Japanese Maple disease - Help!

[Wiks]

Hi.
My 15 year old Japanese Maple has been diseased for a few years and it is getting worse. Can anyone ID per the attached photos and suggest ways to save it? Bark is pealing back on many branches as well as fungus. I live in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you!!
Alex

 

[Tape]

is the branches touching the ground, get the pine straw away from the trunk

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Mulch too deep - it's suffocating.

 

[PJM]

What you think is fungus, is actually lichen and is not harmful to your tree.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

http://www.joshclaybourn.com/when-a-tree-goes-too-deep/

"When tree roots are planted too far underground, secondary roots grow toward the surface to compensate. Rather than growing up and then out from the tree, they often encircle the trunk (called “girdling roots”) and ultimately choke it out. It can also cause bark on the trunk to start falling off and make the tree more susceptible to disease and pests....
The mulch had hugged the trunk bark for so long that it choked off oxygen and caused the protective bark to peel off...
If the dangerous wounds don’t kill the tree, the girdling roots just under the mulch would eventually suffocate it."

Sound familiar?
Where are the root flares on your tree?

 

[challenger]

I agree. I'm not an expert but I have a red crimson cut leaf that has the same stuff growing on for decades. I would just "leaf" it alone[emoji16]. See what I did there [emoji16]

What you think is fungus, is actually lichen and is not harmful to your tree.

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