Terrible Advice Tuesdays (T.A.Tues): Eradicating mushroom corals requires simply cutting the top of the coral off. With the top removed, the base will die. The rest of the story: Whoever said must have fantastic luck or be completely delusional. The only way I’ve ever successfully eradicated mushroom corals from a tank is by cutting the top off, then completely covering the base with epoxy. If the smallest amount of the base is left uncovered, it will regrow a new top and the coral will start growing again. I’ll also add enough epoxy such that I cover an extra inch (1″) of the rock around the base of the coral to make sure it doesn’t somehow find light and start growing again. Other mushroom eradication methods I’ve tried include supergluing over the base, which doesn’t work as the coral will slime. The slime makes the glue not stick and fall off. Kalk slurry bombs also are ineffective as the slurry won’t stay in place long enough to kill the coral. Injecting the coral with a kalk slurry takes skill and luck as the coral usually retracts quicker than you can inject the kalk slurry. Finally, while you can completely remove the rock the mushroom coral is on, but sometimes that rock is a central part of your aquascaping and can’t be removed. Clearly simply cutting the top off the mushroom coral won’t get the job done. Update: Several readers informed me they’ve had luck with the aiptasia/majano wand for mushroom removal. MORE: Terrible Advice Tuesdays (T.A.Tues): Mushroom Eradication Is EASY!… More:

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