[Ltspd]

I went away for the weekend and came home to a yellow toadstool that dosent look so hot. I had posted some time ago about how this toadstool drooped from the stem and wouldnt stay upright. I solved this by letting the stem lay on the rocks. Now the stem appears to have seperated from the rock, and looks like it has severed in two. I checked all my water parms and they are great. The only thing that has changed are bulbs since I added the coral.
Is it dying? What should I do? The xenia in the picture is not touching it as it appears. The picture on the left is today and hopefully shows the stalk.

[kevinpo]

Is it a Sarcophyton elegans? If so try a moderate alternating current directed at the base.

Kevin

[bongobrian]

Make sure you have iodine in the tank. Stronger current may also help.

[popcorn]

If it comes off the base, you can reattach with glue and/or fishing line. If it splits, congrats on the baby. (We hope.) If any of it turns gray/black and looks like it is disintigrating, get a sharp razor and slice off the dying tissue. That should stop the spread. If worse comes to worst, you can cut it into pieces, or just cut a dying base off. (Slices off the sides and top will grow their own base) Good luck. I moved ours a whole lot at first, and they are just finicky corals.

[Ltspd]

Popcorn, thanks for the advice. I will take a exacto knife this eveing and cut off the bad section of the stalk. It has almost split (stalk) in 2. I did move it and it seems to be better with more current flowing over it.
So if I cut it clean and re-attach it to another rock can I use super glue?

[popcorn]

As far as my experience, I have had to get aggressive with 2 of my leathers. One of them was wasting/disintigrating at the base, which sort of looks like your problem. Ultimatly, it came down to losing the coral or just slicing the dying parts off and hoping for the best. Both times, it worked for me. (Although I do have a funny looking finger leather at the moment.) The toadstool should behave similarly.

Superglue should work, although with a piece that big, you might reinforce it by sewing it onto the mounting rock. (I use a plain ol' needle and thread.) Superglue sets pretty quickly, but sometimes won't hold really heavy or ackward pieces. I have also reinforced with toothpicks, but only around the base and not through the coral. (Works well for branchy trees.) If it comes off, just reglue it.

HTH

[Ltspd]

Can this coral see air? Or should it stay submerged while I do the work?

I have cut the base from the rock it was attached to. The coral top is sort of brownish in parts. I may leave it alone and see what happens now that the stem is cut.

Why did this happen? Everything else is doing great in my tank. Should I have fed it? If so what?

[ConnieH]

Hi Paul,

We have a Sacrophyton just like yours... no, as a filter feeder it doesn't eat anything you can see, and periodically "waxes" over. When this happens, he lays down for a few days, and then comes back good as new, maybe even a little bigger. Someone told us to do the same thing the first time it went down... cut off the "good looking" pieces. I'm really glad that we waited because as it turned out, it would have been unnecessary to cut him up. He's now huge, and very healthy. Sometimes it's a hard call. If you've ever had a Sinularia (finger leather) the waxing behavior in the toadstool is very similar, and the nearby xenia actually benefits from the shedding. He needs more than moderate flow during the shedding to help with elimination.

You might try tying it to a small piece of rock with fishing line until it attaches... works great! Good luck with your frags.

Take care,
Connie

[ConnieH]

P.S. One more note on the toadstool... check your alk. When ours gets a little low, the polyps don't extend, and he just lays over until the alk is back to normal. If you're having trouble balancing or raising alk and ca together, check your magnesium. If it's low, no matter how hard you try, you're never going to get a balance.

HTH,
C-

[Ltspd]

Well I sliced the base last night and it appears to look a lot better this morning (no lights). I didnt tie it down yet but may if it appears to begin recovery.


I also had a higher than normal alk reading (12dkh) and have since cut back the effluant of the reactor. This morning alk was 10dkh, more in the normal range. Cant test the calk until the new test kit arrives, tried it with a seatest kit last night, god I hate those kits. Salifert or nothing.