Fragged up jawbreaker causing problems??

[bacc2bacc]

I run a mushroom dominant 10G nano, low flow and light through the tank. All of my disco shrooms out of no where are shriveled up and are looking quite mad for the past 2 days. Even my regular red discos(which are normally super hardy) and my jawbreakers. All my rhoadactis (forest fire, 2-3 different morphs of Superman, OG bounce, ect) seem to be unaffected.

Only changes in my small tank was I put a small bag of chemipure elite in the rear chambers a few days ago, I took it out last night to see if it made a difference, maybe it was pulling something out of the water the discosomas really liked?

Another culprit, a few days ago I recently fragged up a big jawbreaker off a plug, I cut it up through the foot but not through the mouth, both pieces seem to be recovering fine for a couple days then they start looking like this.

I’ve talked to a few other people who’ve had this same problem with their disco shrooms after fragging jawbreakers. Now I am suspecting some chemical warfare is being released from the jawbreakers that’s affecting all other discos including all the other jawbreakers. (I fragged my red discos up before when I didn’t have jb in my tank and they were all fine) I am currently running some activated carbon along with a bag of chemipure elite.

Anyone else have bad fragging expierences with jawbreaker mushrooms? I am starting to feel like something the jawbreaker is putting out is affecting all discosoma mushrooms in the tank. All my of my JB are affected, my 2 big mamas, and 3-4 baby jb all look shriveled up. Please feel free to share and give me your input.

 

[Katrina71]

Elite doesn't work well for us. We prefer chemipure blue.

 

[bacc2bacc]

Elite doesn't work well for us. We prefer chemipure blue.

Can you enlighten me why? From what I seen and hear, many use elite over blue. But I really don’t think the chemipure is what caused the problem with my mushrooms.

 

[Katrina71]

Ferric oxide in elite removes phosphate and silicates.

 

[bacc2bacc]

Ferric oxide in elite removes phosphate and silicates.

But isn’t that what we want? To remove silicates and phosphates from our water?

 

[Midrats]

The addition of chemical media, especially when not used regularly can rapidly deplete nutrients resulting in unhappy inhabitants.

 

[bacc2bacc]

The addition of chemical media, especially when not used regularly can rapidly deplete nutrients resulting in unhappy inhabitants.

I just removed the chemipure once and for all. Before I was only running floss and a bag of carbon, that’s it and all my corals were looking happy. Few days after I added the chemipure, my discos indeed start acting unhappy. Thanks for the input, gonna roll with the carbon and floss for a week or 2 and see how it goes.

 

[Katrina71]

But isn’t that what we want? To remove silicates and phosphates from our water?

Well...yes and no. Depends on livestock demands. I have several things that prefer a dirtier environment.

 

[Katrina71]

You may want to do a water change as well. It certainly won't hurt.

 

[Midrats]

Sounds like a plan. I stick to a small amount of carbon used passively in my sump. Anytime I use chemical media in a reactor, or even in a higher flow area, my corals disapprove.

 

[bacc2bacc]

You may want to do a water change as well. It certainly won't hurt.

Yup, I’ve been doing 25-30% WC every 3-4 days, not sure if I should keep that up or let the water get “dirtier” since I house mainly mushrooms and they prefer dirtier water.

 

[Katrina71]

I'd observe for now. See if there is improvement.

 

[bacc2bacc]

Thanks for the input all, I will be updating this thread as progression goes along. Any other input or discussion is appreciated and welcomed.

 

[bacc2bacc]

I moved all the JBs into a low flow area, also lowered intensity and lighting period. My rhoadactis are stretching for light like crazy, I guess they’re not used to this low par. My 2 mama JB just keep retracting back and fourth, shrinking, puffing back up but very frilly skirts. They are def bothered, looking like they’re about to let go of their footing. They only probably expanded to 35% of what I’ve seen them at usually. Looks like a waiting game now, not sure if I should be changing water consistently or just let the tank stabilize itself.

 

[bacc2bacc]

Gonna get a pic of my regular red discos later too, they’re also looking the same way my JB are. Seems only discosoma shrooms are affected. I’ve fragged the red ones before and they grew back fast, then when I fragged the big JB off its foot, it was fine for a few days then just started doing this

 

[bacc2bacc]

The jawbreakers and the rest of my discosomas seem to be stabilizing. The red discos are opening back up big again and the JB aren’t twisting and turning around anymore. Fingers crossed, hopefully they just stay good. I also removed the chemipure and I’m not sure if that helped but I’ll only be running floss and carbon from now on in this tank. Oh, and no more fragging jawbreakers