FAQs about Health/Diseases, Pests of Soft Corals of the Family Alcyoniidae 2

FAQs about Health/Diseases, Pests of Soft Corals of the Family Alcyoniidae 2

Related Articles: Soft Corals of the Family Alcyoniidae

- Is this Coral Dying - Hey WWM, Thanks for the information on the last e-mail, you guys are the best. A few months ago, I bought a Yellow Fiji Leather Coral (What I was told), and now after a few months, it is not so yellow. The "fingers" started turning brown to this color. The LFS said that corals change color, and I was curious as to whether this species changes color so dramatically. <Not in my experience.><<Dyed specimen. RMF>> I looked on the FAQ's and must have missed something. Any comments/feedback is greatly appreciated. This had wonderful vibrant color that is disappearing. Overall, the health of the coral appears to be fine, is it just a color change? Or is something worse slowly happening? <I'm sad to say that it may be something worse. The brown color is typically caused by the Zooxanthellae that reside in the coral. When corals turn white (which is the way it looks from this picture - hard to tell with that fish in the way) it often means they are expelling their Zooxanthellae which means they will soon die. Could be a temperature issue in your tank - this is the most common reason for bleaching, although not the only one. Would suggest you read through the FAQs again, use the Google search and look up bleaching.> Thanks Guys,
Chris
<Cheers, J -- >

Toadstool Leather disease, possible predation I have a toadstool leather that is about 3 years old. Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a hole forming in the cap. The hole is slightly smaller than a dime and is currently about 1.5" deep. When it first began it looked like detritus was sitting on the cap. I blew it off, but a day or so later it was back. It does not appear to be spreading, just getting deeper. I have not noticed anything in the hole that would be eating it. I am about to get in there and cut the flesh around the hole out to see if that takes care of it. But found your site and wanted to see what you suggest Thanks, Steve <I suggest close/r observation... I fully suspect you have a predator at play here... possibly just a large Polychaete (bristle) worm... Do use a flashlight to peek in at night... consider netting, trapping out this animal... possibly isolating the soft coral, the eventuality of maybe needing to excise the damaged portion, possibly fragmenting it entirely. Bob Fenner>

Sick colt coral WWM Crew, <Nathan> I've been having some trouble with my colt coral the past 2 months. I received the coral from a friend and it was "happy" in my aquarium for a few months. All of a sudden, it shrunk considerably and stopped extending polyps (see attached images, before and after). I think there are two (possibly three) possible causes: 1) I decided to try a little propagation a few days before the problems started. I cut 2 branches off. The coral was back to normal the following few days, then got "sick." <Happens> 2) I got a few tiny coral frags shipped to me, which included: cloves, a Corallimorph, an Acropora, and a Sarcophyton (I didn't chose the varieties that I received). Initially, I had the cloves a few inches away from the colt. When it was unhappy, I moved them away. No improvement was seen. <Chemically mal-affected...> 3) Lastly, though this wouldn't make sense to me at all... I started dosing ionic and polygluconate complexed Ca about the time this happened, which boosted my Ca from ~250 to ~450 (over the course of a week). <Any of these might "do it"> Here's the tank: 75 g, 100 lbs live rock, 1/2" fine grained sand, 4 - 55W compact fluorescent (10,000 K and actinic), 15 g sump, 20 g refugium/DSB, AquaC EV-120 skimmer emptied at least weekly, usually twice weekly, S.G. 1.025, nitrates, ammonia, and nitrites = 0, Ca ~450, alk ~9 dKH, Ca(OH)2 slowly added with automated top-off, good, stable pH (xenia's pulsing well), RODI water, ionic and polygluconate complexed Ca and SeaChem Reef Plus added regularly, 6 gallon weekly water change. 2 false percula clowns Royal Gramma Yellow Tang Coral Beauty (soon to be gone, as it is picking on some corals that I want to keep.) various corals 1 BTA (I know, I shouldn't have this with my corals... It has been my only impulse buy - I got it when a beloved LFS went out of business recently. Only when I got it home did I realize that it was quite inappropriate for my aquarium. It hasn't caused problems though (yet) and has not roamed at all since I got it (a few weeks). My clowns are even hosting in it. As a rule, I never buy anything I haven't researched first!) All livestock except the colt seems to be healthy. So, is it likely that this is a "chemical warfare" issue, or some sort of infection resulting from propagation (or a combination...)? I also have some green star polyps which are within 6 inches, but the colt and the star polyps seemed to get along for a few months prior to this (maybe the polyps just finally won?) A frag that I initially cut is doing fine and has a similar proximity to the green star polyps. I was being very patient to see if the animal would just come out of it, but it has been about 2 months since it hasn't looked healthy... Do you have any suggestions? (iodine dips, move it, cut it up to see if frags grow, etc...) <Have you read through the Soft Coral archives on WWM?> I will appreciate any suggestions you might have, though I realize that with all the variables I've described, it may be anyone's guess! Thanks so much for all your help and the incredible repository of knowledge on your website - it is surely the main reason I have been quite successful in this hobby! Nathan Saetveit <Read over WWM and what you have sent here... Bob Fenner>

