Eradicating Hairy Mushrooms Solved

[Redeemed]

While I enjoyed (and still do) getting my first mushroom and watching it multiply and look awesome on my rock, it has started to spread too much and will eventually take over my encrusting, digi and plated montis. Ive heard of the ice cube trick but decided to try something and it works. I had some reef epoxy putty and simply thinned it out and put a cap over all of it making sure it is secured so that it doesnt pack its bags and travel.

Its completely covered and cant move. Then in a couple weeks I will remove the putty and siphon out the remains.

 

[Peace River]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JayM]

How'd it work out?

I was thinking along the same lines, but I planned to fill a ziplock bag with sand and lay it over the top of the offending crop of 'shrooms. My thoughts are that it will block the light, and therefore their ability to feed, I won't need to waste epoxy, and it's essentially free. My concern is that killing a dozen mushrooms at a time may have other ill effects and I'm kinda gun shy to give it a go.

 

[Idech]

When I scrape my rocks with a toothbrush, I occasionally have mushrooms detach even though I am careful. That’s what I would do if I wanted to get rid of them.

 

[Redeemed]

Well, I can say for sure now it worked! I made sure to keep them covered for well over a week. They shrunk down to the size of a dime approximately, but the base was a bit larger. What I did was scrape the remains off in the tank, not worrying about the floating remains and then scooped those out with a net. The base or foot was a bit tougher to slough off since it was quite clear and "slimy" so I blew water over the area each time I scraped to see if there was any base remaining.

Then, I noticed when I cleaned the net, how awful the decomposition smell was and imagined there was a significant ammonia release in the tank. I did a 20% water change and ensured I had adequate carbon. Everything in the tank turned out great and they are all finally gone. While I loved those little guys, I couldn't let them take over my digis and encrusting montis. I only had about four good-sized shrooms.

I recommend to never eradicate more than 2-3 at a time depending on tank size so you obviously dont overwhelm your water quality. But your idea with the sand would work just as well as my idea. Good luck!