I went on round 2 of my GHA attack today. It's been slowly creeping back on the rocks that have corals attached. Last time I went after the algae, I was too careful to avoid getting the H2O2 on the corals, so it just grew back. So this time, I removed each of the affected rock/corals, and set them into a bin with tank water to pick off as much of the algae as possible. Then, I applied H2O2 more generously to the rocks. I tried my best to keep the corals in the water the whole time. While I had my mushroom rock in the bin, I noticed the white curly stringy stuff coming out of their mouths. What is that stuff, by the way...?
So, after I finished with it, I put the rock back into my tank. The mushrooms then got very flat and sorta shriveled. I decided to frag off the middle mushroom, because the other 2 are so huge and it was looking quite pale and abused. I used a very sharp knife and cut through the base of the stalk, then tied it down to a small rock. This seemed to make the others even more angry. They started producing mucus and the white curly stringy stuff is all over the place on each one. Also, when I removed the smaller one, it left behind stringy white insides too, which you can see at the top of the rock.
Last time I saw this reaction from my mushroom was when I accidentally dropped some salt directly on its flesh. I thought it was dead because it had a hole in it and a large piece hung limp for quite a while before finally coming off and attaching to the substrate. The other part split into the 3 ones you see on the rock. (I traded the 4th one with a friend a few months ago.) They were all about the size of a nickel and 3 of the 4 grew very large essentially completely covering the small pale one that I fragged. They are about 4" across, fully extended. So, I am hoping that the reaction I'm seeing with all the white stuff all over is just it deciding to split again. Now, I noticed that one of them has pulled most of the white stuff back in.
If anyone else has any knowledge or advice, I would be happy to hear it!
So, after I finished with it, I put the rock back into my tank. The mushrooms then got very flat and sorta shriveled. I decided to frag off the middle mushroom, because the other 2 are so huge and it was looking quite pale and abused. I used a very sharp knife and cut through the base of the stalk, then tied it down to a small rock. This seemed to make the others even more angry. They started producing mucus and the white curly stringy stuff is all over the place on each one. Also, when I removed the smaller one, it left behind stringy white insides too, which you can see at the top of the rock.
Last time I saw this reaction from my mushroom was when I accidentally dropped some salt directly on its flesh. I thought it was dead because it had a hole in it and a large piece hung limp for quite a while before finally coming off and attaching to the substrate. The other part split into the 3 ones you see on the rock. (I traded the 4th one with a friend a few months ago.) They were all about the size of a nickel and 3 of the 4 grew very large essentially completely covering the small pale one that I fragged. They are about 4" across, fully extended. So, I am hoping that the reaction I'm seeing with all the white stuff all over is just it deciding to split again. Now, I noticed that one of them has pulled most of the white stuff back in.
If anyone else has any knowledge or advice, I would be happy to hear it!