Is my leather coral molting or dead??

[leathermush88]

Hello everyone!

My leather coral has been closed up for about a week now. I thought it was molting but now it seems to be getting darker and darker in color....is it dying?? Is there something I can do?? Take it out and dip it in revive??

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[aquabull]

Looks like it is cultivating a coat of micro-algae. Try gently rubbing the algae off and increase the water flow there. It may have turtled due to the oh-so-close proximity of the other leathers on the rock. Their toxins (terpenes) can and often will upset each other. To avoid this, not only try to spread them out, but also run abusive amounts of activated carbon. This will not only remove a majority of the terpenes, but it will also reduce the gelvins the algae is producing.

 

[leathermush88]

By spreading them out I'm guessing I have to learn how to frag asap. I actually took a turkey baster and splashed it a few times last night it does seem to be a coating of some sort. I will get this taken care of tonite. I'm so relieved...thank you so much.

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[Kano]

I have a group of different types of leathers growing close without issues so far. I'm going to move them around once I figure out a good place for them long term. Yours will get large and for that reason I'd still separate them. Check and look for damage to the flesh when you clean them up. Out of five leathers two had leather eating nudis. They match the flesh color exactly but have 2 tiny black eyes. If you see flesh that looks damaged take a soft bristle toothbrush and gently scrape at it. If something falls off then you have your reason why it's not happy. They can close for a week or more but I always brush off anything if it starts looking brown. You can increase the water flow or move them into a higher flow area like Aquabull mentioned. Leathers are tough and should be fine.

 

[jonbar1]

Like said above, give it a good jet blasting. I use one of those rubber bulbs you use to clean your ears and you can get some decent water force to come out of one underwater. It will look like super thin cellophane coming off and when it's all blasted off they start opening the next day.

As Kano said, leather eating nudis are very camoflaged and easy to not notice. I had one on my toadstool that I never would have known was a nudi if I didn't notice the "bad spot" under the rim was in a different spot one day and tried scraping it off.