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cathy
12-05-2003, 9:11 AM
I did a partial water change just about two weeks ago (and will be doing another this w/e, on my normal schedule.)
After the change, all residents were happy. about three days after, I noticed that my green actinodiscus mushroom was not quite as fully "in bloom'' as he usually is. I did some testing, and all parameters including calcium seemed to be ok. I also noticed after a couple of days that my red mushroom wasn't as bloomed out as usual.
The last few days I have noticed something really weird that may be causing their unhappiness. I came home Tuesday nite and found that the salinity had risen from 1.023 (where it had been over the weekend) to 1.028! So I added some fresh water.
since then I have been monitoring the salinity day and nite. And interestingly enough it is 1.023 in the am, but rises in the pm. I am attributing this to the fact that the heating system is now kicking in! with the onset of cold weather, plus we have started using the wood stove. Yester day I noticed that the temp in the tank was a degree or so higher in the pm than in the am.
So, I am admonishing my husband not to bump the thermostat when he comes home, and I have done my best to close the ducts in the baseboards in that end of the room. Could the fluctuation in the house temp, affecting the tank temp, account for the fluctuations in salinity, and could this explain my unhappy mushrooms? comments and experience welcomed!

liquafaction
12-05-2003, 9:21 AM
Yes, temp can cause salinty to fluctuate. I really do not know how to explain it properly, but there is a post around here some place that explains it, when I find it, I will post it for you. It is funny that you are experencing differences in your mushroms. I had the same thing the other day. My red mushrooms are not near as big as usual, and my green mushrooms puked this white stringing something out of there oral disk. Everything seems to be good now, other than the red mushrooms still are not as big as usual.

cathy
12-05-2003, 9:59 AM
just out of curiosity, do you live in a region of the country where this would be the time of year you start using your home heating system more heavily?