Toadstool leather constantly shedding

[uberlink]

I posted this on the new hobbiests' forum, but no responses.
My toadstool leather never seems to stop shedding. He'll look nice and normal for two or three days, then go into a two or three day shedding cycle, and then repeat. Over and over again. I thought these guys were supposed to shed once a month or so, not once a week!
My parameters are:
28 gallon tank
79.5 degrees
SG 1.025 (though it had gotten up to 1.029 a few weeks back...back to normal now)
Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites: 0
Calcium: 650 ppm (high, I know...no idea why)
I have a couple of clowns in the tank, who hardly go near the toadstool. Also have a cleaner shrimp, a brittle star, ten hermits, ten astrea snails, a colt coral, some mushroom polyps, and a lot of little zoo polyps.
Nothing is near the toadstool, though he is near a powerhead (doesn't blow directly on him) and he is near the tank's heater.
Any thoughts?

 

[uberlink]

Nobody?

 

[uberlink]

Okay, one last BUMP.

 

[ninjamini]

I have several corals and the Toadstool is the only one to give me grief. I had one that just developed a hole that kept getting worse and it was not it a splitting way. Then I fragged it into 4. 3 survived. Now one of the frags is splitting in a weird way its kinda separating off about 40% of it head from its stump. It looks weird.
I dont know whats going on with your leather. Just wanted you to know that I feel your pain.

 

[nolan_nike]

Originally Posted by uberlink
I posted this on the new hobbiests' forum, but no responses.
My toadstool leather never seems to stop shedding. He'll look nice and normal for two or three days, then go into a two or three day shedding cycle, and then repeat. Over and over again. I thought these guys were supposed to shed once a month or so, not once a week!
Any thoughts?

I've got the same thing. It is getting larger and the stalk is rigid so I'm not worried about it. If you haven't checked your phosphate you may want to - that can affect corals.
If it isn't slumping over I wouldn't worry about it.
Just my opinion.

 

[uberlink]

I'll check out my phosphates. I don't have a test for that currently. Can you recommend a good one?

 

[murph145]

i know these things seem to do this from time to time maybe its not liking something in the tank or its stressed or maybe its just growing...
i have a leather finger right now that will shed like once every 7-10 days but only takes it a day or 2 to shed

 

[nolan_nike]

Originally Posted by uberlink
I'll check out my phosphates. I don't have a test for that currently. Can you recommend a good one?
I have an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and a Red Sea Phosphate test kit.
The A.P. kit was $5 online and the Red Sea was $16.95 at the local fish store.
I prefer the Aquarium Pharm kit. Seems to give consistant logical readings. Good bang for the buck too.
The Red Sea kit showed pure RO/DI water testing at 1 for phosphate.
If you have elevated Phosphates Phosban is a good product that won't leach the PO back into the water.

 

[jupoc911]

try more flow in that area. My toadstool hasnt shed in over 2 years and is growing massive!!

 

[uberlink]

I'm thinking now that this is a flow issue. The main flow in that area is to the intake of a powerhead that's near the leather in question. I'll rework my powerheads and see if that makes the difference.
I'll also pick up a phosphate test kit this weekend (should have that anyway).
Thanks, everyone!

 

[jupoc911]

im 99.5% positive this is a flow issue. I have seen it all the time.

 

[nolan_nike]

Originally Posted by Jupoc911
im 99.5% positive this is a flow issue. I have seen it all the time.
It just may be. My leather was kind of blocked by a rock. I've adjusted some powerheads to see if it makes a difference.
Thanks.

 

[jupoc911]

i know this is a little premature, but any difference?

 

[uberlink]

I moved a powerhead a bit in my tank so that it would gently hit my toadstool. Within a couple hours, the tentacles made their first appearance in days! They sucked back in pretty quick after the lights went out, but I'd say that's a very good sign! I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the advice!

 

[uberlink]

Problem solved! The flow has my toadstool back to normal. He looks like a million bucks. Thanks for the advice, all!

 

[nolan_nike]

Originally Posted by Jupoc911
i know this is a little premature, but any difference?
I hadn't noticed any difference since moving it into the slightly heavier flow so I moved it into moderately heavy flow 24 hrs ago. It hasn't opened since. I will give it 24 hrs more before moving to a lesser flow.

 

[ninjamini]

Give it a week to acclimate to a change in flow. Just watch it to see if it gets worse. Ant feel it to make shure it still feels like a leather.

 

[cnall]

I know this is a real noob question but other than common sense is there anyway to tell what sort of flow different areas of the thank are getting? I have a general idea how the water flows from the powerhead. I would really like a toadstool and just want to make sure not to run into a similar problem.
Thanks...glad to hear your toadstool is doing better

 

[gotfish?]

Originally Posted by uberlink
I posted this on the new hobbiests' forum, but no responses.
My toadstool leather never seems to stop shedding. He'll look nice and normal for two or three days, then go into a two or three day shedding cycle, and then repeat. Over and over again. I thought these guys were supposed to shed once a month or so, not once a week!
My parameters are:
28 gallon tank
79.5 degrees
SG 1.025 (though it had gotten up to 1.029 a few weeks back...back to normal now)
Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites: 0
Calcium: 650 ppm (high, I know...no idea why)
I have a couple of clowns in the tank, who hardly go near the toadstool. Also have a cleaner shrimp, a brittle star, ten hermits, ten astrea snails, a colt coral, some mushroom polyps, and a lot of little zoo polyps.
Nothing is near the toadstool, though he is near a powerhead (doesn't blow directly on him) and he is near the tank's heater.
Any thoughts?
I had the same problem after I move some of my rocks around. I had no idea what was going on so I asked my LFS. My leather is on a big rock with mushrooms and zoos all around it and he said it was probably chemical warfare.

He said to use carbon for a week, so I did and havent had the problem since. Just my .02

 

[mrdc]

I haven't read all the posts so someone may have already said this. I've had mine for over a year and I think the shedding has been kept down due to strong water flow. It has grown nicely and the only time it did a what I like to call "hybernation shed" is when I moved it since it was blocking light from my zoos. I was also having trouble awhile back with a finger leather and when I moved in better current, it shedded has grown a lot since. I think the current is important with these soft corals.