Leather Coral Help

laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
I have my toadstool leather in my tank, for a while he looked like he was shedding but it kind of looks like algae is growing on him. I have been feeding him phytoplankton for a while now. He has not opened up for about a week and i am starting to get worried. He used to open up twice a day, then i moved him and he sill opened twice a day, but he has stopped opening. When i asked the guy at the LFS if it was dead he said it would come back anyway. My torch and carnation coral are doing fine but not this guy. The fish are all doing fine as well. Is this just some strange behavior he is going through? All parameters are 100% good. He is in Medium-High flow about halfway up the tank to i would say Medium light as well.
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
Toadstools can really look bad for days (many) and still be fine. I keep mine
in a low/medium flow. I was once told that if they feel 'leathery' they are still alive. If soft and mushy, probably dead. Hope this helps.
 
thud

thud

Member
Lax, don't worry. This is what you need to do.
My toadstool was open when I first received it. A few days later it look bald and unopen. I was thinking about tossing it after 4 days because I thought it was dead, when I went to check on it I saw that it was shedding and opening..
You need to increase flow on the toadstool to help it shed. Once it sheds it will open up again.
It makes me wonder how many live toadstools have been tossed out! :(
 
gmford1979

gmford1979

Member
i agree with Thud. mine did the same thing last week. i got on here and asked some questions and was told not to do anything except up the water flo to help the shedding.
mine was a greenish color on top. i came close to tossing it, but didn't and now it is a good bit bigger and looks great.
 
laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
a dude at a LFS said that they never die unless poisoned or eaten and sometimes they can be closed up for a month or so because they are pissed that they were moved. So i am keeping him at the same spot so he will open up soon i hope. I added some Zoos today about 60 polyps on 1 rock and they opened up in 2 mins, they look great.
 
C

cmaxwell39

Guest
When I first put my toadstool in my tank it took almost two weeks for it to open and start acting normal. It finally shed and opened up really nice. Since then it has gone through a couple of periods where it looked really bad for two to four days and then it will finally shed and come back. I wouldn't worry about it just give it time.
 
laxplaya

laxplaya

Member
it appears that there is algae growing on him. This sounds really bad, There is actually a lot, not covering him but a decent amount. Is this a bad sign?
 
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