orange ricorida

[sadielynn]

Just wondering on the care of orange ricordias
I got 2 about 3 inches around for 10 bucks I know that the store never fed these guys and was wondering would it hurt to target feed them cyclop-eeze they are in good condition but are loosing color I got one for the 7 gallon mb and one for the 2.5 gallon . I will post pictures as they gain more color (shouldnt be long ) as they have a little orange left in them . They were not attached to any live rock but I placed them on a low flow area with a few pieces of live rock . Due to the size of them I can not do the shot glass trick and the size of the tank will not allow for tupperware so I placed them where I felt they would attach the best . Any info on their care will be appreciated as I couldnt find any care sheets on them . Ricordias are not a common site in our lfs , so when I offered them 5 bucks for each and they accepted I was stunned ( I think they thought that they were just regular shrooms om :moonin ) :lol3:

 

[Jennie]

If you have any form of pellet food, they will take them. I have a single orange ricordea that eagerly accepts pellets.

 

[sadielynn]

yep I have some pellets that I will try tomorrow , is cyclop eeze acceptable too?

 

[Jennie]

I've tried to target feed mine with zooplex and it always closes up like its irritated, but readily accepts meaty food. I have heard of people feeding them with cyclopeeze.

 

[aromano]

Every time I feed my corals I also target feed my orange ricordia with a cocktail of frozen Prime Reef, Brine Shrimp and Cyclopeeze and they love it. It's one of my favorite mushrooms.

 

[sadielynn]

ok now for the next question if any one knows how long for the color to pick up and for it to attach to the lr ..... or did we get 2 rics that are doomed from the begining ?
I will be keeping the h20 perameters pristine (with small 1/2 gallon every 2 or 3 days for a water change and the normal 20 %-30% per week as well)

 

[Anonymous]

i picked up two unattached rics about 6 months ago and they were very slow to take off. for months they did nothing just kinda static no growth no receding. But about two months ago they took off growing new mouths and finally splitting. I do NOT feed any shroom intentionally - not even my elephant ears. They simple do not need to be feed. shrooms capture microplankton (bacteria and other microscopic organisms) and dissolved nutrients in a mucus layer on their cap. I am not saying they won't eat - they may - but feeding them will result in way more problems then it will fix and is totally unneccessary. The only thing i have ever target feed is LPS's and then only at most once a week! it is very easy to overffed things like cyclopeseez - so be very careful with that stuff!

 

[sadielynn]

John
I did the tooth pick trick stabbed it into live rock , I have had 0 luck with sewing them on so I did the stabbing ...... man were they pissed they spewed stuff out (not sure if the girl at the store pulled them off rock or not ) and they clouded the tank up I did a 1.5 gallon change again today and changed the filter/carbon out today and ordered a new thing of chemi pure should have it by this week or next ...our lfs are putzy when it comes to ordering stuff. There are some orange dimples that are appearent so I am hopeing that all is not lost . As for the over feeding you arent kidding I am working on ways to keep me form over feeding the tank right now I am using a pipette to premix water with cyclop-eeze and trying to get the clowns to feed from it , I also feed pellets to which they were not to keen on in the first place but seem to be taking it now a bit better , I feed my candycanes and my hairy mushroom but that is all that I really feed every thing else is on its own LOL ...... So I gather that I do not need to direct feed them but rather keep the water quality HIGH and they should heal with time correct ? :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

yea shrooms can be a pain - nothing really works well, sewing, super glue, impailing, nothing is 100% - but luckily they will attach on there own quite readily. i hope they are not too bleached already to recover for you - bad coloring is usualy a bad sign and they may not be able to recover
I tried pellets for a while but quit and went back to flakes - they get consumed better it seems, too many pellets went uneaten, and cyclopeeze I use with a frozen mysis and a ml of vitamins once a week to feed my LPS's - I target shoot them with an eyedropper just after the lights come on after teasing them into feeding mode. fish get fed flake food once a day 5 days a week - nothing on the weekend (but usually they get some food before i leave on friday night).

 

[sadielynn]

John they are showing some orange dimples along the edges and their mouths are closed now , after I stabbed them I noticed that they put out some kind of goo . And now the water is really cloudy .
I have them placed in a lower corner with lower flow . As I am understanding I do need to target feed them ? With some cyclop-eeze , is this correct? As for the fish I admit that I screwed up with their feedings by giving just too much I havent fed them today and will skip tomorrow as well. I will also do very little along with some pellets . The stores here offer very little in the way of food for marine and tell most people that gold fish flakes are ok :shock: . I will look for some flakes tonight or tomorrow . I took out 2 of the main pieces that had some rd slime on it and scrubbed them down with a tooth brush followed up with a blast of salt water through a syringe to knock off the pieces placed in a container and kind of stirred up a bit then placed a power head in for a few minutes and it seemed to be clear of the red slime at this point .Hopefully that coupled with a couple of large changes this week will cure the problem . Also should I cut my lighting back to 8 hours aday from the normal 12?

