Toadstool leather splitting or problems?       11/29/15 Hi All, <Kin/Jur> Thanks for all of the times you have helped me. I hesitate asking questions on the various reef websites' open forums because I always receive conflicting advice. I'm grateful to you pros for helping us. <Welcome> I have had this leather for 3 years. It started as a tiny frag in my 10 gal nano. He thrived and has been in my 220 gal for 6 months now. I noticed a few days ago a tiny hole in him right in the center of the coral and is now like a year <tear> drop. At first I thought that it was my emerald crab, but after removal the hole changed shape from round to teardrop and seems bigger. No necrosis, just a clean hole . Pic attached. What do you think? Problems, pests or splitting? <Looks like a tear to me; sans repair; and no problem> The polyps extend beautifully all day. The coral is happy. Here they are recessed. See pic. Thank You! Kinley <Welcome. Bob Fenner>

Dying shipment of Sarcophyton 01/10/10
Hello Crew,
<Rand>
Again, thanks for doing what you do. I received a cooler of 17 pieces of Sarcophyton from Fiji that were seized by customs.
<Argghhh! For what reason?>
When I opened the cooler, the state of the shipment was evident...coffee brown, horrible smelling water, coupled with suffocating corals and die off of all the hitchhiking organisms. Saw some really fierce looking Polychaetes that I haven't seen before, and some neat boring urchins with tests the size of pencil
erasers, but alas, they were dead.
I know that Sarcophyton is totipotent, and has remarkable regenerative abilities. I am wondering how to take advantage of them without completely fouling my system. I rinsed the corals eight or nine times and each time, the water was coffee brown by the last coral. I then placed them in a cooler with yet another change of water and an airstone and left for a couple hours. I returned to find the smell unbearable, which I half expected, and the water completely fouled again. Is there any way to salvage something from these unfortunate casualties of smuggling?
<Not likely... IF you have a huge amount of water, you can try changing this out, tossing the old completely... Till you're out of water or patience, which ever comes first... other than this...>
Thanks,
Randy Folds
<Bob Fenner>

Crack in Soft Coral -- 4/13/07 Hey! Great site. <Thanks!> I was just wondering I bought a devils hand leather and just noticed as its starting to open there all cracks there the fingers attach to it.  I think it may have been dropped.  Inside the bag of course not just the coral hitting the ground.  I notice the guy drop it and I didn't say anything thinking he wouldn't sell it to me if it was serious.. I know him good <Well too!>. I didn't notice the damage till now. And I feel bad calling him.  Will this coral heal itself?   <Possibly, though probably better to just frag it.> It's not like anything is hanging off. It's just split slightly in about 4 spots.  Is it toast? <Nah, never toast.  More here on fragging:   http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corlpropfaqs.htm and related links in blue> should I say something? <You're decision.> thank you <Welcome!  -Mich> <Please I not I and the first letter of each sentence is capitalized!>