Leather coral with a limp stalk Crew, < Blundell tonight. > I recently purchased a leather coral from LiveAquaria.com. It looks good and actually larger than I anticipated. I had a smaller one several years ago, about half the size of this one. The problem is, the coral doesn't seem to be standing up very well. I attached the piece of rock the coral is on to a piece of rock in my aquarium with epoxy, but the "stalk" of the leather coral doesn't seem very rigid. It like its wilted or something. The polyps are about halfway extended on day two, so I think the coral is OK. If I remember right, the first one I had took about four days to "open" this much. My concern is the "wilted" stalk. Will it firm up over time? < Yes, this is very common. I'd say it will perk up in a couple weeks. > What's going on? < Just stress. It is common and I wouldn't worry about it yet. > I successfully propagated the first one by cutting pieces of the cap and attaching them elsewhere in the tank. I was wondering if the stalk on this one is damaged (it doesn't appear physically damaged, just limp), what would happen if I cut the cap from the stalk to shorten the stalk, say by half, so it can more effectively support the cap. < I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't want to cut and frag a stressed coral. I think you are better to give it time and frag in in a few months. > Will the whole thing die, the stalk without cap die, the cap with stalk die, or the capless stalk regrow a cap and the shot stalked cap attach successfully somewhere else. < They are amazingly durable. The stalk will grow a new cap, and the cap will grow a new stalk. > I hope that's not confusing. < Here is an idea. Well first, you can wait a week and see what happens. Or, try stacking up a couple rocks around the coral to help hold it up. Then see if these "crutches" help it out. You can just move the rocks away in a few days. I've had good success doing this. > Thanks, John Jordan < Blundell >

Stranded Hydroid! Yikes! 4/7/05 Hello WWM Crew, <howdy> I have a quick question for you regarding a finger leather and a strange set of tentacles coming from it. <yikes! they are not from the leather, but instead are from a stinging hydroid. They can be quite aggressive to other reef creatures and even burn your skin painfully> I have attached a picture of identical tentacles as what are coming from my leather but am unsure of how to deal with this issue. <manual removal> I have only had the leather for 3 weeks now and it has never extended a single polyp. <Perhaps it's irritated from the hydroid. More importantly... I fear you have added this coral to your tank without a proper quarantine period. Yikes, if so... it's a surefire way to introduce pests and predators to your tank like this hydroid> Every evening these threads come out and they are very intricate which is what led me to believe they were not just mucous. I cannot see anything on the leather itself by following the threads but there are 6 or 7 coming out. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Scott B. <There are many types of hydroids in the world. Some look like corals... some look like algae... others more like jellyfish. Caution with all :) Anthony>

