Shrinking Shroom

[movinweight]

I acquired a great striped mushroom rock from my LFS yesterday. Loaded with extras on the rock(good and bad) but overall it looked great at the shop. After floating for a half hour after i got it home I noticed that most of the mushrooms had shrunk to about half of their size. After putting it in my tank the shrimp picked at it for a while but just around the shrooms, not seeming to hurt them. I figured it had to be a bit of a shock so I have not thought anything of it. This morning I noticed that some of the shrooms are shriveling up a bit but have not changed colors at all. None of them have expanded back to the original size like at the LFS. Is this normal or could I have done something different for these guys? I can upload a pic later once I get back home. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Hara]

What's done is done....but your acclimation procedures need to be changed. Floating does nothing except balance the temperature. ALL saltwater creatures should be drip acclimated until the water in the bag matches that which is in the tank. This should take a minimum of an hour and sometimes 3-4 if the differences are great. Some of the mushrooms are probably a bit shocky and may recover. For now, I would leave them alone.

 

[movinweight]

cool...thanks for the advice....I drip acclimate all my fish and inverts but was not aware to drip corals. It makes sense though. Hopefully it will come out alright, i am going to give it a couple of days. Thanks for your help!

Oh yeah...where in LA are you?

 

[Hara]

Oh yeah...where in LA are you?

I am an hour west of Alexandria, Toledo Bend area.

 

[movinweight]

beautiful area! I am in the now over-stuffed capital of LA, the lovely Baton Rouge....any good LFS's in your area?

 

[Hara]

There is one somewhat local, LFS, in ALexandria. Very small store, common stocking. Nothing I would make a special trip for.