Help me with my yellow leather!

SharkTreats · 11-05-2006, 10:57 AM

I just noticed a rather large hole in the stalk of my yellow leather. It has been droopy and shedding for several days now. I pickked up the rocked that is on and flakes of tissue came off of it. Should I call it a gonner and remove it form the tank? I have never fragged anything before and am not sure if I could save this guy. My other corals seem unhappy and don't wan't to come out but my water params are good, could it be the toxins from the leather tissue? Please help!

SharkTreats · 11-05-2006, 11:01 AM

Excuse my spelling this morning...

dobejazz · 11-05-2006, 12:23 PM

Are you running carbon? Leathers are good at chemical warefare

Rippey · 11-05-2006, 12:26 PM

Do you have any pictures of this? Are you using a skimmer, Reg water changes.
My air pump for skimmer stopped for two days and my leather did not like it at all. It developed highlighter yellow stuff on it.

tdwyatt · 11-05-2006, 01:50 PM

This is mst likely not a n issue with chemistry (but it never hurts to check), rather the pres3ence of a sarcophyton specific pest, a type of worm that bores through the stalk and eats the tissue from the inside out. Best to cut the capitulum off, isolate it for regrowth, and to remove the stalk and the base from the system without allowing it to release the worm, then burn it somewhere, or preserve it in 70% ethanol and disect out the worm for photos. If you don;t want to do this, email me and we;ll talk about it.

SharkTreats · 11-05-2006, 02:38 PM

Well, I freaked out and tossed the leather. Like I said, I have never fragged anything before. Can you just cut a leather with a knife (I have a scalpel) out of water? Now that I know about the worm I wish I would have dissected the stalk, I have a degree in marine biology and would probably have enjoyed the little experiment. If the worm did get loose in the system, will it attack mushrooms, zooas, star polyps? I don't have any other leathers in there right now.

tdwyatt · 11-05-2006, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharkTreats

Well, I freaked out and tossed the leather. Like I said, I have never fragged anything before. Can you just cut a leather with a knife (I have a scalpel) out of water?

yes, see: http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57099

Quote:

Now that I know about the worm I wish I would have dissected the stalk, I have a degree in marine biology and would probably have enjoyed the little experiment. If the worm did get loose in the system, will it attack mushrooms, zooas, star polyps? I don't have any other leathers in there right now.

Without seeing the worm and getting a positive ID, we can only speculate, but it usually is specific to Sarcophyton spp

HTH

LeslieH · 03-01-2007, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

yes, see: http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57099
Without seeing the worm and getting a positive ID, we can only speculate, but it usually is specific to Sarcophyton spp
HTH

Tom -- What's the species of the worm you're referring to? Is the info in the scientific literature or something known to reefers only? I'm very curious about this.
Thanks --

know-it-all · 03-01-2007, 10:50 PM

some of the tissue could have died, and it was starting to spread
i had it happen to a toadstool
just cut out the dieing part with a sharp knife or scissors and the rest should heal

tdwyatt · 03-04-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeslieH

Tom -- What's the species of the worm you're referring to? Is the info in the scientific literature or something known to reefers only? I'm very curious about this.
Thanks --

Leslie, seeing this in the light of day (2am makes me a bit blurry

) this afternoon it makes me realize that in our personal communications that I had mentally combined this thread with the one from rippy re: the isopod in a sarcophyton, my error. I am looking for the original post by Ron Shimek with photos of the worm predator for Sarcophyton, it was originally posted with photos in an article he did for the Animal Planet network (probably back as part of Aquarium.net), and none of my links currently are active for that library (anyone that can help with locating the archival home for this set of files now would be greatly appreciated, does not appear to be with the reefs.org stuff), however, I do have a few links for similar predators you may be interested in. The fllowing is for a predator on Xeniid spp[/i]:

photo courtesy Bill Rudman's SeaSlug forum
...and not only is it well camoflauged , but this particular pest bores into the stalk of Xenia spp, making it next to impossible to detect unless it is while the creature has emerged from its bore to feed (surface feeder). See the link above for more information on the predator.

I still cannot find anymore references to the worms that are specific to sarcophytons, I hope to turn up the info in the near future, but for now, here are some of the articles that Rob Toonan and Ron Shimek both wrote for the old Aquarium.net group, the pix may be buried here somewhere: http://www.reefs.org/library/aquariu...7/inverts.html. I believe this is where most of the old aquarium.net articles are now archived (at reefs.org)

Leslie: sorry, I feel like I am guiding you on a wild goose chase, I will spend more time on this tonight to see if I come up with some results.

HTH

LeslieH · 03-04-2007, 09:11 PM

Tom - thanks so much for the info & leads. I adore wild goose chases in the pursuit of knowledge! The info about Phyllodesmium hyalinum is very interesting and I'm willing to bet that something similar is the evil doer on SharkTreats & Rippey's leathers (see http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95855)

Re the worm on Sarcophyton: could you be thinking of the sessile ctenophores that are only found on Sarcophyton & Lobophtyon? There are some good images at http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php...hic+ctenophore

tdwyatt · 03-05-2007, 08:21 AM

Don't forget that there is also the possibility that the damage is being caused by a rapa rapa snail during the night unseen, and that the daytime observations may just be the incidental appearance of creatures taking advantage of a new "hidey hole" they are using to avoid observation by fishes, etc.

I may be unavailable for a few days are we are going live with a new computer project today, but I will make it a point to check on this thread when I can get a few minutes away. If I find the old files, I'll post whatever pix I can come up with, you might want to post a copy of the pix of the damage and a description of what appears to be happening to Ron Shimek's site (wherever that is now) and see if he has the information.

HTH

ps, the pix I saw were not ctenophores, though I think those are really kewl...

koi_fla · 03-14-2007, 04:03 PM

Thank you for the picture of this rascal. (Phyllodesmium hyalinum, I suppose)
I JUST removed one from a finger leather I recently aquired. I had no clue what I was looking at, only that my leather appeared unhappy and something had been munching on the base. I finally caught it when it had strayed off the leather and pulled the piece out to move the leather away from it when I realized it was still attached to the same rock. I flicked it off into a container to look at under magnification. Do you think my leather will be ok now? So far, it appears it was only surface damage to the very base of the stalk.
Thanks!