Funky Finger Leather Problem? Love your site, and your advice. Please tell me if my green Finger Leather needs help, or if this will go away by itself. I have recently purchased this coral about 2 weeks ago. The polyps are coming out and it is looking healthy, but there is a brown scab at a portion of the base. At other locations around the base there are also some flaky scabs of the same color, but they seem to have come off and drifted away. This one spot however is larger and thicker and does not appear to be flaking away. Do I need to do an iodine bath with Tech D, or just leave it alone. I suspect the areas in question were touched with fingers. Thanks, Andrea <Well, Andrea, it's never a great idea to disturb a coral if it's doing well. However, you probably want to keep an eye on these "scabs". At some point, you'll have to assess whether or not they are increasing in numbers, or if the coral seems to be declining. If it does, then the iodine dip may not be a bad idea. These are pretty tough corals, but they occasionally need some help from the aquarist. Hope this helps. Regards, Scott F.>

Coral Calamity! WetWeb crew, <Hi there! Scott F. here today!> We recently purchased a Leather Glove soft coral for our salt water tank. It has been drooping since it was put in the tank and the other day it emitted something that looked like smoke. Since then the Toadstool we have appeared to get a blister, that was red and bubbled up. <Yuck. Not good. This coral is apparently unhappy, and is releasing some substances which are not making it's neighbors happy, either!> The aquarium we purchased it from said it was a form of algae and to simply brush it off. When we brushed it off, the Toadstool went with it leaving a hole in the toadstool. <Sounds like large parts of the coral are already necrotic, and your brushing removed a lot of dead tissue. Best to cut out all or most of the necrotic tissue on the coral so that the remaining live portion has it's best shot at survival. A sharp razor blade makes this work easy. These corals can survive quite a bit of cutting, BTW.> Now the frogspawn we have has filmed over with a white web like layer, and tonight our brain coral has a small white spot near the edge and what appear to be bumps throughout one half. <Yep- release of allelopathic or other compounds is causing a lot of stress and damage in this tank.> No effect so far on our star polyps or mushrooms, and our crabs and snails seem fine. We do not have any fish yet to worry about. We have tested the pH, ammonia nitrates and nitrite's, and all those levels are fine. The temperature of the tank is at 79 and has stayed right around there since this began. We used Nutra sea water to start the tank and occasionally add fresh water to keep the water level up. The only other additives we use are reef buffer and reef iodine. HELP!! <Well, the first order of business is to get the sick and dying coral out of the tank and in a clean environment. Carefully excise the damaged tissue from the corals, and keep them in a situation with decent water movement during the healing process. By all means, conduct some good sized water changes, using high quality source water. Use of aggressive protein skimming and activated carbon will help remove many of the organic and other substances in the water that are degrading water quality. Get on a regular water change schedule here, and keep at it! Remember to quarantine all new animals (yep- even corals!) before placing them in your display tank, and make sure that they are kept far enough apart to avoid "burning" each other. On the other hand, soft corals do release many noxious compounds that can stifle their neighbor's growth. Be sure to use the aforementioned chemical filtration on a regular basis, to help remove some of the nasty substances. Also, arm yourself with a good book on these animals, such as Eric Borneman's "Aquarium Corals" and/or Anthony Calfo's "Book of Coral Propagation", both of which cover husbandry and disease treatment of corals in much greater depth than we can cover here. Take the first steps outlined here, and observe the corals closely. Hang in there! Regards, Scott F.>

