finger coral shrivaling up!!! (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

I have a leather finger coral for about 1 month. he is doing great but now all the sudden he is all shrivaling up and the outside seem to be coated by a shiny fluid. everything else in the tank it doing great, my candy cane and yellow polyps are even reproducing. i dotn know what is wrong with him, he been closed for about 4 days now.

tank specs:

temp-78-80
ph-8.0-8.3
alk-3.5-4.0
calc-380
phos-0
nitrate-0

can some one help me with this?? thank you

 

[AggieBrandon]

Leathers will shed their slime coat from time to time...you can use a turkey baster or power head to "blow" the slime coat off the coral. See if that works. If it does it will take a day or so for it to open back up completely.

Brandon

 

[Guest]

thank you very much. so all i have to do is wait correct? and what do i do with the slime coat? do i try to take it out or just leave it in there?

 

[pernelf]

Yes, leathers will develope a coat every once in awhile, it is basically a way to clean themselves off.

 

[AggieBrandon]

get the slime coat off and try to make sure it doesn't land on any other corals...if you want to catch it out you can but it isn't necessary. If you haven't done a water change lately you can even do that to make it extra happy.

Brandon

 

[tfifeco]

Has your Salinity changed any? When I had a large Yellow Toadstool it would be the first to respond(just like your finger) to small changes in salinity and in some cases the only coral that would respond. The changes in Salinity I am talking about would be caused by water evaporation, How are you doing you water topoff, is it an auto topoff? I do agree with the others ... that they will just do that from time to time but, that would also be a sign that something could have changed with your water params. In the month that you have had it ... has it been fully extended the majority of the time. In my experience with my Toadstool, when it would close up for 4 days (and that has happened) that was a sure sign that something had changed with my water Params. Once was due to high Nitrates, another time was due to an accidental Salinity increase to almost 1.030

I am just saying that 4 days closed up like that seems a bit long - I would do another water test of all params possibly from an LFS or from a different test kit. JMO

I hope this helps

Trey

 

[Guest]

thanks alot. come to think of it i did lower my salinity but only for a lil not even .01 however i did raise my calcium lvl by 50 would that contribute to my finger closing up? another thing that is closed is a small frag of 6 polyps zoos that i got from a LFS. it has been almost 2 weeks and the zoos havent open up yet.

 

[tfifeco]

Hey reefnoobs,

if by raising your CA caused your PH or ALK to lower below normal ranges then that could cause the leather to close. How about Phosphates? Trying to be a little thorough here but, What about your lighting have you changed your lighting cycle any? Typically changing your lighting cycle shouldn't cause the leather to stay closed for that long ... but you never know . Did you do another water test? Not trying to push but you probably aught to get another water test and I would include testing Phosphates as well ... from a different test kit or from an LFS. The reason for all of the question is because all of these factors have affected my toadstool one way or another? Just trying to kelp. Keep us posted

Thanks
Trey

 

[Guest]

thank you for your help. my phosphate is 0 and also is nitrate. the only test kits i use are from lamotte and salifert. lightning hasnt been change. the only thing that i change in the water parameter is raise calcium from 330 to 380-400 and raise my alk by .5 meg over a period of 1 week. another thing is i also change my flow but not to any dramatic effect i dont think. and i still dont get why my zoos are not opening up either it has been almost 2 weeks. i bought them from LFS and they were fine, the LFS has them in a 7 bow with the lightning that comes with it. i have 3x65watts pc raised about 4' over my 37 gallons. :?

 

[tfifeco]

OH, Theres your problem .... A 37g tank .... You need atleast an 80g

no seriously, what's the water temp? You said you changed Salinity just slightly, did you switch salt brands? You said your Phosphates are zero, did you do anything to bring it down like PhosGuard? or has it always been zero. When was your last water change? If it's been a while you may want to just do another one, "delution is the solution to polution"

Again just tryin to help

Trey

 

[Guest]

my water temp is 77-80 , i did a water change yesterday so my yellow polyps had just multiply some more over night. i did not switch salt brand been using instant ocean since day one. oh yea, about my zoos close up, the LFS use red a diff brand of salt then mine and their salinity is about .2 lower then mine would that cause the zoos to close up for so long?

 

[tfifeco]

Well, I am not sure what's going on ... I am definitely no expert ... Maybe someone else can chime in, or you could run this by the guys on RC. I just know that when my Zoos and Toadstool did exactly what you described it was due, most of the time, to elevated levels of Nitrate and performing water changes did the trick for me. Also, You said you changed your water flow a little, is it now getting more or less or the same flow? Maybe it is just a combination of a few minor things that time and added water changes will take care of ... Though 4 days does seem a bit long it is not totally uncommon to go that long or longer, Give it a few more days and performing more water changes definitly won't hurt,

Maybe someone else can chime in ...

Trey

 

[Guest]

i just went down stair and look and to my supprise and happiness a couple fingers of my leather have shred their slim coat and their lil polyps starting to show does this mean the rest of the colony will do the same? how about my zoos will they do alright base on the informations i posted above?

 

[tfifeco]

Well, sounds like a good sign, come to think of it, I forgot that my Toadstool would close up a lot for the first few months after I got him. He didn't stay fully open all day and only close for short periods until after I had him for about 6 months or so. I forgot you said you only had him for a month. Patience, he may do the same thing again in the near future, just watch your water params.

Good luck
Trey

 

[Guest]

alright thank you so much for your help so far. what about your opinion on my zoos base on my tank's parameters and the LFS? you think the diff in tank's parameter cause the zoos to close up?

 

[tfifeco]

Well, did you just get the zoos? if so, then yes that's very possible. But I would watch the leather for another day or two, if it seems like only a couple of polyps are starting to extend and then stops and closes back up again and then repeats this over and over for a day or two, then you may have elevated nutrients (Nitrates,etc) that maybe you are getting a bad reading from your test kit. If that happens I would definitly increase the amount of water changes and try and get an LFS to test your water to compare to your test results. Just a thought,

Good luck and I hope they come back around
Trey

 

[Guest]

finger coral has now open up fully thanks tfifeco for your informations

 

[Guest]

everything is going great now the leather is doing real good and is even popping out new branch.. ye it is now about 2 weeks since the zoos been in my tank and i can barely see their centers the way they are right now.