Green Leather Coral

[Kaush]

I bought a green leather coral five days ago and when i put it in my tank some of the polyps came out and after one or two days there were a lot of polyps out, but not all of them. I turn off the lights in my tank at night and the polyps go in and it starts to flop. when i turn the light on in the morning it slowy releases some of the polyps. I woke up this morning and it had none of the polyps came out and it was very floppy with some a few red spots on it. it is now looking more rigid but still no polyps. does anyone have any idea on what is wrong?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Sometimes leathers do "sulk" a bit, especially after moved.

What are your water parameters and what kind of flow/lighting do you have?

 

[seffieuk]

Ah, welcome to the strange 'world of leather' - sorry couldn't resist It is common for leathers to 'sulk' when moved, let alone when moved into a new tank, don't worry. It might shed and go floppy but hopefully in a couple of days he will be looking ok

Leathers always contract at night and pull in their polyps - they are amazing, what can be a six inch wide leather in the day shrivels to an inch at night -oh gawd, that sounds so rude Just leave him where he is and watch and wait

Seffie x

 

[Kaush]

Ah, welcome to the strange 'world of leather' - sorry couldn't resist It is common for leathers to 'sulk' when moved, let alone when moved into a new tank, don't worry. It might shed and go floppy but hopefully in a couple of days he will be looking ok

Leathers always contract at night and pull in their polyps - they are amazing, what can be a six inch wide leather in the day shrivels to an inch at night -oh gawd, that sounds so rude Just leave him where he is and watch and wait

Seffie x

I have an Arcadia Marine White Light with a reclector which my LFS said would be ok for it. I hope to get some more soft corals later, do you think it will be enough lighting, the tank is 30 gallons. The water is ok, there is a very very low amount of nitates/ites. Do i need to add any trace elements? I know they are mainly photosynthetic, but do i need to add some brine shrimp or plancton? I do not have a skimmer as it is quite a small tank and i was told i will not need one. Should I keep turning off the lights or should I keep them on for a few nights so that it can get some energy?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

What wattage are the lights?

If you have detectable nitrIte this will not be good for any corals (or marine livestock) and is probably what is causing the problem. I would recommend doing a water change as a minimum. What kind of filtration and flow do you have and how long has the tank been running?

Trace elements wont be neccersary if you use a halfway decent salt brand and do regular water changes (in fact if you start dosing stuff you are probably going to do more harm than good). You do not need to feed leathers but I would not recommend leaving the light on 24/7. Most things need to have a regular day/night cycle so having constant lighting may do more harm than good.

 

[Kaush]

the wattage is 38 watts i think. the tanks been runing with fish for about four months. i saw some stringy things coming off the coral and a shiny slime type thing, is that shedding? i did a water change and the nitrates are pretty much gone. i have a canister filter and a medium water flow.

 

[seffieuk]

the wattage is 38 watts i think. the tanks been runing with fish for about four months. i saw some stringy things coming off the coral and a shiny slime type thing, is that shedding? i did a water change and the nitrates are pretty much gone. i have a canister filter and a medium water flow.

Yes, sounds like shedding to me

Seffie x