Yellow Fiji Leather Hey guys <Hey, Mike G here> I set up a 20 gal. reef system about a year ago. I've added corals slowly that include orange & greenish pink Ricordea Yumas, red Florida Ricordea, mint green finger, pulsing xenia, anthelia, Sinularia, some green star polyps and a cabbage leather. I had a toadstool leather in my tank and it stayed in constant shedding mode. I moved it to my wife's 3 month old reef tank , it shed once, turned beautiful reddish brown polyped out and has been this way since. <It was likely stressed in your other tank. Possibly chemical warfare was culprit.> Our water quality is the same .25 Amm., 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 phos. <You should not be registering any measurable ammonia: that is, it should be at 0 and no higher.> Both tanks temps are 75-78 deg &1.025 sal and both have Prizm skimmers . Her tank has 130 watts of power compacts, my tank has a 175 watt 10k metal halide & 2 -20 watt actinic. Both have about 30lbs of live rock. <Then perhaps the toadstool liked the low light better than the high light.> O.K those are the specs. now for the Q? 2wks ago I bought a yellow Fiji leather. It was gorgeous for about 2 days (beautifully yellow), then filmed over, turned bluish grey and has been that way since. <Ouch. That does not sound good.> I feed Kent Marine strontium.& Moly, 2.5ml & reef plus vitamin & amino acid supplement, 5ml.twice a wk. Water change about 10% per wk. Every thing in my tank is doing extremely well except this leather. I've moved it around the tank from strong water movement and light to less of each, no change . Any suggestions? AND DON'T TELL ME I SHOULD MOVE THIS CORAL TO MY WIFE'S TANK , THE TOADSTOOL WAS DEVASTATING ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY? <It sounds as if you've tried most of what you can. I would personally suggest moving it to your wife's tank as the other did well there, and see how it did. But, I am detecting that you do not want to do that. Why don't you check out the following links on leathers and see if you can figure out the problem. Oh, and do lower your ammonia It is possible that it is the culprit. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alcyoniids.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alcyoniidfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alcyonfaq2.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alcyonfaq3.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alcyonfaq4.htm >

Devil's hand coral I have used your site several times and always appreciate the feedback. I have had a Devil's Hand in my tank for about 2 months and it has been doing great, polyps fully extended. When I first put it in the tank I noticed that there was a green spot in the middle of the head, but the polyps within the green spot would extend and they were normally colored. I do have a question, is it possible that this is a green devil's hand and that's a natural color coming out? Or is it more like this is a The green spot has grown and the polyps are not extending within the green area. What could this be and what should be done? <If it was mine I would try coral dip and see if that doesn't help.> I have heard that I can cut off the head and it will grow back, if true, is that a good solution? <You can frag the coral in any number of ways. That's something very easy to do but do you want it in pieces or do you want it as the solid coral? Let me know if I can help you, MacL>
Devil's hand Thank you for your response. <You are welcome!> I am pretty confident that green is not the natural color. <It's hard to see/ tell when we can't see it. Honestly if it was me I would dip it with a coral dip and begin fragging it. You can find great directions in Anthony Calfo's books and people with lots of experience to help you on www.fragexchange.com.> Since writing the first question to you, the devil's hand has completely slumped over to one side. Is it possible to save this by making it into a frag and how would I do that? <Fragging leathers is very simple, you just use a sharp object and make the cuts. There are multiple ways to attach them. My preferred method is sewing because I find it easier to work with the coral as they slime heavily. Good luck, MacL> <Editor's note: straight edge razor blades are usually sharper than Exacto blades, but both are good tools for this exercise.>

Distressed green finger leather 3/11/05 You are a welcome source of information for us. <thanks kindly, Anthony> We have had only fish only for years. I cannot find this exact problem on WWM. I have a small finger leather that looks wilted and bluish. the LFS calls this one a green finger leather but it looked more blue than green. <increase water flow for starters> When it first came home it actually looked pink with darker polyps. It became encrusted with diatoms then slimed them off. <ah, yes! A sign (diatoms) of inadequate water flow> Since then they have not returned. It gets moderate water flow and is 10" below Compact flour 10000k and blue 50/50 lights. Nitrates are a little high at 10ppm 10% water changes every two weeks. pH 8.0, <yikes! if this is a daytime pH reading, then your pH is dangerous low at night. Do increase it all to 8.3-8.5> temp 78-80F, ammonia 0, nitrite 0.3, dKH 7, <raise ALK too here to 8-12 dKH> calcium 410. Skimming 12 hours daily. 1 Ricordea, yellow polyps, feather duster, coral beauty and a queen conch. <please do sell/trade the queen conch... they need a minimum of 200 gall DSB to survive even a couple of years. Most starve to death. Have you seen how big they get?> 90lbs live rock, 3 inch sand bed. The leather wilts then stands up straight but is much shorter and fatter than when first brought home. Is this normal? <only for short periods of time> If not can you suggest anything to help? Thanks <best of luck. Anthony>

