Reef Discussion

[Buddy]

My leather coral (been in the tank for 6+ months) has been closed for at least a month now which is the longest it has done this and it's not looking the best. At first it did its usual shiny wax coating thing for a couple of days, then its lost its shine but this time the polyps didn't come out. It has also shrunk to about half its size which it did every other time it has shed.
There are only a couple of things I can think of...
My lighting was on 50% and I have increased this to 70% over the last couple of months. Its only a 70w LED so not much light anyway.
My Tiger blenny sleeps in it every night but the blenny has been doing this long before the leather closed amd never seemed to bother it.
My phosphates and nitrates are the lowest they have been in the tank since I started it. phos got to 0 on my hanna checker 2 weeks ago and my nitrates have been around 5-10 for months.
My sandbed got a light dusting of diatoms at the same time the phos got to zero, the diatoms passed in a few days.
It is in the same water flow that it has always had in the tank.

I know these corals do this but I am just checking that there isn't anything I haven't noticed ;) Everything else in the tank looks great. magnesium is 1300

Here is what it looked like a couple of months ago (just after lights on so not fully extended)

And here it is today, turning blotchy and brown

 

[josh]

some times they do that

 

[Buddy]

Yup im aware of that, as I stated in my original post, but for this long? Its not doing its normal shedding behaviour. Ive never seen one turn brown a week after it started shedding.

 

[Ian G]

A "true" reading of zero is too low for soft corals. Current thinking is about 0.04 as phosphate is food for softies.

Have you tried reef roids or even aminos for your leather?

If you PM me your address I'll send you a small amount of each to try. They're quite expensive so that way you can evaluate if it helps.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS EXACTLY.

 

[megsez]

My one's do this from time to time. Not for that long though. My leathers love high flow. Maby move it to higher water flow if it is not in a high flow area already and see how it goe's. Also is that a hammer in the back ground? could it be to close and does not want to open ? Sorry cant help more

 

[Buddy]

A "true" reading of zero is too low for soft corals. Current thinking is about 0.04 as phosphate is food for softies.

Have you tried reef roids or even aminos for your leather?

If you PM me your address I'll send you a small amount of each to try. They're quite expensive so that way you can evaluate if it helps.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS EXACTLY.

Thanks for the offer mate. Ive been using the roids and amino for about a month now so I might bump up the dosage a bit.

 

[Buddy]

My one's do this from time to time. Not for that long though. My leathers love high flow. Maby move it to higher water flow if it is not in a high flow area already and see how it goe's. Also is that a hammer in the back ground? could it be to close and does not want to open ? Sorry cant help more

thanks for the ideas. Mine loves high flow too, its in the area with the highest flow without being in direct flow of the powerhead. The hammer has been closer than that but as it got bigger I moved it further away a few months ago. The leather and hammer are a few inches away from each other. I might give it a couple more weeks and move it to the sand bed if it doesnt improve.

 

[Buddy]

Still looks like crap but its trying! haha

 

[daniel]

Dude if it dies off I might have one for you to buy, I have 2

 

[Ian G]

Mate, except for how long it's all taking, this leather seems to be going through normal shedding to me. Similar to below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The whole story here.

 

[Ian G]

BTW, I should have mentioned that some aquarists think aim a powerhead not quite directly at it helps. I have no opinion on that as I've never tried it.

 

[daniel]

It does because when it sheds it leaves a thin layer of skin with the powerhead it blows it off

 

[macca_75]

Hey buddy, are you local to SE suburbs Vic?

If you are I could help you out with one if this one doesn't pull through. I get heaps so can cut one off if you need.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks for the replys:D I have had a powerhead almost directly on the leather for months now and it loves it. Shedding always took 2 days max and it never got brown like it has this time, it has always been shiny while shedding too while this time it hasn't.
Anyways it seems to improving slowly and getting back to its normal pinky colour.
Thanks for the offer macca_75 ill keep it in mind.

 

[alan]

I had one that went a bit like this, its a pink one, it was "shedding" for 3-4 weeks. Now its around 4 times the size of when i got it.

 

[Priscacara]

Great pics of that one opening up!

 

[Buddy]

Great pics of that one opening up!

Thanks! It actually has looked much better than that pic, I just didn't have any other pics of it :rolleyes
Well it is still improving and it has started puffing back up again and is about 3cm taller than yesterday (but still about 4 or 5cm smaller than it originally was) My Tiger blenny has been munching the brown stuff off and its almost all gone.