Dying Leather Coral, using WWM  -- 06/11/07 I hope you will be able to help me. <Me too> I recently received a damaged leather coral, probably a toadstool, in the hopes that I could revive it. The specimen came out of an overstocked, uncycled system and had nitrate burns all over it. Aside from nitrate poisoning, I could find nothing else to cause these black spots. The coral was also under metal halide lighting which I think would be too strong for a leather. I placed it into a quarantine tank with a collection of Zoanthids from the same system. <... see WWM re their compatibility> The lighting is now strong actinic and sunlight fluorescent bulbs. The Zoanthids recovered almost immediately and have been placed in my main tank but the leather is just drooping more and more. It is right under a powerhead so there should be plenty of water flow and I've added an iodine and vitamin supplement but it hasn't even opened the head. Is there anything else I should try? <Mmm, yes... Reading: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm The areas on Zoanthids... and the tray below on Soft Corals... Bob Fenner>
Re: Dying Leather Coral -- 6/12/07 >Thank you for your response and I did some more reading on your site. The best I can pick up is to attempt to remove the necrotic (black) areas with a razor blade to prevent it from spreading. ><Not necessary or advised... needs a better setting... one where it isn't the loser allelopathically> > It is possible also in its previous system (29 g's) that it was too close to the Zoanthids. ><Of a surety this was so> > I'm attaching a picture of the current tank and specimen. I put it into a 55g with liverock, snails, and hermit crabs along with a few damsel fish. Lighting remains actinic ><Not useful> >and full sun (both coral life with reflectors). All water parameters are good. ><Ditto info.> >I'm still not even sure this is a leather since it was given to me in this condition but the stalk does resemble the standard. Do you think there is a chance? An additional piece of info, the snails have all been feeding on the base as shown in this picture. ><Please... read where you were referred to. BobF>
Re: Dying Leather Coral -- 6/12/07 I am sorry to keep bothering you and beginning to feel as if I am a little dense. I will include more information on the current tank conditions for this poor leather coral. It was removed from a stressful situation last week. I do not know much of the parameters but was told that the tank had not cycled and that the nitrate readings were off of the chart. The previous set up was a 29g nano-cube with metal halides and a chiller attached. The system I placed it into has only live rock which has been established for over 10 years. I am running the Eheim Wet Dry canister system rated for 180 gallon tank with an additional powerhead to increase water flow. The only chemical filtration is Chemi-pure in the filter. I do not use a protein skimmer on this system as it is seriously understocked by most standards and I never got anything in the skimmer. Roughly 100 lbs live-rock, 2 blue damsels, 1 yellow tail damsel, and a yellow striped maroon clown in a 55g. Water parameters are as follows: Calcium: 480ppm Temp. 78 Nitrate: .25 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 PH: 8.23 Lighting: 1 40wt full sun fluorescent tube by Coralife, 1 40wt actinic tube by Coralife Additives: Kent Marine Essential Elements 1X week. Seachem Reef complete 1X week Seachem Reef Plus 1X week. I stagger each additive by roughly 2 days rather than introducing them all at once. These parameters seem to meet the normal requirements for a leather coral and certainly keep the coralline algae happy. This tank has never had corals as I use it for quarantining anything I intend to put into the 75 set-up which has no troubles. The specimen was placed approx. 4" under the lights (it was under halides after all), 2" forward and 2" under the powerhead return. Aside from the odd little white things on the rock it came on, there are no other corals in the system to compete with it. I also add Cyclops 1X week for snails and hermit crabs pleasure along with being a treat to the damsels. If I do not remove the blackened areas of the leather coral, it seems the only other thing I can do is wait and see. <And read. RMF>

Colt Coral RTD,  Time to Frag!   3/4/07 Hey guys, <Hi Carrie!  Mich here.> I had an incident a few days ago with my HOB fuge/skimmer, it essentially broke off the tank and pumped 10 gallons of water out onto the floor.   <Oh, no fun here!> None of the corals were exposed, it was just a mess to clean up and I'm waiting for parts so I can put it back on.  Since this time (and it may be unrelated) my colt coral (Cladiella spp.) has started to turn brown.  I've been siphoning out the slime and I fragged a piece off that seemed to be ripping away, but the coral continues to fall apart.   <I think I would frag it and remove all discolored areas, sooner better than later.> I've done daily water changes and checking of tank parameters.  This has always been my most beautiful tank, with some very healthy corals.  But since this incident with the colt coral, my toadstool doesn't want to completely open and even my plume sea fan won't open. <Could be some allelopathy, mucus, and tissue necrosis issues occurring.> Although, there is a tiny toadstool frag that is open and happy. Tank is as follows: ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate <10 (total nitrate) SG 1.245 <?> temp 78 calcium 400 ph 8.2 5 watts per gallon metal halide tank mates: maroon clown Midas blenny feather dusters finger leather frag 2 toadstools, one large, one frag purple plume sea fan 2 brain corals (both open and looking good) Thoughts?   <Potential for some chemical warfare to be going on, I think you should add or change your carbon.> What could cause the coral to just die off with no apparent reason? <There is most likely a reason, what it is however can be difficult to determine.  I'm not seeing anything obvious, maybe removing the refugium had some unforeseen repercussions.  Were your nitrates at zero before the incident?> Thanks for your time, <You're welcome!  -Mich> Carrie Should I completely remove the colt coral?  (which would mean cutting it away from a very large rock that it has grown over) <See above re discolored areas.>