Capnella/alkalinity They also said my alkalinity is low. My main Capnella which split has been partially retracted for 2 days. Could it be dying. I'll attached a photo. You can see a good Capnella in the left corner. <Don't know Joe. I'd just keep an eye on it. Might just be temporary from the split. James (Salty Dog)>

Injured Leather Coral 2/9/05 Today I bought a toadstool from fish store. One large one and one small next to it on one rock. After placing it in the tank I noticed a hole on the smaller crown almost in the middle. Is this something I should worry about? <Of bigger concern is the addition of any new coral, fish, etc right into your tank without quarantine first. High risk of (eventually) adding a parasite, pest, predator or disease to the tank. Please do take the time to read about and apply QT habits (see our archives on this topic)> How could I remove it from rock so I can place in my 30 gal for observation in case of spreading disease. <Moving a stressed coral at this point will only make it worse. And any contamination has already been done> Would I need to reattach it to another rock or will it do it on its own? <None of the above... just good strong water flow where its at and observe to see what may have caused the hole, what makes it worse, or if it simply heals> The hole looks like it goes into the stem. polyps are out and looks good I'm not sure what to do any help would be appreciated Thank you! Andy <Patience for now my friend... best to let this animal sit in place and heal. Anthony>

Too mellow yellow leather and clown/Dartfish incompatibility Good morning crew, <Yawnnnn!> Please help me with a couple of queries. I have attached a pic of my finger leather coral, which I'm fairly sure is a Lobophyton finger leather coral. <Looks like it> It is a mustard colour with white, widely spaced polyps, which were extended beautifully in the shop, but have never reached that extension at home. I've had it now for 4 months and it does actually seem to be growing, but has never looked too happy. I've tried a few coral foods, plankton and "marine de luxe" coral food, with no success, but as the polyps are generally most extended after I feed the fish it does seem to be looking for nutrition. I've moved it around the tank a bit also. Occasionally I've seem my coral beauty pygmy angelfish have a nibble on it but not much. <... may be doing much more so when you're not looking, esp. at night> I have never had measurable nitrates (more luck than judgment) in my tank. sg 1.023 temp 27C Calcium 420 ppm Alkalinity 9-10 dKH ph 8.2, never much more or less I have one 250W MH lamp over the 55g tank, with a decent hang on skimmer (Deltec Mce600). Any ideas on how to perk it up? <These are compiled on materials archived on Alcyonaceans, soft corals: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm> My other query is on my recent purchase of a Firefish (Magnifica). The fish is continually bullied by my captive bred Percula clown, to the extent that it will not eat. I removed the clown and the Firefish ate for a couple of weeks, but when I reintroduced the clown the same thing happened. The clown has no anemone or particular territory in the tank, but will chase the Firefish remorselessly. I've currently put the clown in a mesh bag in the tank to try to get them used to each other but I am not too hopeful. Any other tactics I can try? <Set the clown in a colander (a pasta strainer, plastic) in the tank for a good two weeks... if this doesn't calm it down, reconcile yourself to either trading one/t'other in, or getting another tank. Bob Fenner> Thank for a great site
Peter

Soft finger coral I have a soft finger coral, that the LFS gave me. I have had it for about a year and it has grown well. For the last few days it has remained shriveled and not expanded when the lights are on. <Normal> All water parameters are fine and all other corals are doing well also. I have a green star polyp frag near the softy but the GSP is at least 2 inches from touching it. <I'd double, treble this distance> Could there be some chemical warfare going on? <Undoubtedly> Also, the softy has gone from a nice fleshy color to have some what of a green tint to it. Any recommendations or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Austin <Please read on WWM re these animals, their care, behavior. Maybe starting here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm The blue typing are links... Bob Fenner>

