how to care for rics...

[markietan]

so i bought an orange ric sometime ago and i placed it quite high up in my tank.

i'm running 3 X 3ft T5, 2 blue pro and one sun pro

so after a month or so, the ric's orange coloration kindof faded into yellow. and as i just bought another 15+ rics from another reefer... am afraid the new addition will suffer the same fate in the long run. i've placed them on the sand for now...

so my question is... how to properly care for rics? what kindof water condition / parameters should i be looking out for? will discolored rics color up agian? if so how?

also recently got quite abit of death in my tank... turbo snails and some anthias so nitrate spiked. no time to change water but will do so within next day or two.

i also placed another orange ric into my other 2ft tank illuminited by oceanus LED (http://www.oceanus-light.com/oceanusled.html). it seem to have suffered the same fate with discoloration... but under blue light it still look good at least... but the other yumas and mushrooms in that tank are okay.

am i missing out something here?

[angelfishlover]

Try to change the light tubes to a high end tubes such as ATI.Cause i don't know wether is it the lighting problem or it is too high up.Maybe you could try to put it somewhere in the middle and change the light tubes.

Whats the brand of the sun pro and blue pro light tubes?Is it the Qian Hu Fish farm one?cause i remembered they only sell the two different tubes only.

[markietan]

Try to change the light tubes to a high end tubes such as ATI.Cause i don't know wether is it the lighting problem or it is too high up.Maybe you could try to put it somewhere in the middle and change the light tubes.

Whats the brand of the sun pro and blue pro light tubes?Is it the Qian Hu Fish farm one?cause i remembered they only sell the two different tubes only.

mm... its aquaz brand. my zoas are all okay. even my clams are doing well... should the lighting be more blueish or whitish? or 1:1 ?

also will actinic help?

[yooyoo99]

I hv lost a couple of rics due to placement at moderate flow areas.

[peacemaker]

From liveaquaria.com: Ricordia

From my personal experience, I have had rics that were recovering from bleaching until I decided to change the lights from T5 LO to T5 HO. Initially, the "bubbles" seem to expand bigger and I thought it was a good sign. After that, they started to bleach. I recently did a major overhaul on my tank, and kept my rics under shade during the transition. Colours start coming back. Conclusion: lights were too strong for my case. Sounds to me you might be having the same problem.

Time to give your rics some shade! B)

[Thexder]

I think rics and yuma need low light. I put them directly under my MH and they shrunk After moving them to the bottom of the tank and under some shade, they open up.

[markietan]

thanks for all replies. i read about that too, too much light will stress it. i'm gonna try and put it lower and see how it goes.

the other ric in my nano tank lighted by 2 LED strips opens real big but its orange also kindof fading. haha

[TayHongSiang]

thanks for all replies. i read about that too, too much light will stress it. i'm gonna try and put it lower and see how it goes.

the other ric in my nano tank lighted by 2 LED strips opens real big but its orange also kindof fading. haha

Low light, low water flow + dose of iodine supplement to maintain colour + temp maintain at 27 n below. Water dirty is ok.

But there are different school of thoughts when comes to lighting...some websites say MH is good.

You can check out this site: http://www.ricordea.org/mushroom_coral/ricordea_lighting.htm

I failed...so i am going to try Rics again this time. Saw some really big ones at Jiireh.

[markietan]

Low light, low water flow + dose of iodine supplement to maintain colour + temp maintain at 27 n below. Water dirty is ok.

But there are different school of thoughts when comes to lighting...some websites say MH is good.

You can check out this site: http://www.ricordea.org/mushroom_coral/ricordea_lighting.htm

I failed...so i am going to try Rics again this time. Saw some really big ones at Jiireh.

mm... thanks for the link. i just added more t5 lights to my tank.. think i better move it into the shade under my monti and see how. shouldn't have bought such a big piece of rics b4 i do my research ar... =(

[xxxsoulxxx]

I assuming u guys are refering to florida ricordea.

Ricordea's flow must be low. U know its too high when it's flapping its wings too often and eventually it will detach itself and fly around the tank. If ur ricordea comes with a small base then superglue to the rock.

Lighting will change the colours over time. I have orange, pink and yellow ricordea turning blue starting from the mouths outwards. Brighter lights yields brighter colours but be careful to slowly introduce them light very slowly as they bleach when surprised. Ready to move to higher lighting when they open up big.

They thrive in nutrients rich water. Additions of iodine is benifitial.

Feed them with mysis shrimp once a week, they grow faster. They capture really slow (like 1 hr) and must have almost stagnent water else the shrimp will be blown away, their polyps dun stick to the prey like other corals do.

Very easy to keep, just dun let them touch any corals nearby, your ricordea almost confirm win. Only challange is finding a really low flow area with enough light.

I do this for ricordea without base or for propagation: Propagation just cut into half. Make sure u only propagate healthy ones. Put in a ALMOST stagnent area let it slowly recover and stick to your preferred base (around 3 weeks time) and there u have 2.

NEVER superglue them to the rock raw, they will slime over and detach.

my 2 cent.

[markietan]

yup yup refering to f. ricordia. thanks for the detailed explaination

have a few more questions...

1. will temperature cause bleaching? my tank is kept at around 28C to 29C during the day, at night it usually drops to around 27C or so

2. when the f. rics are open up wide, is it a sign that they need more light?

3. when you say brighter lights yield brighter color, does your brighter color refer to colors like orange and yellow?

4. I read that f. rics can change color to whatever color they like, so technically if their color is slowly fading, they can be colored back right?

5. will rics fight with other mushrooms? I have alot of smaller mushrooms in the same tank

6. if they polps don't stick to prey, how does it move the prey to its mouth? or they just close up all together to consume the prey?

lastly, i still don't have balls to cut them yet. hehe although i have had success with propagating mushrooms but these guys are too expensive to cut up. thanks again for your input!!!

=)

[peacemaker]

I do this for ricordea without base or for propagation: Propagation just cut into half. Make sure u only propagate healthy ones. Put in a ALMOST stagnent area let it slowly recover and stick to your preferred base (around 3 weeks time) and there u have 2.

NEVER superglue them to the rock raw, they will slime over and detach.

Funny... I was toying with the idea of propagating my rics when I saw this. Mind defining "raw"? I thought of adopting the "traditional" method of cutting the rics across the mouth and putting them in a small container with coral rubble till they attach. So it takes approximately 3 weeks for a full recovery on both halves?

[vt_snowman87]

Funny... I was toying with the idea of propagating my rics when I saw this. Mind defining "raw"? I thought of adopting the "traditional" method of cutting the rics across the mouth and putting them in a small container with coral rubble till they attach. So it takes approximately 3 weeks for a full recovery on both halves?

i believe the 'raw' means supergluing the base of the rics flesh directly to a rock, it will behave like a mushie, and detach itself from the dried superblue..