toadstool leather is green

[ross]

I bought a toadstool leather a couple weeks and he is getting a green tint to it. Could it be algae? He is pretty high in the tank(440w vho). In medium flow. I also have xenia, hammer, and some polyps that are doing good. I have a few mushrooms that i am waiting for them to attach to some sand so i can put them on a rock. Do i need to feed these corals anything? My water paramters are ph-8.3 dkh-9.9 calcium-330 specific gravity-.025 ammonia and trites and trates are zero.

 

[ross]

Ok thanks Carol. I asked my lfs if i needed to get my calcium up for it and they said no. I will add some bionic tonight.

 

[mightyoxjuice]

You should get your ammonia down to 0

 

[ross]

My ammonia is zero. The .025 was refering to my specific gravity. Sorry for confusing you.
I was going to add my 2 part b-ionic, and tested my ph. It is kinda hard to tell but i think it is pretty high. It looked closested to 8.6 on the little card. My dkh is already pretty good so can i just add the calcium part? I don't want the alkalinity part to spike the ph.

 

[ross]

This is it when i first got it.

 

[ross]

Here it is now. You can't really tell the color of it. It definetly looks kinda of flourescent though.

 

[tsl]

That is normal behavior. When they close up they have a greener tint to them. I have 6 toadstools and they all do that. When they open up they are more pink, but when they contract you will see more green in them.

 

[007]

to me, that looks like a dying toadstool. I have never seen mine turn that color when shedding.
These are rather resillant corals though . . . try moving it lower in the tank away from the lighting. I have found that mine do well under VHO, but not RIGHT under . . . know what I mean?

 

[jedininja]

Looks like its dying to me too. :nervous:

 

[tsl]

If it is dying it will shrivel up like that, but those corals do close up from time to time especially if it is new.
If there is something wrong with it you should see some yellow on the edges of the coral. This will brush off if you touch it. That is a sign that it is sick. You should also see this around the base.
You have to really try to kill a toadstool. They can take just about anything. From the picture it looks like some of the polyps are still extended. If your water parameters are OK then I really wouldn't worry about it just yet. Like I said these are almost impossible to kill.

 

[ross]

Thanks guys. He is constantly opening and closing up. Here he is like 3 minutes ago.

 

[jedininja]

It really doesnt look healthy. It looks like one side of it is dying off first. If you want, you can cut that section off so it doesnt spread to the rest of coral. I've done that with a leather before and it worked out well. All I did was cut it off, and dip the cut side into some iodine. It healed up within about a week. It loked pretty lopsided for a while though.

 

[beth]

He looks fine and there are GREEN varieties of this coral.

 

[ross]

Thanks again.
Does anyone else thinks he could be regaining his zooaxnathalle algae. In the the lfs he was under some pretty dim lighting. I have only had him for not even 2 weeks. He might still be adjusting to the light, right? Please give me any suggestions you can.

 

[jedininja]

Originally posted by Beth
He looks fine and there GREEN varieties of this coral.
Its not the green color that makes it look dead. Its how shriveled up one side is and how the polyp extention is almost all gone.

 

[tsl]

There is nothing wrong with that coral.
Unless you see a developing hole in it I would not worry. It is normal for the polyps to retract. Right now my big toadstool doesn't have any polyps extended. Tomorrow I am sure that it will once again be completely open. These corals constantly do this.
If you do decide to cut the coral as someone suggested, please do not throw away the "dead" part. You can mount that part on another rock and you will have two toadstools. They are very easy to propagate.

 

[ross]

It has a dead part on it, i think. It is circled

 

[ross]

Should i break it off or what? Do you guys think it is regaining its zooxanthalle algae? Why would it be green?

 

[tsl]

You should leave it alone for the time being.
Mine did the same thing. It is in the process of splitting. After mine split off from the "dead" part, that "dead" part formed two new toadstools.
Continue posting pictures of what the coral does every couple of days so I can confirm that it is indeed splitting.
Your coral is green because it is contracted. The zooxanthalle algae is compressed much closer together so it is much easier to see.
My original toadstool has split and moved from rock to rock in my tank. I started with one and now have six.

 

[007]

after learning that this coral has only been in the tank for two weeks . . . I definitely agree that this coral needs to be left alone for the time being. Toadstools in particular can be very sensitive to water chemistry changes and can take weeks to acclimate themselves to new environments. But as previously stated, once they get comfortable, you really have to be trying to kill it.
My advise: Move it to the bottom of the tank until you see it stretch for the light, especially since it was under dim lighting where ever you got it from. Once you see that it is extending for more light, then move it to its final resting place.