My Ricordea is AWOL!!!

[cbianco]

Here's the deal yall...

My baby (less than a dime big) green and blue ricordea is missing. When I woke up this morning he was just gone from his rock.

I know he had to be "taken" because I super glued his butt down real good!!! All I have is snails and hermits in the tank. Would they "eat" him? I checked the tanks, behind the rockwork, in the overflow, etc... I cannot find him!

This is the first (and only) ricordea I ever bought and I think I liked him more than... (on second thought I better not go there).

Here are my demands...

If you snuck into my apartment last night and took my recordea then I ask... no I DEMAND that you give him back!

RIP: Mr. Ric. :cry

Christopher

(LOL)

[cbianco]

With that said any ideas what happened to Mr. Ric?

Any help appreciated!

Christopher

[NaCl_H2O]

Rics & Shrooms are very hard to attach with glue. Their mucous helps them sluff off the glue, and they are "free". I'll bet he is rolling around under your rock somewhere. Keep an eye out and you will probably see it open up at the base of your rockwork somewhere in the next few days.

[GaryP]

I was going to say, I would never trying gluing most soft corals. There are a few exceptions though. Steve is right, its probably rolling around in your rock somewhere. I just attached a few Rics. I put them inside an oyster shell, covered them with bridal veil. After they attached, I broke the oyster shell with a chisel to get smaller pices that I could attach where I wanted them.

[don-n-sa]

A few of my rics have acutally moved to other rocks...sort of like how an anmone will move around.

[GaryP]

A few of my rics have acutally moved to other rocks...sort of like how an anmone will move around.

They are actually closely related to anemones.

[cbianco]

NaCl_H2O

A LFS employee told me that superglue would be a viable option when attaching the ric. Maybe I need to seek advice elsewhere next time, lol.

GaryP and don-n-sa

I will have to try the bridal veil method next time. I didn't know that ricordea could move around on their own either. I guess you learn something new every day.

Thanks for the comments. This leads me to another question... Yall mention using a bridal veil to hold down the ric until it attaches. Colud I use cheese cloth instead? If not where can I get bridal veil material?

Thanks

Christopher

[Tim Marvin]

The best way I have found when fragging ricordia is to place them in a very low flow place on a bunch of rubble. Once they attach, (usually in a couple days) you can then superglue gel the rubble to a larger rock. Glue on the ricordia itself is not effective and can kill the mushroom.

[cbianco]

Tim Marvin

I wasn't actually fragging the ric. I'm still a "noobie" and I was just trying to attach the ric I got, lol.

I am still curious about... Yall mention using a bridal veil to hold down the ric until it attaches. Colud I use cheese cloth instead? If not where can I get bridal veil material?

Thanks

Christopher

[Tim Marvin]

Fragging/attaching your in the same boat. I haven't had that good of luck with bridal veil myself, it always turned the mushrooms to goo or they get attached to the veil and then get pulled back off the rock when you try to remove the veil.. You are supposed to cover the mushroom with the veil and rubberband it in place.

[cbianco]

I've also heard of people using a rubber band only to attach the ric. Many times I here that the ric not only attached but also split because of the pressure from the rubber band. Personally I am not sure that using only a rubber band is a good idea though.

Christopher

[GaryP]

I simply dropped the ric into the hollow side of an oyster sell and stretched the bridal veil over the top to keep it from blowing away, not over the ric itself. The bridal veil is transparent enough to allow some light through as well as water exchange. It never comes in contact with the ric itself.

You can buy bridal veil at any fabric shop or the fabric dept. at WalMart.

[cbianco]

Thanks GaryP! I'll look to pick some up the next time I'm at Wal Mart.

Christopher

[CD]

place them in a very low flow place on a bunch of rubble. Once they attach, (usually in a couple days) you can then superglue gel the rubble to a larger rock.


I've found this to be the easiest method for me. The way I do it, is to get a smallish square piece of acrylic and shove it up in a corner of the tank so it makes a little pocket. Drop some rubble in the pocket, then drop the ric on top of the rubble with the polyp facing upward. It will attach itself in a few days, then just take it out and place wherever you want. I *definitely* would not recommed a rubber band though...yikes! :blink

Wendy

[JimD]

To answer your question,,, Do NOT use cheesecloth, it will disintegrate in a matter of days, just put the ric on some rubble in a low flow area till it attatches.

[cbianco]

JimD

Thanks I was still wondering about the cheese cloth. I guess that I will skip over that idea then.

Thanks for all of the responses everybody. Us noobies need all the help we can get! lol

Christopher

[cbianco]

I just got finished doing some maintenence on my aquarium and I did not see the ric anywhere. I think he is gone for good.

[toulene]

Wait a couple more days, I had one leave a rock I bought at a n lfs, saw it tumble a day or two, didn't see it for about a week and then whammo it was on my tallest rock attached. And still there...I guess it didn't like the others it was on the rock with.

[cbianco]

I'll keep hope alive... for a few days at least! lol

[rocketeer]

Um... I found one in my tank that I didn't know I had when I rearranged my rocks. It's cool too. It has kind of pink tenticles and a green mouth. There are none others like it in my tank! Could this be yours?

Jack

[cbianco]

rocketeer

Alright give it back. I knew it was you! LOL :lol

Technically mine wasn't pink BUT the transition MAY have caused a color morph so I am still claiming it. :)

Christopher

[cbianco]

:) IT HAS RETURNED! :)

Today when I got home, I was looking in my tank and what do you know I found my AWOL ricordea behind my rockwork. I have it in a containment cup in my aquarium waiting to be put on a plug. I will be using the wedding veil method to afix the ricordea this time so that it does not dissapear again.

This leads me to a question... The ricordea has lost its color but its not dead. Will it regain its color, change its color, die soon?

Thanks for the help!

Christopher

[JimD]

Most likely if it was behind the rocks it wasnt getting sufficiant light, acclimate it slowly to your lighting and it should be just fine. Glad to hear its ok!

[cbianco]

Thanks JimD! I'm glad to here that the color will be return eventually. It looks so pale! :)

Christopher

[NaCl_H2O]

See, we told you :) You must listen to the MAASTards :P
Glad it returned from its journey through the LR jungle 8)

If you already have it is a containment cup, put a little rock rubble in with it and it will attach in a few days and you can glue the rock rubble down somewhere - no need for the weeding vail!

[cbianco]

MASSTards Rock!

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