Finger Leather Issues.....

[Joshua Jordan]

Hello,

About two weeks ago I purchased two finger leather corals. They both were about 3 inches in height with lots of branches. They also both had very healthy looking polyps as well. I placed both frags near the top of the rocks I attached them to, to make sure they both received plenty of water flow and light from my 165w Black Box LED fixture.

However, after around 10 days, both leathers retracted their polyps and shrunk in size to almost half what their original height was. They also went from being white in color with just a hint of light green to being mostly all pale green in color. Their fingers also seem to be curling in on themselves, almost like a hand closing it's fingers to make a fist.

All of my water parameters are perfect; Zero nitrates and phosphates, no livestock picking at them, and they both receive plenty of water flow. (I have a Maxspect Gyre that I keep on a regular wave cycle). All of my other corals are doing just fine; no problems whatsoever.

Has anyone ran into this issue before? Is this normal behavior? Will they eventually come back to being normal? For now, I have moved them lower in the tank to where the are not getting as much direct light as before, thinking that perhaps they are getting too much light....but we'll see.

Any thoughts?

 

[reef lover]

Probably too much light. You did the right thing and moved them down.

 

[rich nyc]

I agree. However they are very hardy. The should be fine. My leather goes through periods when it closes down for a couple weeks more than the typical shedding but usually my doing like changing the lighting or getting cuc that likes to bug it.

 

[Joshua Jordan]

Probably too much light. You did the right thing and moved them down.

Looks like you were right, too. About 3 days, or so, after I moved them down, one of them has come back. (i.e. the polyps have come back and the color has changed back to being mostly white) The other one, while it has not shown any polyps yet, it has started leaning toward the front the light source. I put it in the very back-left corner of my tank and now its main body stalk is leaning way over toward the front/middle part of the tank; much like a plant would do to grow toward a light source.

Is this good? (the one that is leaning but no polyps yet)

Thanks so much for the input, folks. This website has been a truly gold mine of great information.

Josh

 

[reef lover]

If its leaning toward the light I would move it under the light but still on the sand and see how it did. And makes sure they're getting decent flow. Its always trial and error to find the perfect happy spot with most corals.

 

[billr65]

maybe light

 

[norfolkgarden]

LED lighting can be very directional. Especially with strip lighting. (Not sure about your black box)
Keep it in mind when moving stuff around. high to low in the tank as well as directly under vs off to the side of the light bar.
High quality LED lighting will have lenses to spread the light out more and a square or rectangular box shape like the Radions will give off a very different light signature than the simple light bars I am using on our tank.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Leather corals like a little dirty water. What I mean is they do best with a little Nitrate and Phosphate.

 

[sdroll]

Hello,

About two weeks ago I purchased two finger leather corals. They both were about 3 inches in height with lots of branches. They also both had very healthy looking polyps as well. I placed both frags near the top of the rocks I attached them to, to make sure they both received plenty of water flow and light from my 165w Black Box LED fixture.

However, after around 10 days, both leathers retracted their polyps and shrunk in size to almost half what their original height was. They also went from being white in color with just a hint of light green to being mostly all pale green in color. Their fingers also seem to be curling in on themselves, almost like a hand closing it's fingers to make a fist.

All of my water parameters are perfect; Zero nitrates and phosphates, no livestock picking at them, and they both receive plenty of water flow. (I have a Maxspect Gyre that I keep on a regular wave cycle). All of my other corals are doing just fine; no problems whatsoever.

Has anyone ran into this issue before? Is this normal behavior? Will they eventually come back to being normal? For now, I have moved them lower in the tank to where the are not getting as much direct light as before, thinking that perhaps they are getting too much light....but we'll see.

Any thoughts?

Wow found this post went through the same maybe? Mine retracted and slightly pink after I placed it higher