should be enough to replenish the iodine needs.
you need test kits for mag, alk and calcium. saying your alk is fairly high doesnt register in my head. how high is high? same goes for salinity. what is right on the mark?
i would also keep the powerhead on 24/7.
 
#5 ·
Sorry, I wasn't looking at the test strip , but now I know. Salinity is 1.021 alk is about 300ppm
I only turn the power head off at night as A "peaceful" time in the tank. And I will stop using the Iodine. Been meaning to pick up a calcium test because I had one before but lost it. Have never tested for mag but Im guessing I should probably pick up a test kit for that to?
 
#6 ·
liquid test kits are more accurate then strips. alk, ca, and mag all work together. if your mag is low then it will effect one of the other parameters.

as for the "peaceful time" in the tank, put it this way, the ocean never stops making waves. i suggest only turning off pumps/skimmer while feeding.
 
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