This little guys has a story to tell : )

[Shawn_epicurious]

Can't recall, but have you tried feeding it directly? My little mushroom's growth took off when I started feeding reef-roids directly. And it was fun to watch! It would curl up into a little puckered ball shape, ingest, and after some time, slowly open back up again. The color has gone from a dull maroon red to a bright orange now as well.

Like with a little eye dropper with food? I have not. He has been getting phytoplankton daily and oyster feast every other day. But I have not tried direct feeding him yet. I have to go to my LFS tomorrow for some supplies.

Looks like coralline to me. Even if it were to be cyano, usually you can easily blow it off with a turkey baster or dose Chemiclean and the stuff vanished over night. Regardless, just looks like maroon coralline to me

I’ll keep a close eye on it now that I’ve seen it. Thank you

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Here's a picture of my 50ml syringe with a similar needle.

I like that one! How long does that last? ....needle rust over time?

 

[LRT]

Like with a little eye dropper with food? I have not. He has been getting phytoplankton daily and oyster feast every other day. But I have not tried direct feeding him yet. I have to go to my LFS tomorrow for some supplies.

I’ll keep a close eye on it now that I’ve seen it. Thank you

Try directly feeding him with a tiny piece of mysis shrimp directly over its mouth.
I use a pipette. My wife uses chopsticks but she is gifted with the chops. You can use anything your comfortable with target feeding. Point is feed it. It will eat. And prefers meat.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Try directly feeding him with a tiny piece of mysis shrimp directly over its mouth.
I use a pipette. My wife uses chopsticks but she is gifted with the chops. You can use anything your comfortable with target feeding. Point is feed it. It will eat. And prefers meat.

Thank you! I thought was a filter feeder.

 

[LRT]

Thank you! I thought was a filter feeder.

Possibly although I dont know exactly. As well as probably absorbs certain nutrients through its soft flesh.
But my Ricordias prefer shrimp.
Give it a try. Target feed to its mouth with the flow off and see.
My guess is 99% sure it's a baby ricordia and they like to eat. I've had them eat shrimp twice there own size as babies.

 

[legrunt]

I like that one! How long does that last? ....needle rust over time?

Been using this for a few months now. So far no rust. I have about 5 needles attached to syringes of various sizes, from the 5ml one I use to apply f-aiptasia, the 10ml one I use to feed reef roids, to the 50ml one I use to transfer baby brine shrimp from the hatchery to the holding tank... Sometimes I rinse them with tap water, sometimes I just flick them off... but so far no rust at all. I'm actually pretty impressed with them.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Been using this for a few months now. So far no rust. I have about 5 needles attached to syringes of various sizes, from the 5ml one I use to apply f-aiptasia, the 10ml one I use to feed reef roids, to the 50ml one I use to transfer baby brine shrimp from the hatchery to the holding tank... Sometimes I rinse them with tap water, sometimes I just flick them off... but so far no rust at all. I'm actually pretty impressed with them.

Where did you get em?

 

[legrunt]

ebay. Search for long needle syringe. They are usually blunt, and used for ink filling...

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

The last picture I posted of this little guy was on June 8.... so this pic is 18 days later. It is growing very slowly.

it also moves... not much, but it does keep moving around a little on the rock it is attached to

still don’t know what he is : (

 

[Fink]

I got a rock with a few hitchhiker watermelon mushrooms, the small ones were like the size of a ballpoint pin head a few months ago, and also had that translucent look to them. There were a total of three on the rock, one of them is now huge. I can try and get some photos of them when I get home for reference. I think most folks here are correct stating that it's a juvenile ricordia.

 

[F i s h y]

Does it have a name? Ive been following along i feel like we should name it. Im still thinking its a ricordia mushroom. Either way @Shawn_epicurious its looking good and so is the tank. Keep up the good work

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Does it have a name? Ive been following along i feel like we should name it. Im still thinking its a ricordia mushroom. Either way @Shawn_epicurious its looking good and so is the tank. Keep up the good work

I’ve been calling him Lucky : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I got a rock with a few hitchhiker watermelon mushrooms, the small ones were like the size of a ballpoint pin head a few months ago, and also had that translucent look to them. There were a total of three on the rock, one of them is now huge. I can try and get some photos of them when I get home for reference. I think most folks here are correct stating that it's a juvenile ricordia.

I’d love to see the pics!

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

So, the continuing saga of “Lucky” ... maybe I should change his name lol

Something knocked the little guy off of his rock yesterday; the rock I glued him to. And of course I was out of gel super glue. I had to just let him lay there for a whole day. I got him glued back down last night and put back in the same basic place. He seems okay : )

 

[Billdogg]

Are you gluing the mushroom itself or the rock it is attached to? IMHO, you should NEVER glue the mushroom itself, anymore than you would glue an anemone somewhere. They are motile creatures and need to be able to move to where they want to be, even if that means they aren't where you want them to be.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Are you gluing the mushroom itself or the rock it is attached to? IMHO, you should NEVER glue the mushroom itself, anymore than you would glue an anemone somewhere. They are motile creatures and need to be able to move to where they want to be, even if that means they aren't where you want them to be.

No, I wouldn’t glue “him” : ) if you look at the pic below, he is actually attached to a very small rock. I glued THAT rock to a bigger rock. He is still small enough that his whole body is still only touching the smaller rock. I tried really hard to not get any glue on him. I think I was successful. (The pic below is an older pic from before he got knocked off) my lights are still off so I can’t take a new pic yet.

 

[F i s h y]

Lucky is a fighter

 

[Billdogg]

No, I wouldn’t glue “him” : ) if you look at the pic below, he is actually attached to a very small rock. I glued THAT rock to a bigger rock. He is still small enough that his whole body is still only touching the smaller rock. I tried really hard to not get any glue on him. I think I was successful. (The pic below is an older pic from before he got knocked off) my lights are still off so I can’t take a new pic yet.

I assumed that was what you had done . Just making sure

 

[HaveFishWillTravel]

My water chemistry has been very consistant the last 2 months. I am dealing with a diatom bloom right now... it’s thinning out.... hence the heavy vacuuming.

You just described the plan : ) he seems to be thriving in low light and low flow. He was in the sand in a cave for... I dunno... 2 weeks before I really found him. I tried to keep him that way... but he is too small to be in the sand my himself. I have conches and elephant snails down there... fingers crossed : )

Hi there, I don’t know who your little guy is, but I love his color. You wrote that your tank is experiencing a diatom bloom? My new tank just did as well. It’s 50 gallons. I got 12 Turbo snails and within about 4 days, they had eaten away and spit shined every single rock and the floor of that nasty brown snow. No vacuuming necessary. Let us know if you find out who Mr. Blue Guy is.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Hi there, I don’t know who your little guy is, but I love his color. You wrote that your tank is experiencing a diatom bloom? My new tank just did as well. It’s 50 gallons. I got 12 Turbo snails and within about 4 days, they had eaten away and spit shined every single rock and the floor of that nasty brown snow. No vacuuming necessary. Let us know if you find out who Mr. Blue Guy is.

Very nice!

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was creating the diatom Algea faster then they could eat it. Now that I have a good understanding of the need to check the TDS in my RODI... it is almost gone.