Finger Leather Coral Behavior, Health  1/26/06 Hello all, thank you in advance for helping me with this one. <OK> Your site is WONDERFUL. <Thank you.>   I came home tonight only to find my 4 year old green finger leather had found my intake tube to my filter. <Mmm, wonder how that happened, not a mobile animal.> Much to my disbelief, most of the fingers were sucked up into the tube. I turned off the power to the filter, and carefully dislodged the coral. What a mess!! My beautiful "showpiece" is nothing more than dangling, damaged white fingers. When it was healthy it was at least 12-14" tall, now only about 5"tall. I think it is a survivor, because when I fed the tank, its polyps opened up. Oh, I only hope. Now, my question, it has many dangling, damaged appendages. Do I do anything to these to speed up the healing, or leave them alone? Should I move the leather, or leave it in my 125g system? I have put sponges over the strainers for now, just in case ( even though it has been fine for many years). I did change the carbon, and added a poly filter. Please help me with this. I have never seen something so pathetic, I am really feeling for this coral.  <Stephanie, carefully trim the damaged areas with a sharp pair of scissors and the coral will heal itself.  Don't believe you will lose it.>Thanks in advance.  <You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)> Stephanie.

Sarcophyton elegans Not Doing So Well - 12/03/05 Hello WWM Crew, <<Hi JJ>> I recently bought a yellow Sarcophyton coral from my LFS. <<Likely Sarcophyton elegans...a delicate and touchy species.>> It looked great in the store and was "doing well" for the last 2 days in my tank. After reading through your FAQs, I read that drooping is normal for this coral until they adjust. <<Yes, usually some weeks. They don't take kindly to being moved/touched...not a beginner's/easy coral to care for in my opinion>> Mine has been drooping as well but regularly extends it polyps and still has a nice yellow color to it. <<Hopefully you have adequate lighting for this light-loving coral.>> <<Take a look at what Aquahobby has to say about this specimen.  Marina>> When it droops, it leans up against another piece of rock in my tank. Today I noticed that there is a hole underneath the cap almost separating it from the shaft! <<Hmm...>> It runs about halfway around and I can see into the inside of its cap or rather it looks like there is some kind of hollow section. It still looks healthy and polyps are extending normally like in the past 2 days. I moved it to take a closer look <<Yikes! Not a good idea to handle as previously noted. Do place it for good water flow/light and leave it be.>> and there is some flaking or shedding around the area only around the hole, but not anywhere on the "inside" of the coral. It would seem like the cap is separating to attach to the rock it is leaning against. <<Maybe...but more likely this is a stress-induced reaction.>> It is originally mounted kind of strangely across 2 pieces of rock, so maybe it wants to relocate? <<Not likely at this early stage.>> I'm not sure what to think here. Is it dying or is it propagating? Should I cut the cap off myself and remount it? Or should I just leave it and let it go though its adjustment period hoping for the best? <<Give it good water flow and adequate lighting (You did your research "before" you bought it, right?), and just keep an eye on it. More handling is only going to worsen the problem.>> My tank parameters are as follows: Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Calcium 360 Alk 11 (hard water in my area) SG 1.022 <<I would bring this up to 1.025>> Temp 76 deg None of my fish have been observed picking at it and all other corals are doing well (mostly softies and LPS). <<Yes, likely a stress-induced situation for the Sarcophyton.>> Thanks for reading, JJ <<Regards, EricR>>
Re: Sarcophyton elegans Not Doing So Well - 12/06/05 Hello again WWM Crew, <<EricR here again...>> An update for you guys on the situation. (see below for previous correspondence). Next morning, the cap detached completely from the shaft and was found resting beside it on a nearby rock. It was also rotting across the middle part (whitish coloration) and a slit opened up as well. There was a faint smell to the water and I felt had to do something before the tank fouled. <<Agreed>> I know this is against your advice, but I inspected the bottom of the cap and the entire section where it joins the shaft was rotting! <<No worries JJ...comes a time when you have to use your own good judgment, as you did in this case.>> Seeing as how things were, I don't think I really had a choice... <<Agreed again>> I ended up fragging the entire coral. Cutting out the diseased parts and dividing the cap into equal segments. The shaft was mostly gone, except for the inner part that kind of looks like a finger. I mounted all of them on rocks and placed them in different locations. Now I am just hoping for the best. <<About all you can do at this point. Do keep a close watch for any continuing decline.>> To answer your question (EricR), I did do a bit of research before purchasing this coral and everything I've read seems to say that they are a hardy coral and good for a beginner! <<Not in my opinion/experience. And I'm not saying they can't be kept or will not do well. Once established they can/will do very well and are a very attractive addition...it's getting past that first hurdle that can be problematic.>> I am currently keeping supposedly "more difficult" LPS corals without problems and now I'm inclined to agree with you, this is not an "easy" coral, VERY SENSITIVE like you mentioned. (Don't worry, I left lots of room between the LPS and the toadstool!) <<Excellent>> Per your recommendation, I'm slowly bringing up my salinity. <<Ah good...>> The lights I'm using on my tank are 375 watts of PC, I believe this is adequate for most softies and LPS. <<Likely so...for most. But contrary to what some others think, I believe you will find this coral will prosper/display better color with intense lighting. I have kept this coral under PC lighting in the past, but the coral was placed at only a few inches of depth.>> Thanks for your help, JJ <<Always welcome, EricR>>

