Leather Corals

[brianp]

Hey everyone I have two questions to ask. First is I have a large toadstool coral and it is not doing well. It has this mold like look and the ends are curling and looking rather hard. Can anyone help me? if you need a pic let me know. Two this is my second leather coral that has either died or not faired well in my tank. Please can anyone give me some advice? Feel free to email me at my address if you want.

 

[majakarot]

you might want to check for flatworms, i thought my colt had a fugus, but it was fuzzy flatworms

 

[brianp]

i have a 30 gallon tank with 115 watts of custom sealife power compacts. I have a bubble tip,large flat green brain, green mushroom rock, 35 lbs of live rock, astro snails, and large snails. All the other inhabitants are fine. I have a large skimmer, magnuim with a biowheel. my water quality is as follows:
Ph = 8.2, Ammonia =.1, Phosphate =0, nitrite =0, Calcium = 600, Nitrates = <5. I do a smalll water change ever weekend.
thank you i will look closer to see. What do i to get reed of thrm?

 

[ags]

What supplements are you adding to your tank if anything? I would suggest getting your calcium level down. Aside from the slight amount of ammonia everything seems in order. If you are dosing anything I suggest stopping and performing a decent size water change followed by small weekly water changes until things start looking better. The water changes will rid your tank of the ammonia and bring your calcium levels down. Then once everything is in order start adding calcium and buffer in the reccommended dosages
Leathers are typically pretty easy to care for. I have my toadstool leather in moderate current about half way up my tank. My finger leather is in direct current.

 

[reef fool]

IMO the calcium is too high. What is your Alk? your ammonia should be 0.

 

[brianp]

i add iodine every other day and vita life everday and coral trace vitimans once a week. I used to dose magnesium twice a week but not any more. I have a spread sheet that i started last month to keep track of my water quality. I will post it so that you can see it. I have been doing 5 and 7 gallon water changes like every week to get everything down. When i started my nitrates was at over 150 ppm. My ammonia has stayed the same. I forgot to mention that i have a maron clown and a royal gamma also. I have to get another clean up crew because my first set has all but died off. I did notice that the zioplankton on the toodstool was being bleached so i moved it into more light and they came back but the fungus looking stuff is still attacking it. I do not want to lose it. My Green brain is doing fantastic though. it has doubled its inflation in only a few weeks of me getting it.
I do not test my Alk maybe i should start.

 

[reef fool]

I may be wrong, But most iodine supplments are only supposed to be added once a week. as far as the toadstool, I found that they like the light, so I doubt it is being bleached from that. My LFS has a huge toadstool at the top of a 500 gal reef tank under MH and it is open fully every time I see it. Check the iodine levels.

 

[brianp]

i will check the iodine levels over the weekend and the directions say for beginners to add it once every other day. maybe the levels are two high but like i said my flat green brain is doing wonderfull. I did not think the light was bleaching it it was not recieving enough light at first and not it gets more. i need to get a clean up crew soon. Here are some pics to examine.

 

[ags]

I would 86 putting ALL supplements in your tank and do one large water change (25% or so) followed by weekly 10% water changes. These are arbitrary % but keep in mind they are done to get your water quality in order.
I have a moderately stocked tank and rarely dose iodine mainly because I have learned on this message board how easy it is to overdose. Besides salt mixes contain all the trace elements needed and some of the resident experts argue the benefits of dosing iodine is negligible.

 

[brianp]

Wow i did not know that. So you think my tank is over dosed. no pun heheh. i am posting some pics of the toadstool. and i already do about 10 percent every weekend. The expert at the store that i go to thinks it the low level ammonia is effecting it. I need to find out what is causing it to happen. Well good news i put one of my power heads directly on top of it and a lot of the fuzziness has gone i will check tonight when i get home from work for progress.

 

[ags]

I think the ammonia and potential overdosing is the problem. The iodine I use recommends dosing once a week at 5ml per 50 gallons. Very small amount. If you are dosing your iodine every other day that is more than likely your problem. Just keep up with your water changes and stop dosing. In this hobby it is amazing how beneficial a water change can be. That and patience.

 

[brianp]

hey guys some good news. I have purchased a pair of mated coral banded shrimp. And i have seen the Toadstool not get any worse in the past day or so. It still has a long way to go but I have a better grip on the situation. For one i am going to add bacteria to my tank and stop supplemnting for a month to a record the effects. My alk is at about 161.1 ppm so it is not low which is good. I am more leaning toward the fact that my tank for some reason has always had a high amount of organic debri in it. I think that is what is causing the ammonia reading and i did clean the substrate a lot so i lost a lot of the nitrfiing bacteria. If some has any suggestions about controling organic debris i am open for suggestions. I thank you guys for your support it has been very helpful.

 

[ags]

Organic debris? Like what? How much are you feeding? I feed considerably less than some members do (maybe four times a week). Do you have a protein skimmer? Skimming will increase your water quality be removing soluble wastes. You can also use Chemi-pure which I believe is like carbon (not too sure about this). It helps clean up the water quality and any odors of your tank. Don't use one so I am not too sure how well they work.

 

[chinnyr]

BrianP,Another thing to consider is maintaining your specific gravity at a constant level.My toadstool is pretty tempermental when the salinity level fluctuates.I try to keep it at 1.024 or so.It does'nt like the higher salt levels,and it needs a little flow to keep debris of of it.Otherwise it might close up for a while and even "shed" to remove the excess debris.Hope this helps,and good luck!

 

[timsedwards]

Hey,
Just for the record your calcium is too high, anything over about 450 gets wasted, you need to try and aim for 400-450 if you can IMO.
Sammy stingray or anyone infinately more experienced than me can feel free to correct me!
All the best,
Tim

 

[brianp]

hey guys i have some good news. I changed 1/3 of my tank water and did a dip on my toadstool yesterday. I have also gone to using dry tabs to get a more accurate reading of my ammonia. It was actually not .1 but .25 when tested. The toadstool has opened up twice the size it has been and it is sheding the stuff that is on it and the stalk looks health. I think he will pull through. Thanks to everyone for your help. I do have a skimmer and it has a large volume and tank capacity size.