Mushrooms in ponds

I was skimming through Mycellium Running and I saw a picture drawn of not only the mushroom bags being placed on the land but also in the pond. These mushrooms bags (I can't remember what he called them) are just a jute, hemp, etc. bag full of mulch and mushroom spore, spawn plugs, etc. so that the mushrooms end up eating the whole bag and mulch up over time. There is such thing as underwater mushrooms and I'm wondering if they work really well with filtering toxins as well other gunk. I tried to find where it talks about it in the book, but there wasn't anything specific just that mushrooms were discovered underwater in oregon and that he has a mulched bed of mushrooms that filters the water from farms next store.
I plan on making some ponds (Sepp Holzer style) and will probably experiment with this. I wonder if a gley would be created from the decomposing bags. Anyways, I was wondering if any of you had any ideas or experiences that relate to this. Or if you've actually read the whole book then please tell of any missing info or important info?

I bet you could create some kind of floating island mushroom bed like the Chinampas  of Mexico (don't know if they ever grow mushrooms that way).

http://www.chinampas.info/

I think this is a very exciting idea to try.    Especially in a climate where it is difficult to keep typical mushroom logs or beds sufficiently moist.

The chinampas have always been high on my list of tools to use for unconventional property improvement. I think that they could be used anywhere you have a swampy bit of property you couldn't otherwise use. There's more to the traditional approach, as if we're reading the same texts, the cultures using this method had no large, manure-producing animals for fertilizer, so they used their own. My idea is that I'd either make use of existant floating root mats, or I'd make a simple platform with fallen cedar (there are areas where we have lots in Ontario, and they routinely grow on banks and fall in as the shore erodes), and then build a hugel bed out of fallen lumber (not cedar) and swamp muck. I think this approach would add much edge and, thereby, diversity to any aquacultural project, as well as the productive spaces of the beds themselves. I hadn't thought to add mushrooms to the mix, though.

-CK

Here is a page about the underwater mushroom. I dont think you will have much luck getting hold of it though .

http://mycorant.com/swimming-with-mushrooms-or-the-fungal-life-aquatic/

But Stamets has also experimented with floating bags of mushroom substrate for remediating oil. I imagine they would work just as well for filtering other things an just growing mushrooms in dry conditions though.

Look near the bottom of this page.
http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html

Tyler that chinampa link rules! why does it never show up on my google searches!

Hi jaebone2,
Stamets calls the floating mushroom bags MycoBooms (he trademaked the name). The point of them is to break down hydrocarbons in the water. But what Stamets noticed, and what will be good for you Holzer pond projects, is that the oyster mushrooms attracted flies which in turn attracted the fish in the ponds, the frogs in the ponds, and the birds from around the pond. The MycoBooms are ecosystems jump starters. I would have to assume that if you added them to your own ponds once they are built, planted, and have fish added (if you are adding fish) they would be amazingly helpful. I hope you share your experience here.
Stay in trouble,
-Alan

p.s. he talks about them in his 2011 Bioneers talk, here: http://vimeopro.com/bioneers/2011conferencevideo/video/31616967

I might use older bags of spawn to build your raft since the myc will have a better hold on the sub once its really 100% as a pond will have a lot more microbes trying to out compete your fungi