Can you visually see tank based chemical warfare? Hairy Mushroom Question

[duijver]

So, as I ramp up on the move to the 15g tank I noticed, yesterday, that one of the hairy mushrooms appears to be emitting some type of chemical(?) into the water column. Is that what I am seeing? I'm guessing that it is trying to take out my frogspawn and BTA?

I tried taking a movie yesterday and once the camera went into the water it stopped. Anyway, I noticed it today and I grabbed a quick video if someone was interested.

Also, I just did some research and it seems like these things can eat inverts?? That's crazy! It sounds like this might be a little too aggressive for my tank given they currently take up about a 1/4-1/3 of the tank.

Sorry, the video isn't great since I shot it with a 90mm lens freehand.

[video=youtube;FSRnxXaXkTQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSRnxXaXkTQ&hd=1[/video]

 

[mnat]

Nikki was pulling a mushroom off of a rock and got stung. Soft corals have no skeleton so chemicals are their only defense and they can and will use them.

 

[duijver]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, that makes total sense, I just never knew that you could actually see the attack in action - so to speak.

I can sort of deal with the chemical warfare with carbon, I think(?), as long as they are not touching. But, what about them gobbling up inverts - is there any truth to this given the tank is pretty small? I hate to get rid of them since they have been the only inhabitants in this tank for the past 2 years or so and 1 small one grew into 3 big ones (about 4"-5" dia) and 3 small ones.

 

[greybolt03]

I've never seem my shrooms eat any inverts I do have a micromussa that ate one of my crabs one time mine do eat mysis shrimp that stray when I feed the rest of my corals I just dont think the shroom is fast enought to be able to catch any inverts before they could escape....