attaching mushrooms

[jessinator752]

about a week ago i took a few mushrooms off my rocks to bring to the frag swap on sunday. i can't seem to get them to attach to anything, so i'm asking for some advice on how to attach them. i tried using the gel super glue to glue them to small rocks, i tried attaching them to some window screen then gluing that to the rock, i've put then in a bowl of small gravel/rubble/shells/sand covered it with some window screen and put it in my quaranteen tank for about 4 days and they are still just floating. i got a few to stay glued to the rocks, but then they turned to mush. what am i doing wrong? i don't want to keep loosing them, but i do want to learn how to attach them where i want them. any suggestion? thanks, jessica

[villjr]

I've never gotten any to stick with superglue. I've always put it next to some small rocks and let them attach themselves and then glued the small rock where i want it. I've heard of people using ruberbands to hold them in place until they attach or running toothpicks through them to force them to stay until they attach.

[jessinator752]

i tried the rubberband and it started to turn stringy and mushy so i took the rubberband off. i haven't seen it since, but i'm guessing it attached somewhere in my tank. i've just been to lazy to rearrange all the rocks to find it :D how long does it normally take before they attach?

[josephatmbimortgage]

there is alot easier way to do this and superglue doesn't work bc they produce a defense slime. First you get two rubberbands and criscross them over the mushroom. Within 4 days they will be attached.

-Joseph

[Ping]

Try garf.org

Lots of info on fragging.

[jessinator752]

thank you so much! i will look at that site and give the rubberband thing another try :D

[Ping]

I would not use a rubber band on a mushroom. bridal vail and a rubber band on the bridal vail. Garf explains it better.

[junkstang]

If you can put the shroom on the rock that you want and just set it on the bedding and it will take in a few days. Just keep it awayfrom high flow areas so that it wont move on you. Once it is where you want it just put it in a med. flow area with good light in your tank and it will reproduce like crazy, then I can take a few of your hands.

[DaBird47]

all good advice, the only thing that I would add is to be patient, when you put it down to attach, just leave it till it does...that was my problem...D

[jessinator752]

thank you all. i am attempting this so i can bring them to the frag swap :D i thought 2 weeks would be plenty of time, and now i'm glad i started so early considering they haven't attached yet. if i can't get them attached by sunday then i guess i'll just have to bring them the way they are.

[Ping]

Along Joshua's line of thought, how about a tooth pick. Plastic would be preferable but wood works.

[Hotrod32487]

Ive got mine to stay with super glue. I dont think the super glue itself is what gets it to stay. It just holds it for a few days and it attaches itself. Not the best solution i dont think but i can say from experience that it works

[Ram_Puppy]

another way I have used in the past - at HEB in the veggies section (also in the kitchen appliances section) they sell little yellow lemon squeeze cloths. they have an elastic band allready, so no rubber bands required, just put the mushroom on the rock, put the lemon cloth over, and it will hold it to the rock.

assuming you use a large enough rock. :)

[jessinator752]

thanks everyone!! there are some really good suggestions here and hopefully i'll get them attached by sunday.

[josephatmbimortgage]

I've done the rubberband thing a million times and never had any issue. It's simple and you place them where you want them to be at. Looking in the sale section about three months ago when I had 15 shrooms rocks for sale.

-Joseph

[jessinator752]

all but two of the mushrooms i removed from the rocks yesterday have turned to mush this morning. is that normal? what am i doing wrong? the two that are still good i actually ended up chipping part of the rock off so they were still attched. could i be cutting them wrong? i know you say i can't kill a mushroom, so why are they turning mushy and stringy? my quaranteen tank where i kept the frags smells like rotten fish this morning and the mushrooms are just stringing all through the tank.

[erikharrison]

pics?

[jessinator752]

there really isn't anything to take a picture of. the mushrooms seem to have disappeared. they turn into a pile of brown goo then the water just washes them away.

[reeferRob]

;)

[kkutac001]

I can attest to the effectiveness of using toothpicks. It takes two-three days or so. Also, I don't just pull the toothpick straight out. I roll the pick between thumb and forefinger, to ensure the animal's flesh has detached from the toothpick. Then, I pull the toothpick out. I don't stab the shroom through its mouth, just near the mouth -- say 1/3 of the way out from the mouth. If you spear it too near its edge, it seems able to 'grow around' or otherwise set itself free from the toothpick.
I've used this method with xenia as well (be sure to roll the toothpick!). ..Karl