cut mushroom???

[fresh]

Hi all,

I have a friend who is selling me a very large blue mushroom (about 6" diameter), however it is on a rock that he doesn't want to part with. The base of the mushroom is about 1" diameter in contact with the rock.

how can we get the mushroom off the rock and have it survive? obviously I don't want to pay for it and then have it die.

thanks in advance

fresh

[Fish]

Just cut through the stalk and attach the cap to a new piece of rock. It will continue to live and the severed part still attached to the rock will also grow into a new one. You could actually cut the cap like a pizza and get 4-6 new frags growing. Mushrooms seem to recover from this really well. www.garf.org has some good info under their "propagation" section. HTH.

- Chad

[Delphinus]

I'm pretty sure you can't kill mushrooms. Not by cutting them at any rate. If you want thousands upon thousands of mushrooms ... cut away. Trust me they'll come out OK from the experience.

[StirCrazy]

if you were to put a few smaller rocks ontop of the much room would it move to the new rock or will it just multiply?

Steve

[Bob I]

I suppose the real question is "why would you want more mushrooms" I myself have been trying to eradicate a red mushroom for the past couple of years with no success. Mushrooms tend to become a plague. Now Ricordia appears to be a lot better.

[Fish]

I guess it's one of those "eye of the beholder" things. I have some blue and red mushrooms mixed together and think they look quite nice under my actinics.
I recently read an article in Coral magazine that you may find interesting Bob. It stated: "zooanthid polyps are still a common sight in German reef aquaria, in spite of the effort of many reefkeepers to permanently rid their tank of these prolific pests."

(For anyone who doesn't already know, Bob is a zoanthid farmer and "prolific pest" or no, his are some of the most beautiful you will find. )

- Chad

[Bob I]

Please don't get me wrong. Mushrooms and zoanthids are great introductions to reefkeeping. I would not for a minute deny anyone the joy of seeing them grow and multiply in their tanks. The problem is the explosion of growth that can happen.(just ask Tony about his explosion of Purple Mushrooms, and me about the explosion of Red Mushrooms). When conditions are right these things can spread at an alarming rate. That is why I ask the question " do you really want more mushrooms"

[fresh]

Now this has gone a bit off topic

By cutting it from the base, will it stay as 1 big mushroom or will it start dividing? The reason I like it is because it is such a big mushroom! By putting a hole in the centre of it, won't that make it split?

thanks again.

fresh.

[Cap'n]

Just slice it off at the base as close to the rock as possible. Put it in a glass or plastic container with some rock rubble so it doesn't get blown all over your tank. The mushroom will regrow its base, attach itself to another rock and remain its original size.

The part of the base that was left attached to the rock will repair itself and continue to grow. It will be mishapen for a while but will eventually look like another healthy mushroom. If you pile rocks on top of that bit of base that was left on the rock I don't know if it will reform or not. Judging by how indestructable many say mushrooms are I would be inclined to say yes.

Don't be afraid to start cutting away, it really is amazing how well these things survive when transplanted.