Hi everyone,

I have a sarcophyton leather coral that is generally doing quite well. However, it has a small spot of necrosing tissue. It 's not very big and it doesn't seem to be spreading. The coral still expands fully. Should I worry about this? Should I cut the necrosed tissue? And if so, what is the safest way to do it for the coral? As you must suspect, I have never cut pieces of my corals.

thanks!

Ann

It could just be growing a new lobe from that spot, I've seen ours do that without going into the whole "waxy coating" phase they normally do during growth spurts.

Got a picture?

Ann - a picture would be a big help. Is the spot in the middle of the coral? How's your flow on the leather?

Where is this spot?

Hi!

The spot is located on an edge between two lobes. The water flow is excellent. Here is a photo taken with my useless camera. I tickled the coral a bit to make it retract so I could get a clear shot of the spot.

Thanks

Ann

Ann - the reason that I asked about the water flow is this - sarcophyton corals need good flow in order to rid their surface of debris and to be able to shed their mucous layer. Although the picture is a bit difficult to absolutely determine something, I would suggest trying to aim a bit more flow at/towards the leather coral (not too harsh)....see if that helps for a few days.

Hi!

Reefbaby I took your advice and ajusted the current so it hits the coral more directly. The coral opens up into it and I am able to see the spot more clearly. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks!

Ann

Ok,

Remember the dead spot on my sarcophyton? As it turns out, the coral was working on its own frags!:huh:

I followed Reefbaby's advice and changed the direction of the pump to provide more current for the coral but the dead spot kept growing and soon a donut hole formed in the middle of it and the tip of the lobe just dropped to the sand. I picked it up and secured it onto another rock and it is doing well. Two more dead spots began forming on other lobes of the main coral and soon I could see the donut holes again. There was another drop today, and again I picked up the new "baby coral" and secured it to another rock. The last one should be hitting the sand any day now. The "mother coral" seems to be doing well.

Has anyone seen this before? Is there cause for concern?

Ann,

Congratulations on your new frags. I've never kept a leather so I don't know if this is common but they must reproduce somehow. :)

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/wildeone/Ebay/IMG_0076.jpg (http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/wildeone/Ebay/?action=view&current=IMG_0076.jpg)

As you can see , the top portion of mine (about 12o'clock in the photo) is doing the same thing. I have seen it from time to time, but I have never seen it drop a frag by starting in from the edge. Mine looks as though it may be doing just that though.

i agree with Carmiejo, looks like leather reproduction to me. keep doing what youre doing !!

wow reproduction??? nice! goodluck wt the new frag

That is really freakin cool!

It really is amazing. I have now fixed two frags to rocks and they are doing very well. One frag fell probably during the night and got swept by the current somewhere in rockwork. There is one more lobe about to be "released" but I think that's it for the time being. I have not observed any more spots.

Tourlou!

Ann

isn't it amazing how things happen in this hobby !? just one more reason that i love it so much.