Coral Fighting

[Maho.B]

Hello all. When I set up my aquarium over a year and a half ago, one of the first coral I bought was a single green frilly mushroom. As the tank matured I decided to move towards a mixed reef leaning more heavily on sps. Well, since then that one mushroom is more than a dozen! Even though I thought they prefer lots of nutrients and low flow I have them in medium flow and fairly low nutrients and they are readily multiplying. Here the issue, one of them is now touching my blood orange Leptoseris. Where they touch, the edge of the mushroom is clearing getting stung as its white and recoiled at the point of impact. The Lepto is also sort of white and affected where it's touching too (the rest of each coral is totally normal looking) so they seem to be about "even" in the fight. Is there a way to remove the mushroom that is touching it? I have tried grabbing it but it is attached so strongly I need some other method if there is one. Thanks.

 

[Tahoe61]

I would cut it back to give the lepto room to grow over it. Just snip snip.
If you can't remove the rock you don't really have any other choice.

 

[Red_Beard]

I have used some curved nose hemostats to remove unwanted mushrooms, as i too have experienced plague like population growth in them. Turn your flow off or down for a bit with the lights still going and they will start to lift their skirts away from the rock a bit, then use the hemostats to pinch it off as close to the foot as possible and rip it off. If you dont get enough of the foot you may have to pull it again when it grows enough to grab hold of. After 2 or 3 of those they are gone.
I have tried kalk paste, lye, aiptasia-x, and smothering them, but hemostats have been the very most effective method.

 

[Maho.B]

I have used some curved nose hemostats to remove unwanted mushrooms, as i too have experienced plague like population growth in them. Turn your flow off or down for a bit with the lights still going and they will start to lift their skirts away from the rock a bit, then use the hemostats to pinch it off as close to the foot as possible and rip it off. If you dont get enough of the foot you may have to pull it again when it grows enough to grab hold of. After 2 or 3 of those they are gone.
I have tried kalk paste, lye, aiptasia-x, and smothering them, but hemostats have been the very most effective method.

So you grab the foot as much as possible with the hemostat and pry/pull it off the rock? I'm assuming if it tears/cuts through it will be fine? If I can get it off healthy I will give it away. Thanks

 

[Red_Beard]

So you grab the foot as much as possible with the hemostat and pry/pull it off the rock? I'm assuming if it tears/cuts through it will be fine? If I can get it off healthy I will give it away. Thanks

Yep, just grab it low and yank it off. It will tear for sure. The chances of getting it to come off healthy are slim. If you do a bunch of them add some activated charcoal to soak up some of the gunk, but 3 or 4 at a time is fine.

 

[Maho.B]

Excellent. Thanks!

 

[Lavey29]

I never move or cut anything. I let nature figure out the neighborhood arrangements.

 

[Maho.B]

I typically am in agreement with you as well, just in this particular case, I have lots of the mushrooms and really like the blood orange lepto... going to intervene just a little