Little white mushrooms on my driftwood

I have what appear to be tiny white mushrooms growing on the driftwood in my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank. They have been in there for over a year, on driftwood that has been in there for over 8 years. I feed sparingly, don't fertilize, have a light fish load, perform weekly ~25% water changes and have a moderately planted tank, with about half of my many plants water-column only (anubias and pesky java moss). These mushrooms are quite delicate looking and pretty, but feel rather firm to the touch. My fish seem just fine, and I haven't noticed any of them trying to eat the fungus. I'm so very curious as to what exactly they are, though! After a Google search I came across a few other people that had posted similar questions, but there doesn't seem to be anything conclusive on the cause/what exactly are these little fungi. Anyone have any clues on these lil' guys? I wish I could get a better focused picture of them, but this will have to do for now.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on September 6, 2011 at 10:01am

Although it does look like a mushroom, normally fungi do not grow underwater. There is a type of mushroom that was discovered that had gills and fruited underwater, but that was the first of it's kind found. Unless you are in the Oregon area I would say that's not it. Maybe you have another new species! I would have guessed it was something attached to the wood that just hasn't died yet, but you say it's been in for over 8 years. If all your fish are fine after all this time I wouldn't worry about it. You could just pull them off.

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Permalink Reply by Cristina Green on September 9, 2011 at 6:59am

I'm fine with them, as to my knowledge they don't cause problems and are attractive. I'm just super curious as to what they are. For now I'll just be content to be blissfully unaware!