Faded Mushrooms

[Schgred]

I cured about 20 pounds of live rock and have now moved them to the display tank. When I first got the LR it needed to be cured. But when I first got it it had some great looking mushrooms on it. Since curing it and now putting it in the display tank the color is gone from the mushrooms. You can see the before and after pictures. Is there anything I can/should do to get the coloring back or are they just stressed because of the curing? Can I just assume that the color will come back over time once this tank gets cycled?

How much lighting do these mushrooms need? How about temperature and salinity?

[Animal-Chin]

To me it looks like you killed them all and they will probably rot and polute your display tank. They look fuzzy now. I'd take those rocks out and let the dye off finish in a bucket or something.

[Schgred]

Really? I've read from many that it is really difficult to kill mushrooms. Quoted like "if your mushroom is still in one piece, odds are that it will recover, but it may take some time."

[Animal-Chin]

Ya I don't know, keep an eye on them if you see them disintagrating any more than they look now I'd yank them. Did you cure your rock but putting them in the dark for a long time or something? If so what you're doing is cutting off their light which keeps them a live and then letting them live in water full of die off from your live rock. Thats a pretty harsh environment for the animal to survive in.

[Schgred]

The rock was in an established tank for a number of years until the tank sprung a leak. The rock was then in buckets with unheated saltwater for 5 days. When I got the rock after those 5 days the shrooms looked good. I put it in a tank to cure it for about 2 weeks with some light halfway through the curing.

[Noturaveragereefer]

I guess im confused on why it needed to be cured if it was already in an established tank and had healthy life form on it...just for my reference.

[Schgred]

Because it had quite a bit of die off when I got it. It smelled really bad for a good 3 days. It sat in the buckets for 5 days with little to no light, no water movement, and no heat. In fact the day I got it, it had been in the guys car for a good 14 hours in cold Wisconsin.

When I first pulled it out of the buckets there were probably 7 dead bristleworms at the bottom of the bucket. It was not in good shape.

[Schgred]

Any other thoughts/opinions?

[Schgred]

I don't mean to beat this thing too much but if the mushrooms are dead what happens if they are left in the tank? I can't seem to find any information anywhere about this. At what point will they really affect the water quality? At this point parameters are still good. There is some good color starting to show at the base of the mushrooms but not on the mushrooms themselves yet.

[aadair22]

Originally Posted by Schgred

I don't mean to beat this thing too much but if the mushrooms are dead what happens if they are left in the tank? I can't seem to find any information anywhere about this. At what point will they really affect the water quality? At this point parameters are still good. There is some good color starting to show at the base of the mushrooms but not on the mushrooms themselves yet.

Leave em in there.. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Godfrey]

My Lfs had a rock with All these clear mushrooms on it( and I mean totally see thru and I watched those go back to full color I'd give it time

[Schgred]

Ok thanks. Ill wait it out. They looked great when they were healthy so I'm hoping they'll recover.