Hello,
About two weeks ago I purchased two finger leather corals. They both were about 3 inches in height with lots of branches. They also both had very healthy looking polyps as well. I placed both frags near the top of the rocks I attached them to, to make sure they both received plenty of water flow and light from my 165w Black Box LED fixture.
However, after around 10 days, both leathers retracted their polyps and shrunk in size to almost half what their original height was. They also went from being white in color with just a hint of light green to being mostly all pale green in color. Their fingers also seem to be curling in on themselves, almost like a hand closing it's fingers to make a fist.
All of my water parameters are perfect; Zero nitrates and phosphates, no livestock picking at them, and they both receive plenty of water flow. (I have a Maxspect Gyre that I keep on a regular wave cycle). All of my other corals are doing just fine; no problems whatsoever.
Has anyone ran into this issue before? Is this normal behavior? Will they eventually come back to being normal? For now, I have moved them lower in the tank to where the are not getting as much direct light as before, thinking that perhaps they are getting too much light....but we'll see.
Any thoughts?
About two weeks ago I purchased two finger leather corals. They both were about 3 inches in height with lots of branches. They also both had very healthy looking polyps as well. I placed both frags near the top of the rocks I attached them to, to make sure they both received plenty of water flow and light from my 165w Black Box LED fixture.
However, after around 10 days, both leathers retracted their polyps and shrunk in size to almost half what their original height was. They also went from being white in color with just a hint of light green to being mostly all pale green in color. Their fingers also seem to be curling in on themselves, almost like a hand closing it's fingers to make a fist.
All of my water parameters are perfect; Zero nitrates and phosphates, no livestock picking at them, and they both receive plenty of water flow. (I have a Maxspect Gyre that I keep on a regular wave cycle). All of my other corals are doing just fine; no problems whatsoever.
Has anyone ran into this issue before? Is this normal behavior? Will they eventually come back to being normal? For now, I have moved them lower in the tank to where the are not getting as much direct light as before, thinking that perhaps they are getting too much light....but we'll see.
Any thoughts?