my leather snapped in half!

[knutcracker]

Dear all,

my toadstool leather snapped in half at the trunk. the bottom half is of course dead and attached to a rock. The top half, however, is still alive- the polyps still extend considerably. the place where it snapped is very flaky, a simple blow from a turkey baster will flake up the whole tank. Now, is this leather still save-able? Will the top half attach itself to another LR under the right condition? or should I just take it out so that it doesn't contaminate the tank? TIA.

[James]

I have heard of poeple cutting the top off Toadstools when they get to big and top heavy and it grew a new one. Then they just super glued the top to another rock and it continued to grow. Then they had two Toadstools. Question is... Why did yours just break off???
Toadstools are pretty tuff to kill or damage, I would know, I have one that I've dropped rocks on, been stung by other corals, been exposed to air, even left upside down in the sand bed for two days after a rock slide in my tank...and it's still growing strong. I would try to save the top if you can by trying the same method. good luck, let us know how it worked out.

[Sueet]

Dear all,

my toadstool leather snapped in half at the trunk. the bottom half is of course dead and attached to a rock. The top half, however, is still alive- the polyps still extend considerably. the place where it snapped is very flaky, a simple blow from a turkey baster will flake up the whole tank. Now, is this leather still save-able? Will the top half attach itself to another LR under the right condition? or should I just take it out so that it doesn't contaminate the tank? TIA.

Hmm... Well, if the top half is still alive, then so should the bottom half be. Do you know what caused it to break in half? If it has an infection of some sort that caused it to break, you may need to take a razor blade and shave the area where the tissue is affected (on top of the bottom section on the rock, and yes, even if there is a one cell thick layer of healthy tissue there, it WILL regrow, assuming there is nothing to eat the polyps... And also shave the bottom of the part that broke off if it is also deteriorating*flaking*)

[gopsal]

Check out this link about Leather Corals reproducing. Sounds like you have two leathers now.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn...20Corals_2.htm

Nice work.

[ClintoninCali]

To propagate the leathers that we cut ourselves where I work we use fishing line and tie the trunk, half way up, to a small rock. The coral should re-attach fully in a couple of weeks. I've even seen two "heads" come from either end of the propped coral. There's some money locally selling propped stuff, at least where I'm from.

[knutcracker]

thanks for the input guys. I definitely don't have two leathers, the bottom half has completely flaked off the rock. the top half is still alive. I don't know what caused it to die off. Just noticed one day that a chunk of its trunk is flaking off. since then, a lot more flaking is happening. Is this the infection you are talking about? If so, how can I cure it? I don't have much time or trunk left, maybe 2 inches, i suppose when it gets to the flat area where the polyps protrude, it's too late . . . please let me know of any solution. Thanks.

[James]

Take a razerblade, cut off the remaining infection, Then superglue the remaining healthy top to one of your live rocks, and it will continue to grow.

There probably is no way to cure the infection or know what caused it, If it is an infection.

From reading your some of your other post, it sounds like the cause maybe from your water quality or what your adding to it.

Quote - "I don't have a calc reactor. I use kent marine liquid reactor for calcium and alk. sometimes i use Kent marine dH buffer to increase hardness and kent marine liquid calcium to up calcium, but other than that nothing."

This is alot of chemicals to be adding to a 26gal. tank. You may be "nuking" your corals by adding this stuff to such a small environment. From the corals that you listed in prior post, there is no need to add all this stuff. I don't know who told you that you needed this stuff, probably a salesman at your fish store, they like to push this crap.
Just do weekly water changes, I would suggest 5gal. a week for your size tank. The water change will replenish the calcium that your few corals will use, and don't over feed to keep your ph up.

let us know how the toadstool turned out. Good luck