Leather coral dying?

TGamble · May 23, 2023

Hello fellow reef keepers. A little back story on my tank. Been up for 3 years now. Stocked with 2 clowns, coral beauty angel, blue spotted goby, blue damsel, and a purple dotty back along with some cuc. