Is my leather dying?

[Bolen2]

Hey guys, I received this Yellow Mushroom Leather Toadstool yesterday from LiveAquaria. When it showed up it looked okay, the typical stress mucus from shipping but overall okay. I acclimated and added it to the setup and it opened its polyps up pretty well and it looked as though it would settle in nicely. Fast forward to this evening when I come home from work and it’s all closed up with just a few polyps open and a bunch of little white specks on it. I’ve never had a leather before but I have researched this coral quite a bit before ordering it so I’m not sure if this is the beginning stages of disintegration or if it’s shedding.
Tank is a 55 with a 20 gallon sump, salinity is 1.026, temp is 78F, water flow on the coral itself I would classify as a medium indirect flow.
Thanks for any help guys.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,welcome to the reef...
@sfin52 ??

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is a shedding/reproduction. It is generally an ugly looking process

 

[sfin52]

This is a shedding/reproduction. It is generally an ugly looking process

Agrer

 

[sfin52]

Hey guys, I received this Yellow Mushroom Leather Toadstool yesterday from LiveAquaria. When it showed up it looked okay, the typical stress mucus from shipping but overall okay. I acclimated and added it to the setup and it opened its polyps up pretty well and it looked as though it would settle in nicely. Fast forward to this evening when I come home from work and it’s all closed up with just a few polyps open and a bunch of little white specks on it. I’ve never had a leather before but I have researched this coral quite a bit before ordering it so I’m not sure if this is the beginning stages of disintegration or if it’s shedding.
Tank is a 55 with a 20 gallon sump, salinity is 1.026, temp is 78F, water flow on the coral itself I would classify as a medium indirect flow.
Thanks for any help guys.

 

[welsher7]

It is just angry from the move. If it were dying you would see it turning almost black and melting away. If you are ever unsure you can always smell it. When leathers are dying they have a horrible rotting smell.

 

[Bolen2]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the input. It definitely makes me feel better. I’ll keep an eye on it and give you a update if anything changes for better or worse.

 

[mindme]

Mine pretty much does this daily. Polyps out most of the day, then in the evening it'll close up, and I'll even see what looks like polyps hanging off. Then the next day, it'll do the same thing, looking good all day, close up in the evening. I just added it about a month ago and it's doubled in size already.

It's really hard to kill a leather. They'll shrink and be unhappy for a long time before they die. And if you fix whatever the issue is, they'll bounce back really quick.

 

[Bolen2]

So here’s a bit of an update. Today all polyps are closed and it has a lot more of the white spots covering it. Even the stalk itself has them. Would you still consider this as shedding or does it have some sort of infection?

 

[hotdrop]

I had one sit like this for 6 months so just wait

 

[sfin52]

So here’s a bit of an update. Today all polyps are closed and it has a lot more of the white spots covering it. Even the stalk itself has them. Would you still consider this as shedding or does it have some sort of infection?

Hows the flow around it

 

[Bolen2]

Hows the flow around it

I would classify it as a medium flow that is indirect.

 

[sfin52]

I would classify it as a medium flow that is indirect.

If it doesn't pop out of it in a bit I would increase flow.

 

[Bolen2]

Another quick update. Most of the white spots are gone now. I saw a lot of strings of mucus coming off of it but didn’t get a chance to take a picture of that. I came back a few hours later and saw it like this.

 

[FairbanksReefer]

As long as your water quality is good you just need to give it time. It could take a few days if not more for it to be happy. You ordered this online and it shipped? I can definitely imagine it needing time to sort itself out, which it should do assume good water quality.

 

[Bolen2]

As long as your water quality is good you just need to give it time. It could take a few days if not more for it to be happy. You ordered this online and it shipped? I can definitely imagine it needing time to sort itself out, which it should do assume good water quality.

My water quality is pretty good. I keep a pretty tight watch on it to be certain, especially when I have new arrivals coming in through mail. We don’t have many LFS where I live and even fewer that stock coral or saltwater in general so most of what I have has to be shipped to me. This is my first time having a coral do this in this setup so it had me pretty concerned. It seems to be doing a little better now so I’ll just give it time to settle in and work itself out. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[FairbanksReefer]

We don’t have many LFS where I live and even fewer that stock coral

Try living in Fairbanks Alaska… We don’t have any fish stores other then Petco.

 

[Bolen2]

Try living in Fairbanks Alaska… We don’t have any fish stores other then Petco.

I live in Eastern Kentucky. It’s not very well developed out here but I could imagine it’s nothing like anywhere in Alaska. Petco is the only thing of decent quality here and that’s about an hour from where I live. There are two or three family owned stores here and there but they keep their animals in abysmal conditions so I refuse to go to them. Im talking as soon as you walk in you are almost out on your rear from the stench of decaying fences. I’m not sure how they’re still operating. I’ve been reefing since I was 14 (I’m 24 now) and it has gotten to a point where I don’t think I could live without it so I can see where your pain is.

 

[Bolen2]

No change other than it seems to have lost most of the mucus coating it was trying to shed away. I did a 25% water change earlier today hoping that may help it come back to itself. I increased flow as was suggested and that didn’t seem to help either. I’m just giving it time and not bothering it to see if it comes around.

 

[Bolen2]

The stalk is starting to rot… the top looks to be showing improvement but still hasn’t opened up at all. Should I frag it before it takes over the entire coral?