[macyjo]

I have had my leather coral for 1 year now. Most of this past year he has not extented his polyps. It extends its stalk and opens its cap--but no polyps. I have had him both on the top and bottom of the tank and in different water flows. I have other corals that seem to be fine.

My tank is 2 years old. I have a 75 gal with 260 watts of PC lighting.
my water parameters--temp 78, use ro/di, ammonia,nitrates and nitrites are all zero ph=8.2 and alk is 7dkh ca=460.

I want him to be beautiful again--I have read and searched many books and forums with no luck.

My quest continues here......
TIA

[jwall1]

Hi Macyjo,
Looks like you ph and alk are a little low. Is the ph reading during the day ? if so, it would be better at 8.4 and alk around 10 to 14.
What is your waters specific gravity ?
Also check for parasites like nudibranch (phyllodesmium longicirrapara)
this guy may be eating your coral.
Just a basic rule every time you move your coral you are stressing it. this can cause the polyps to remaine closed. It may take some time for the polyps to open. If you keep handling and moving it, it can cuase disease. Leave him in his current location for about 3 to 4 weeks and see what happens.
Do you have any pictures?

Hope this helps
Joe W.

[macyjo]

this does help--I started working on the alk tonight added kents super buffer at about the time i first posted--i have it up to 8.06--i will adjust again tomorrow--etc till i get the desired level. This should also raise the ph a bit. i also think maybe i was under feeding the tank.
my sp is 1.024

thanks

[Reefland]

Your water paramemters do not seem to be a huge concern. What kind of leather coral are we talking about? Do you have a common or specific name?

Welcome to Reefland!

Scott Z.

[macyjo]

it is a toadstool leather

[macyjo]

here is a pic

[jwall1]

He looks stressed.
Do you use any additives, how old our your bulbs, what do you feed your tank, do you have a skimmer running, do you use carbon ?

On the stem is that a brown area (discolored) or just the light. If it is a brown area that is a sign of disease or handling

[macyjo]

additives=kent super buffer, coral vite, essential elements, tech I, liquid ca parts a and b. I change the bulbs about 2x a year last change was in june. i use skimmer and carbon. i feed wqith na kent product for filter feeders--name is escaping me right now....

I think what you see on the stem is actually the epoxy that was used to attach his rock to live rock.--His flesh looks wonderful in real life

[jwall1]

Did the problem start in june after you replaced the bulbs?

[macyjo]

no he has been like this for most of the last year

[jwall1]

I don't know,
You could try Dr. Ron Shimek here is his email address
rshimek@imt.net

Sorry I couldn't give you anymore advice
Joe W.

[PerryinCA]

I would lay off all the supplements except for the superbuffer, and the CA (in fact, you may not even need the superbuffer as its incorporated into the two part calcium additive.

Lay off everything else for a couple weeks, and just keep up with a 10-15% bi-weekly (or weekly) water change.

Where is it located under the lights? What type of water-flow is it getting?

Does there seem to be any mucus built up on the crown of it? If yes, try a slight increase in the amount of water-flow it gets.

-Perry

[Anthony Calfo]

Macyjo...

For starters, the lack of polyp extension in most Alcyoniids is generally no big deal. Most feed very little organismally to need polpys extended (they derive nutrition instead from symbiosis and feeding by absorbtion). It is not uncommon for some speciemens to go several months without extending polpys although a year is unusual.

Stronger current if random turbulent or surge like may incite polpy cycles, but not always.

I would have to agree that your Ca/ALK dynamic is skewed but don't think is has much if any bearing on the case here. Still, watch closely and do not let the ALK go any lower or the Ca much higher. You are definately on the splayed ends. You could indeed just do some water changes and back of the supplements except for buffer until Ca and ALk get more balanced and then simply resume the 2-part mix. Remember that you may not need extra buffer or Ca when dosing the balanced two part mixes. However, they will not correct an imbabalance either... you must begin with balanced levels and let the mix carry on.

Joe W makes an especially good point about not moving any coral around much. It is very stressful to do so. They simply need to be put in place and left to adapt.

You could experiment slowly with Iodine to see if the leather responds to higher RedoX levels fascilitated by small daily doses of it.

Another source of irritation to leather is microbubbles... any concerns here with that?

Under PC lighting, I would hope that this coral is in the top 12" of the tank and receives moderate to strong water flow.

Hmmm... I regret that I haven't been able to add much to the thread. Please do let us know how it pans out.

Best regards, Anthony

[jwall1]

Hi Anthony,
Didn't know you were part of this forum or I would have recomended him to you

Joe W.

[Anthony Calfo]

Hey, Joe... no worries but thanks kindly for the thought

Heck... you covered most all of the bases and didn't need me anyhow... heehee.

Kind regards to all,

Anthony