Toadstool discussion

[Clownfishman]

My Toadstool coral doesn't seen to want to come out all the way... here he is today... he is on the bottom of my 30 gallon with 130 watts pc lighting.. (65 W 10K Coral Life, 65 W Actinic)

His polpys just don't seem to fully extend like they did when I got him.. but you can tell the difference between the actually size of the mushroom from night to day... as he shrinks and night and expands during the day..

[Desolas]

It does not appear to be thriving. It may not be close enough to the lights, they light a lot of light. I've kept leathers under 250W metal halides and they will grow right up to the light. 130W of PC light might be enough to sustain them, but I don't know about making them really thrive and grow well.

When I broke down my 75g reef I moved my leather that had been growing under the MH to the 29g with 128W of PC (4x32W) it did okay for awhile but soon it's base rotted and I had to frag it down to save it.

Now that it's been fragged it is starting to look better like it is adapting to the light, I too have it on the bottom of the tank but it is growing very slowly. I don't think the light is optimal, but I have not had enough experience with the PC lights and this coral to really back that up. One thing I've found out though is actinic light is overall almost useless to a lot of the shallow corals like these, appearance wise it is nice, but the wavelength of the light is not utilized by the coral .. if this is true we're both only providing 64W of light for these corals to grow under (two of my lamps are actinic) .. So that's another possible finger pointing at inadequate light.

Also what are your water parameters? Mine has always thrived at 79-80F, 35-36ppt salinity, alk of 12dKH and a Ca of 450 mg/L. I've noticed temperature and salinity play a huge role in their health in my tanks.

Wes

[Clownfishman]

When I first got it, it was doing good... I thought 130 W total was plenty for a 30 G...

When I first got it, its polyps were fully extended... all my other corals are doing fine..

My Xenia
Green Finger Leather
Montipora
Mushrooms are all well...
Yellow polpys i started the tank with three now there are six so conditions must be good...


I thought the 130 W total was utilized... maybe I need to upgrade to higher wattage... do the rest of my corals utilize actinic..

My Green Finger leather has been growing well...

[Desolas]

How long have you had that leather? It may just be adapting to the current tank as well. If you've got another leather doing okay than I would assume this one should too. If you haven't had it long then that might be the case.

It is normal for them to close a little at night, so some shrinkage may occur.

130W is fine as long as you only keep animals under it that can tolerate lower light. Typically mushrooms and leathers do well in lower light. Xenia does well also but likes more intense light as they are usually found very shallow. Most Yellow polyps lack zooxanthellae so they can be kept in very low light as long as they are fed regularly.

As far as what utilizes actinic, I don't know. We've all been told anything that has zooxanthellae requires actinic light to live, or at least blue light in the 400-450nm range. I've read now that it may not be true, since most of the corals we keep are collected in shallows where there is an abundance of yellow light, and really only the deeper water corals would require actinic.

If the corals you want to keep are doing well under the light you have there is no reason to change it. When I mentioned that initially that wasn't what I was getting at, I was pointing out if the leather was new and had come from a tank previously that was lit by MH then maybe it is just acclimating to your light. Or worse, maybe it was kept under normal output fluorescent and your lights seem intense to it. I would just ride it out and see how it does before changing anything.

[Clownfishman]

Its hard to individually feed polyps, I have a syringe but its difficult to insure they get something. I just hope they pick up additional food that floats though and that they benefit from my weekly Combo Vital supplements... because they are reproducing...

[Clownfishman]

Well my toadstool is closed again

I'm not sure why he is doing this especially when all other corals/leathers are doing good...

Any suggestions..

[brifirst]

Desolas, What is the best way to frag it. Actually I have one that is getting to big. Can I cut it down somehow ?

[Jeremy1973]

Chop it at the stalk. Or you can dice up the top, sort of like a pie.

Clownfishman, I would move it up closer to the light, and maybe get a little more flow on him. not direct blasting, but a good flow. As for feeding..if the others in your tank are doing well, then he should as well. They do a lot of filter feeding from what Ihave read and been told. So, I don't know of any true "toadstool" food.

[Jeremy1973]

Another thought I had... what other inhabitants do you have? Fish and invert wise. It is also possible, that something in your tank is disturbing it. Perhaps nipping at polyps when they open, or something in that line. Just a thought.

[Clownfishman]

I have a coral beauty, but he never nips at him.... he nips at my green finger leather at times, but he doesn't seem to mind he is wide open now, earlier today I feed some marine snow so I guess the corals are happy...

[Clownfishman]

Well I chopped it at the stalk and removed it from the rubble and put it on some live rock... now its shriveled and shrunk...

I had to take it out of the water for about 30 seconds to apply the glue... but it had plenty of saltwater on it..

how long does it take them to come around once they get glued somewhere else???

[Jeremy1973]

glue? good luck. heh heh Leathers have the ability to shed their skin. Trust me on this one. I have..um...experience in this. So, even though you glue them, they can shed their skin and become free floating agents again. Where do you have him placed? How big is he?

[Clownfishman]

In the middle of the tank now... I used to much glue though

But overtime maybe it won't be noticed... Cutting them like that doesn't hurt them at all?? Is it normal for it to take some time for them to recover from being cut??

I see a few polyps coming out but he hasn't expanded yet.... so I guess the polyps coming out is a good sign..

[Mrs Smith]

I don't know that fragging it would have been my choice, but since it's done, don't worry about it. Post-frag, it will take a couple of weeks to mount. I would advise you to keep a close eye on it, as they do tend to blow around. I sew my big toadstool frags to their new rocks, as glue won't hold.

Yes, it'll pout for some time. I'd still stick it closer to the lights.

And honestly, I've had toadstools that decided to pout for weeks at a time. They were fine and would eventually open back up - it's just the coral's way of reacting and adjusting to stress.

Oh, and chopping up a softie won't "hurt" it - it will just regenerate from what's left. I'd leave the base in the tank - it will resprout a new head eventually. Taking it out of the tank for a couple of minutes won't hurt it either. I wouldn't keep it out for more than 5-10 minutes, but they're tougher than you think they are.

Good luck,
Danielle

[yardboy]

Yea, being out of the water for a while won't hurt it. I've seen them out of the water completely at low tide for several hours, daily. They're pretty tough customers. As for it not extending its polyps, I was noticing from your picture that you have cyano growing on the sand. How old is your tank? While mushrooms are tough, they do not like too much DOM, and if you've put in new rock, they definitely don't like decaying sponges. Is your skimmer gathering funk well?
On the subject of tough though, the first coral I lost was a yellow mushroom leather, after dosing Kick-Ich for my fish (supposedly reef-safe) Over a period of days he just went limp and started rotting.