Distressed Leather (Coral)! I have a Toadstool Leather and have had it about 3 weeks. It opens up nicely and it  have a yellow stalk with a tan-colored cap. Its polyps are yellow in color also. My problem is that at the very bottom of the stalk there is a hole about the size of a dime. I poked my finger in it to make sure there was nothing in there and there was nothing I could feel. The hole, however, widened. The tissue just sort of dissolved into a cloud. The part of the stalk that has the hole is this curved bottom part that is attached to some gravel. Do you think I should cut off the curved bottom part or do you think there is something eating it. <Hmm.. hard to say without a lot of observation. I'd definitely cut out the damaged areas. Keep an eye on the coral for a while; if something is eating the coral, you'd want to identify what it is.> The only thing that I can possibly think might be munching is a cowry that I have. I had a bluish sponge growing the skeleton of my torch coral and the cowry completed ate it all off. The sponge had the same sort of feel as the leather so I'm wondering if he is doing the damage. <Definitely a possibility. Consider this Cowry your suspect, but do run some water tests to confirm that water quality is up to par. There is most likely a single cause, and your continued close observation will help zero in on it.> Other than that, I just have some Damsels, a Firefish and a Tomato Clown. Thanks, Kevin <Well, Kevin- just keep up the observations, and do consider excising the damaged tissue. With good conditions, these corals are remarkably resilient and virtually indestructible! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.>
Re: distressed leather continued            I took that cowry just to be safe. Tonight poked around to the back of the tank and shined a flashlight and a copepod came out of the hole. I don't know If they're making it worse or anything. <Doubtful> the is definitely growing. I touched it with my finger and once again twice as much as before melted into a "dust" cloud. I know that cant be too good. The leather still is opening up nicely and polyps displayed. Also is the stem supposed to be hard sort of or squishy sort of . Because its stem isn't firm its not like melting but squishy. Water wise the only thing is that I have a low ph which I'm raising slowly. It was a 8.0 which is not good..... <This pH is not "that" bad> I have been adding this stuff that will stabilize it at 8.3 but it will take a week before it will get there. Everything has been fine except this huge leather. Do you think I should just keep watching it and if the melting away spreads up the stalk then cut it? <I likely would... do read over the soft coral and Alcyoniid health as well as the systems FAQs posted on WWM re. There are many "side issues" to address... re such things as Iodine/ate usage> I'm think about just cutting off that base and putting the melting base in  the Quarantine. I will wait like a week just to be safe before cutting him though. unless it drastically starts melting or something. Which do you think would be the best bet.                                                                       Thanks, Kevin      <In the mean time, read. Bob Fenner>
Re: distressed leather continued       Sorry, to keep bothering you about this darn leather but..... Half the of the stalk went into meltdown. I went ahead and cut his head as far from the stalk as I could. The tissue that I cut through was nice and firm so I'm hoping he will  be fine now. I took the dissolving base and put it in my mushroom propagation tank until it starts to completely turn to mush.<I'm thinking all your leather coral was doing is shedding it's skin.  They do that from time to time.>  James (Salty Dog) The leather head does have a waxy tan layer which I'm hoping it will shed soon. It seems to be flaking off a little bit. I also add 7 drops of Iodine to my tank daily (when it should be  7.04 drops). I am beginning to wonder if it was bristle worms or something. Today I looked at the base in my mushroom tank and noticed there was one crawling on it. I know that they are in the main tank but not in large quantities. I see one every now and then and remove them when I can. Do you think that could possibly be what happened or will I ever no.  Anyway thanks for all of your help through this. Although this does seem to be very puzzling to me.  Hopefully the cap will do alright from where it stands.       thanks very much                                              Kevin

