Thoughts On Toadstool

[johnnyjtaylor]

My toadstool leather seems 'stuck' for want of a better word, it doesn't grow,doesn't shed and its polyps have gone a ghostly white.It used to be fine and looked like this

but now looks like this

The problem started last October when it fell off its rock, which I put down to it being stung by my frogspawn which had grown big and got very close to it. I super glued it on a new piece of rock and moved it away from the frogspawn,it quickly attached itself to the rock proper but never has recovered.Thinking about it now I had added some green hairy mushrooms a short while before the original falling off incident so now I'm not so sure if it was the frogspawn at all or chemical aggression likely from the shrooms.
The whole thing is phyically smaller than it was but now gets no worse or no better. It has plenty of zooanthallae within the main cap which can be seen when the polyps retract(which they do normally after lights out and extend again every morning).
If it is chemical aggression would activated carbon help?
All other corals in the tank are doing well,and my water quality is good 0ppm phosphate and 0ppm nitrate.

Any thoughts appreciated cheers Johnny

 

[Lynden]

Sarcophyton are tough. They would probably be the top dog in chemical warfare. You could try activated carbon, but most likely it is adapting to new conditions, just taking forever. The lack of shedding may be a good sign.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Thanks Lynden, think I'll try some activated carbon,it's cheap enough and can't hurt. Although it probably won't do much,it will at least be another base covered.
Why would the lack of shedding be a good sign?

cheers Johnny

 

[SkiFletch]

Usually a lack of shedding means it's well adjusted to it's new surroundings... Shedding indicates the coral is adapting to new lighting/flow/chemistry. This is of course fine at first, but noth something you want to continue a few months down the road.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Ah, I see So if its not shedding it can't be that unhappy with its current enviroment. Well I'm still going to give some activated carbon a go for a week or two just to see.
Also I've read several places that iodine is important to toadstools,this is something I've never tested for and just relied on water changes to replenish with a 15% fortnightly water change with aqua medic salt (claims to have raised iodine). Do you think an iodine test kit is worth getting?

cheers johnny

 

[SkiFletch]

Iodine is not a chemical to be messed with IMO, you can get yourself into trouble fast if you dose or test for it. Using the aquamedic salt isn't a bad idea though (as the concentration of iodine in salt is usually low, even in an "elevated" sample)