leather coral dying??

sterling

sterling

Member
I read another post just recently about someone's leather coral looking bad. Mine hasn't spouted any of the polyps on it since yesterday and today it looks like there's a shiny area on the inside part. Since I'm new to the corals, is this one dying on me? I'd be very sad if it is. Please help me out.
 
hondo

hondo

Member
Leather corals do shed from time to time and when they do this it's not uncommon for them to not have polyps out for several days. It might be doing this or it might be stressed by something. Need more info on your water quality. Have you tested the water recently? If so what are the results. You list having a wet/dry and a Emporer but only 80lbs of sand in a 125. I would guess your nitrates are pretty high and that could be stressing the coral (this is just a wild unsubstantiated guess). check your water and see if anything is out of line. also is this coral new to the tank and if so how new? It may just not like the spot it is in, or may be adjusting to your lighting, BTW what is your lighting.
 
sterling

sterling

Member
Ok, tested my water today (I test usually weekly or twice weekly), my parameters are as follows:
PH 8.4, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, calcium 490, alk is a little low but in normal range, I added buffer today. temp 78.5, salinity 1.025.
So now what.
 
hondo

hondo

Member
well If your water is fine (no nitrate test though and corals do not like nitrates) then the leather may just be shedding. They do this periodicaly. What is your lighting set up and when did you put this coral in your tank.
 
sterling

sterling

Member
my lighting is two 36" JBJ power compacts with one 96W blue, one 96 white in each fixture. I got this coral about a month ago. I talked to a LFS and discribed it to him and he said the same thing you did, shedding. Actually, tonight, when I got home a few of the polyps are out. So I'll keep my fingers crossed.
 
R

randy 12

Guest
Glad to hear the leather is doing better. But if it ever does start to die, did you know you can cut off the dying part and keep the part that's still good? I did that when my leather died. It still had two pieces that hadn't died yet and I cut them out. I now have two small leathers doing great.
 
maryc137

maryc137

Member
I have a huge pink leather and a few months ago it did the same thing. It was all rusty color. Looked terrible.Then it started turning white, like there was powder on it. Then this started disappearing and in a couple weeks it was better than ever.
 
sterling

sterling

Member
Thanks to everyone!! My leather is fine. The polyps are popping back out today and there is slime coming off of it so I guess it's growing!! :)
Now about cutting dead parts off......I don't think I have any dead parts but what did you use to cut the dead area off with?? Knife, scalpel? That's very interesting.
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
when propagating my leathers, i always use a very sharp pair of scissors so that it makes a clean cut and isnt raggedy or sloppy. i also did this with a leather that was going downhill and managed to salvage about 4 little sections and i now have 4 min. leathers growing aroud the tank. i usually tanke the cutting and attatch it to a small piece of lr by placign a rubber band around it very loosley. i allow this to settle for several days, then remove the band,m and place the leather where i want it. its worked great so far. also make sure that the original leather that was cut, and the cutting itself are in areas with good circulation, as this helps it to heal faster without developing complications.
good luck
jon
 
R

randy 12

Guest
I used a sharp knife. I superglued it to a rock. One stayed put the first time but I had to reglue the other one a few more times. They're growing great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top