Dyed coral gonna die, sorry to say 12/29/04 Ok Guys, lets play what soft coral is that..... <OK...> It looks a little bit like a contorted Sinularia flexibilis - more compacted though - or a fine finger leather - LOTS of fine fingers and really contorted together. Plus its hot pink - almost fluorescent like a Dendronephthya. <this is a dyed coral... commonly shipped from Indonesia. It will die in days to weeks most likely as it does not feed organismally on anything we can offer it prepared. As such, it cannot be carried nutritionally until its brown Zooxanthellae recover> This specimens about 8 inch across and the same in height and kind of compact oval in shape. Polyps are short too.. I am in Thailand, and getting reliable info outta these aquarists (I use that term loosely) is near impossible. Anyone know it. Its a new one to me.. <very good to see you research this before buying it. Its a shame and a sham that such dyed animals are sold. Deplorable> If you do know it, is it easy to keep and does it have any special requirements with food or lighting. Its been in the store a months as its 5000 baht (about US$100) - a months salary for some people round here. <even more insulting/sad to read/know> It has one dead finger that is brown and seems to be falling off, but overall its unharmed... lots more fingers They are keeping it under bright fluoros. Brett Moloney, Bangkok <continue down the right path as an educated consumer... do not buy this creature and in time the dreadful practice will stop. Read more information here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dyedcorals.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dyedanemfaqs.htm best of luck, Anthony>

Leather coral problems To the incredible wet web media crew: << Hope you'll settle for me today. >> First off thank you so much for all of the incredible information you give. It has saved me (or more importantly my aquarium inhabitants) many times. I have attached a photo (hopefully you can open it) of something going on with one of my finger leathers (can't find specific ID). Tank perimeters are all good PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 0. Tank inhabitants are xenia, other soft corals (devils hand & fingers), mated pair True Perculas, six line wrasse, royal Gramma, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 10+ blue leg hermit crabs, 3 turbo snails, 8 Nassarius snails, and a derasa clam. The tank is a 55 gallon with 80 lbs of live rock and a 10 gallon sump and skimmer. The tank has been up and running for about 2 years and all has gone great until I saw this thing on the coral. This particular coral has been in the tank for 5 months. Again, thank you so much for all you do, << Hmmm, not sure what to do. I recommend some fragging of larger branches. Also, I may try increasing water flow in that area and adding some iodine to the tank. >> Justin << Blundell >>

Sick toadstool? Hi Crew, I am concerned about my hairy toadstool coral (probably left myself open for a pun or two with that…). For the past two days it has remained in a “wilted” position. The stalk is bent to the point the head rests on the sand. The polyps are extended as normal and, other than this “wilted” appearance, the coral appears to be otherwise normal. << I would consider fragging, just to be safe. >> The bent stalk cannot be seen in the attached picture since I was unable to position the camera at the correct angle. But, from the attached picture, do you see any reason for concern? << Not really. >> Water parameters appear acceptable to me (pH=8.2, Temp=78F, Salinity=1.024) and I have not noticed any fish harassing this coral (although I cannot rule out what is happening when I am away). What do you suggest I do? << I would cut the entire top right off. Then attach it to another rock. The stem that is left will grow a new head. This may be unnecessary but it can't really hurt. >> Thanks for the help! --Greg << Blundell >>

Sick Toadstool continued Thanks for the advice on the Toadstool. I have only had this coral for a few months and it is not much larger than a frag itself so I had not considered fragging it. Is there something about fragging that stimulates it to overcome whatever might be causing it to wilt? << Not really, but the infected area can be cut away before the problem or infection spreads to other healthy tissue areas. >> This would be my first attempt at fragging. How should I attach the head to a rock - use a rubber band, Cyanoacrylate glue, thread...? << I'd use a rubber band. >> I did notice the stalk was erect last nigh, after the main lights had turned off and only the actinics were on. This morning it had wilted again though. << May want to consider just moving the coral to another area in the tank. >> --Greg << Blundell >>

Please visit our Sponsors