 

[Jennie]

i picked up two unattached rics about 6 months ago and they were very slow to take off. for months they did nothing just kinda static no growth no receding. But about two months ago they took off growing new mouths and finally splitting. I do NOT feed any shroom intentionally - not even my elephant ears. They simple do not need to be feed. shrooms capture microplankton (bacteria and other microscopic organisms) and dissolved nutrients in a mucus layer on their cap. I am not saying they won't eat - they may - but feeding them will result in way more problems then it will fix and is totally unneccessary. The only thing i have ever target feed is LPS's and then only at most once a week! it is very easy to overffed things like cyclopeseez - so be very careful with that stuff!

I understand that shrooms do not need to be fed, yet because mine (ricordea) readily eat (and consume) I do feed mine occasionally. I am only asking bacause I haven't heard of this myself, but what problems are you refering to in regards to intentional feeding?

 

[Dickie52]

sadielynn,
The orange rics that are bought loose are at times very tough to get to hook and do well. If they are showing signs of fading already, I would say you have your hands full. I agree with johnanddawn, it will be a slow process. I would put them in a place where they will not be blown around and just let them be.

As far as the feeding, it's very important to keep in mind that these are nano tanks and require a bit more attention to detail. Feeding even on a normal bases can be too much for them and cyclopeeze has a tendency to blow around the tank and not be consumed(later fouling the tank)

You mentioned clowns. I have had great luck feeding my clowns and other fish, Hikari Mysis Shrimp(fortified with Vibrance) These are a very clean and small Mysis Shrimp, which you can control feeding, down to one at a time. Another nice thing about them is that you can also feed your rics and mushrooms them.

I hope this helped in some way, it sounds like you really care for your animals and want them to all do well......

 

[sadielynn]

sounds like you really care for your animals and want them to all do well......

I do they didnt ask to be housed by a total idiot like me . I guess I figured that the cyclop-eeze that did not get consumed would be taken care of by the water changes per week , I guess I did not figure that it may get to spots I couldnt and "rot" that was my stupidity .... I dont know maybe I am just to dumb to own a tank.........just when it seems that I have a grasp on it I realize that I know NADA .... the tank seemed to be clear and stable for so long even after the transfer it seemed to stablize with in a few days .....now I am wondering did I doom it by adding my rics?

 

[Anonymous]

i do find rics to be more difficult to acclimate then "normal" shrooms but this doesn't automatically mean trouble for your tank. We all deal with algae and cyano problems on occation - just read the forums - it has to be the most common prob out there. cleaning off your rock will help a lot and time always helps. manual removal of algae is always the prefered method over any chemical, although carbon and phosphate sponges may help. Keep blowing off the rock and use some kind of mechanical filtration to capture and remove the particulates and the detritus you stir up, reduce feeding and you will eventially win. clean your mech filter everyday for a while. I do not target feed shrooms cause it is unneccssay and will just add more waste to the tank.

 

[sadielynn]

I tested again last night before the h20 changes
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrAte 10ppm
nitrIte 0ppm
High ph 8.2
spg 1.024
temp 75.5 deg
added new unit chemi pur and the tank is crystal clear this am I will test again today . I did acclimate the new rics for about 41/2 hours before introduction to our system was that not long enough? I acclimated them for this period since the tank they came from had less than optimal conditions to begin with :roll: Thanks for all your help John :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

sadie when i use the word acclimate i'm talking total adaptation to your system. Many in my opinion believe that a water drip and temp equalization equals acclimation - which in the case of fish is very important, but in the case of corals is no where near true, with corals that is when the acclimation begins. Corals need to acclimate to everything in your tank - water quality, lighting, flow, other corals and their potential alletrophic (sp??) compounds, ect. This may take months and involve color changes and many other things. Exps: 1) I have a mari acro that has been in my hex for 5 months now with no change so sunday i decided it just wasn't acclimating and i was going to move it into my other tank but guess what it had encrusted itself finally!!! 2) i move corals all the time between my tanks and the color of the exact same coral is different in each one. bottom line.... corals take time to get use to your system and is not until full acclimation occures that growth and reproduction will occur. and some corals may never be able to acclimate - they just don't have the energy needed to convert their zoaxanthelea to your system and be healthy

 

[sadielynn]

John
I remember you saying that from a while back but still feel that a long drip time also will help in their health as well, especially when they come from a polluted tank. I am in no way arguing this with you , I totally agree that it is with time that you will see if your corals will do well in a specific tank :mrgreen: