Red Discosoma Mushroom

Even though I usually recommend low light for Discosoma, I would also recommend playing around with medium light. It’s possible that brighter light can lead to brighter coloration of the polyps. Just remember when increasing light, do it gradually. Severe over exposure will always be more dangerous than severe under exposure due to oxide radicals that form on the flesh of the mushrooms that look like strange white growths. This is a result from over exposure that you’re definitely going to want to avoid.

As for flow, you’re going to want to keep it really really low, no exceptions, end of story. There is two main reasons for this.

The first reason is, one of the few ways that mushrooms meet an early demise is if they detach from the substrate they were holding on to and drift around the tank. For whatever reason, Discosoma are not great at reattaching themselves to anything and too much flow will make it almost impossible for them to do so.

The second reason is that they extend out more in areas of low flow. So in general, lower flow means a happier coral.

Still on the topic of flow, a lower flow will also make it a lot easier for Discosoma to feed. Almost no one feeds Discosoma, but we found that they can be fed smaller foods directly if the water flow in the tank remains pretty low.



I have not found them to be particularly picky when it comes to the types of food they will eat. Even if you don’t wish to feed them, adding amino acids to your tank will still be beneficial for their overall health.

Amino Acids are simple organic compounds that play a major role in building proteins as well as other biological functions at the cellular level. There are a little over 20 different types of amino acids. Most of them can be synthesized by the organism but some cannot be and must be taken in by feeding. Those amino acids are termed essential amino acids and they vary from species to species. Corals regularly take in available amino acids from the water column so it is easy to provide them with adequate quantities by broadcast feeding an amino acid solution. They are available from any number of commercially available reef supplement manufacturers. This may be the easiest way to feed your corals because as long as amino acids are bioavailable in the water column, the corals will soak them up.