Mushrooms and Carbon

[Roca]

Two weekends ago I was doing my water change on my 16bowfront tank and decided to add a small bag of carbon (maybe 2 table spoons) since it struck me that the water seemed a bit yellow. By the next day the water was crystal clear and I left the carbon in being happy with my decision.

A couple more days later I noticed one discosoma mushroom shriveling up a little but assumed it was just being a drama queen since the others seemed fine. Move to last Saturday and all the discosoma mushrooms (around 12) looked pretty deflated in the tank. The single ricordea in the tank, a couple zoas, frogspawn, leather and bubble anemone all were looking fine.

I removed the carbon on Saturday along with my usual 3 gallon weekly water change and now 2 days later and some discosoma seem to be perking back up. The bigger one in the picture was down to 1/4 as stretched as it is now before but is still not back to to how it looked before all this happened and you can see the others around it are still not happy. A couple on the other side of the tank are back to normal. I can only assume this was the carbon that caused it by taking something out of the water that the mushrooms did not like.

Has anyone seen an impact like this from carbon on mushrooms?

 

[DangerDave]

I would just keep watching. I run carbon 24x7 and my shrooms are always in different states of extension...

 

[Justin]

I run carbon and my shrooms haven't really had an issue , just my experience tho

 

[hcker99]

So my best guess is....... you stated the water was yellowish so it indicated more micro-particles in the water. As the carbon cleared up the water it allowed the light to penetrate better. So basically your lights were now brighter and the shrooms didn't like the increased PAR. Most of the time things settle a bit after a few days or so.

 

[DangerDave]

So my best guess is....... you stated the water was yellowish so it indicated more micro-particles in the water. As the carbon cleared up the water it allowed the light to penetrate better. So basically your lights were now brighter and the shrooms didn't like the increased PAR. Most of the time things settle a bit after a few days or so.

that makes sense right there.

 

[Roca]

@hcker99 That sounds like a pretty legit explanation. Did not think about the light penetration impact. I'll definitely keep an eye for a similar response if I am in a similar situation again. Thanks!