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mushroom splitting!

10K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  conger 
#1 ·
Hi all, so I've got a green hairy mushroom (not sure if that's what its really called, but that's what I call it!)... when I brought it home from the LFS, it was a little under an inch across, now it's closer to 2 inches :-D. I've been wondering how big it was going to get, until today I noticed that it is starting to split! Pretty cool, I guess now I'll have two green hairy mushrooms lol.

Before I noticed the split, I was considering fragging it, but I've heard that they can release toxins if you cut/split them in the tank, and didn't want to deal with that. But I guess he's fragging himself for me, lol. Here's a pic of him just a few minutes ago, I'll update again when the split is complete.

Stony coral Coral Coral reef Reef Natural environment


The color under actinics doesn't come out well in my camera, but he's a bright, flourescent green in person, it's pretty cool. To give some perspective on his size relative to the whole tank (it's a 90 gal, 4' long), here are some full tank shots from all angles (you can see the mushroom in the first pic here). I wish I could get a clean, not-blurry FTS, but I haven't figured out how to get that yet.

Reef Coral reef Aquarium decor Freshwater aquarium Natural environment

Reef Coral reef Aquarium lighting Freshwater aquarium Natural environment

Aquarium decor Aquarium Freshwater aquarium Filter Aquarium lighting
 
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#5 ·
now I've got three lol. The largest one (original mushroom) looks like it might want to split again soon. What a deal I got on that guy! $10 at my LFS.

Stony coral Reef Coral Organism Coral reef


Reef Coral reef Coral Natural environment Organism
 
#7 ·
Will you be fragging it to keep it under control?
Well, I've never fragged anything before... combine that with what I've heard about mushrooms, that they release a toxin when cut, and I really don't want to. Also the rock they are on is one that I'd really prefer to not move/take out, so we'll see where this goes. I don't have much in the way of corals in my tank, so they've got plenty of room to grow without choking out other stuff.

I've got a finger leather that's growing really well, as well as these mushrooms, but I've also got a maze brain, a purple digitata, and a trumpet coral, all of which don't seem to be growing at all. So I'm not sure my coral-keeping skills are up to snuff yet. If this guy wants to grow and multiply, he can go for it!
 
#9 ·
I have never heard of the mushroom toxin being dangerous... interesting. I've always just yanked them off the rock, scrapped them or cut them in half and never worried about it.

It's only been almost a month and you have 3 shrooms now... just be ready to cut them back...
 
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