Sad Leather . . .

[ylmaya]

I have a leather coral that doesn't look too happy. (see attached pic - sorry but lights aren't on yet...))

I am not sure of the exact type of leather - but it is the pinkish variety and does have some rolls and folds. However - it is smooth ALL THE TIME! I have seen it slough its coat twice (in the last month) and also seen it open small (VERY SHORT) polyps twice. But other than that it stays sort of shrunken and doesn't look very happy. I have seen a hermit crab sitting on it. And last night with the flashlight noticed a starfish climbing across. It doesn't look "patchy" at all like it is being eaten tho.....

It used to be in a very high flow area and touching the glass - I moved it higher up to a lower flow area not touching glass but it doesn't seem to help. (One of the times it opened a little was when I moved it)

Why doesn't it open? Should I try moving again?

[ylmaya]

This is a picture of it about a month ago in the first location.

[Prismaco]

What are your water readings ? Also do you have anything else that are showing signs of not being healthy ?



-Paul

[Mrs Smith]

How long have you had it? FWIW, I've had leathers "decide" to be grumpy for months on end. Don't take it personally - assuming that everything else in the tank is ok. Just move it every couple of weeks - that's all I can think of.

Danielle

[Reefer Addict]

My fluorescent green tree leather also just got through with a grumpy phase. It looked really terrible, all shrunken up and covered in diatoms for about a week or so.
It rose from the dead yesterday, after shedding it's coat and ridding itself of the algae growth it's looking better than ever.
I still can't figure out if it was due to the new lighting I installed or some other factor, but the good news is it's back to normal.
Hopefully yours will 'recover' soon.

[Casey]

Just move it every now and then to see if it likes a certain spot
I am assuming every thing else is fine,these corals can be this way sometimes.

[ylmaya]

I'll try moving him. The Torch, Frogspawn, Cup & Fire corals all look great!

[sally]

Hi: I had a leather that stay closed for a month after I ran a phosphate sponge. A whole month! It shed twice in that period of time also. I knew it wasn't dead because it never slumped over and fell apart. I just tried to be patient. My clowns sleep in this leather every night because it is so big.

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Leather corals are strange in some ways! They can totally collapse and never recover for no reason at all! Sounds like yours has been disturbed or in the process of shedding.

Leathers when disturbed will close up for a few days unless it's going through a "shed coating" episode as it rids itself of algae growing on it. This can take 3-4 days up to a week or more before they recover.

I would place it in medium to high current and they tend not to shed as much. Trying it in several places but leave it alone for a few days before you move it again. Once the "coat" is shed, the leather coral comes back more beautiful than ever!

When they are shedding this mucus I try to siphon it out of the tank with a turkey baster as this stuff can be harmful to other corals!

Have patience and you will be rewarded with this coral!

[ylmaya]

OK - I just moved him to a high point - near the return. I noticed a snail attached to him which I had to forcibly remove - looks like the snail might have been munching on him.....anyway - I'll see what happens with him in this new locations for a few days!

[Casey]

Originally posted by ylmaya
OK - I just moved him to a high point - near the return. I noticed a snail attached to him which I had to forcibly remove - looks like the snail might have been munching on him.....anyway - I'll see what happens with him in this new locations for a few days!

Throw that killer snail out He was irritating that leather