Coral dying Help! 3/28/04 Hi, I have a green leather coral, the exact type I am not certain. When we placed it into our tank the base or stalk enlarged causing the coral to loose balance in what ever position we tried. The coral fell 3 times before we could successfully anchor the coral. Then small finger like projections came off which I initially thought I could glue down and grow more, however, the coral has since lost 2 heads, has then began sloughing from his stalk. Some of the amphipods were on him during the night, and I did notice on the finger like projection some black dots. My son works at a family owned fish store and the person taking care of saltwater tank has been doing this for several years, is with the reef society in the area and has had saltwater tank herself for years. She thought the coral might have a bacterial infection and suggested: iodine dip for 8-10 minutes, I kept him in 10 minutes followed by a 2-3 hour soak in a aerated saltwater container with an antibiotic to kill the germs. <good advice... careful with the antibiotics though> After that put him back into the tank, and repeat only the antibiotic soak for the next 5 days. He is a sorry ask to see now. His stalk is whiter in color still creamy but lighter, what remaining parts to the head area are still green some slightly brown. Now the poor thing is limp and hanging over. Is there anything we can do? <good water flow and water quality are the order at this point> Is it worth trying the antibiotic soak or will that just worsen the situation. <the latter I suspect... it is important for us as human beings globally and in all facets of life (human and pet health, etc) to be very sparing with the use of antibiotics. If you cannot confirm exactly that there is a bacterial infection... then resist the haphazard use of a drug to treat a mystery illness> Our tank is: 75 gal 115# of live rock, 2-3 inch sand base, CPRs BakPak, Rio 1100, pc lighting with 260 watts plus actinic. We also have a Eheim canister and a UV sterilizer we have found we really didn't need - still attached. Our inhabitants are: 1 mandarin, 1 damsel, short spine sea urchin, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 5 emerald crabs, 15 blue hermits, 3 red hermits, a beautiful frogspawn coral, a green stripped mushroom and a fluorescent green/pink hairy type mushroom ( this mushroom seems to like to eat and we can feed him krill etc., will he be likely to eat any of the animals we now have). We also have a broad leaf type Caulerpa and grape Caulerpa growing. I had initially put the green leather coral above the green hairy mushroom for several days and noted that the coral did not seem to like it there. It was about 7-8 inches away from the mushroom. So I moved it, that is when I could not get it anchored again, it fell injuring itself and is now in the shape as I described above. Our water is 1.026, 8.3, no nitrites, no ammonia, slight nitrate, iodine 0.03, ca+ 450, temp is 77(trying to get it lower as I want a Linckia star fish and I here they do better at about 75 stable temperatures) I never knew how much I love the coral and the critters, nor how endangered they are until I started to help my 15 y/o son with this new hobby of his. <it really is a beautiful and educational hobby!> Thank you for being there to help support all the people trying to do their best for the animals they have. <its a labor of love> Are aquacultured coral healthier overall? <not genetically better disposed... but rather simply (usually) handled/shipped better> as buying any coral that is wild will increase more damage to the coral reefs. <not always the case/concern either... so much coral is easily sustainable to the extent that our imposition is miniscule against the enormous tracts of reef, damage by storms, disease from overgrowth and other natural "checks and balances". Some reefs destroyed by storms are fully recovered (magnificent Acropora cervicornis patches) a mere one year later. These are easily yielding corals in our small quantities for aquarium use> (someday, if I ever get this figured out I would love to grow the corals, seahorses and maybe other fish but I have so very much to learn and I hate to learn by mistakes in this case!) Thanks Sue <all is quite possible and well within your reach. I myself have written an entire book on it (Book of Coral Propagation, by Calfo 2001). Do seek a local or regional aquarium society for great fellowship and trading/lectures and topics of interest/entertainment for you and your son. With kind regards, Anthony>