Leather coral still not opening.

wildeone · 06-13-2006, 06:05 PM

My leather coral has not had it polyps extended since at least Saturday. It my have been longer, but I cannot remember exactly which day it started this. I will test my water later tonight, but as of my last test which was 6 days ago everything was normal except for a slight drop in SG from 1.025 to 1.023 due to my ATO having a slight issue.

That has been fixed and I plan on doing a changeout tonight of 10 gallons to try to raise it to 1.024. The leather has been opening and closing occasionally, but it has not been extended. I actually picked it up 2 days ago and looked at it closely. There were no marks on it that I could notice. Any ideas?

pham411 · 06-13-2006, 06:28 PM

i had a similar problem when i first brought home my leather. i didnt open for about 2 weeks and was slowly shrinking. one nite i was looking in my tank after dark and noticed a crab was eating away at the base of my leather. i quickly captured the corpate and a few days later the leater bloomed. it has now recovered.

wildeone · 06-13-2006, 08:31 PM

Iwill give it 2 more days and then I am going to give it a thorough inspection. Can I remove it from the water to inspect it? I guess now would be a good time to have a Quarentine Tank......

fat walrus · 06-13-2006, 09:37 PM

yes, it is okay to take it out to inspect it. leathers do shut down temporarily in preparation for a new shedding, especially after water parameter shifts. look out for bacterial infection.

wildeone · 06-14-2006, 09:21 AM

Just a note, I tested my water and everything was OK. All reading were before water change.

Ammonia 0
Nirtite .1
Nitrate 5
SG 1.024 (after change out of 5 Gallons, it was closer to 1.023 before change out)
PH 8.1
PO4 .25
CA 440
dH 7.84

My Nitrite and Nitrate were 0 at last test, but I expected a mini cycle after adding my final 2 fish last Saturday.

wildeone · 06-14-2006, 09:23 AM

Quote:

leathers do shut down temporarily in preparation for a new shedding,

I guess I have more to learn about these guys (as always). When you say shedding, what are you refering to, the slime coat that they excrete at times?

***Rob*** · 06-14-2006, 09:50 AM

they will actually shed of there outter most layer of tissue. its common when they are not getting enough flow, or when they are stressed.

fat walrus · 06-14-2006, 10:45 PM

any updates on the leather, wildeone?

wildeone · 06-14-2006, 11:15 PM

It is still closed, I have a few photos I will throw up that I tookl when I pulled it and inspected it.

wildeone · 06-14-2006, 11:47 PM

I noticed a bulge on one side. I am not sure if this was there when I put it in the tank or not as this was my very first coral and I was really nervous and just wanted to get it in the water after acclimation and not mess with it.

wildeone · 06-14-2006, 11:47 PM

fat walrus · 06-14-2006, 11:54 PM

it looks ok from my perspective. my leathers get that shiny or waxy look before shedding.

wildeone · 06-15-2006, 12:03 AM

OK thanks for the help. I will let it go for a few more days and see what happens. I am actually probably causing it more harm by removing it and inspecting it that if I would have just left it alone.

I guess I should stand by the old statement "Reef Tanks - Only Bad things happen fast."

***Rob*** · 06-15-2006, 12:42 AM

yes, and keep a close eye on those bulge areas at the base. just make sure they dont grow or expand. but the head doenst look bad

gwen_o_lyn · 06-15-2006, 01:14 PM

That last pic in post #10 around the base looks like its opened up there a little. Just make sure nothing is eating it. The top looks great though.

Since you have a large piece- you can always try fragging it. Just cut a piece on the top and attach to a rock. You really can't mess up when it comes to fragging a leather. I usually find that the frags look better than the mother colony many times- they always look happy and extended after just a few days.