Mushroom Corals
Scientific Name: Actinodiscus SP
Common Name: Mushroom Corals
Type of Coral: Softie
Lighting: Moderate and Moderate to Low
Flow: Moderate
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Appearance
Mushrooms can also be found in a wide verity of colors and sizes making then a very great choice to add some color to any reef aquarium. They also commonly range in size from ½ inch to 2 inches, but there are a few types of mushrooms that do get larger. The below pictures are just a few examples.
Water Conditions
The below link highlights typical water conditions mushrooms will require. I have had the best luck with mushrooms when kept in water with 1 to 2 ppm of nitrate when lighting and flow requirements were met and all other water parameters in line as described in the below link.
https://www.reefaquarium.com/2013/the-basics-of-marine-aquarium-water-parameters/
General Information
As mushroom do not have a calcified skeleton structure, they can be more tolerant of swings in the alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium when compared to other corals. However, they will not be very tolerance to swings in pH, Temp, or salinity which is no different than any other coral or fish. They are a very hardly coral making them a good choice for people new to the hobby. As with most other corals, mushrooms have natural defense mechanisms to protect themselves. They have a chemical defense system based on stinging tentacle that will extend out from its cap. This can be harmfully to certain types of other soft corals and SPS corals. This makes it important to ensure you leave about 2 inches of space between your mushroom corals and other types of corals you may have in your tank. Mushroom will do best when placed on your live rock in your tank.
As with all corals, the exterior slime coating can be a skin irritant or even highly toxic to humans so please, handle all corals with care. I would recommend wearing rubber glove whenever you handle corals
Fragging
Mushrooms can be easily fragged with very high success
I had some green mushrooms in the past that randomly died off. I’m not certain on how they dies but I had one, eventually split into five and one day I lost them one by one. The only thing I noticed was that they were looking like they were “throwing up.” Then next thing you know, poof, they disappeared. On the other hand i have a bunch of recordia mushrooms that have been doing great.only difference in them and the green mushrooms that died was placement. They were on totally opposite sides of my 30 gallon bio cube. Is it possible that they may have been getting to much flow like my frogspawn that recently died? Water quality is good, not perfect, only problem I’ve had in the past was pH.
Thank you for your time
It almost sounds like flow and some aspect of water quality was the cause here. Problems with pH is typically a result of other elements of your water parameters being off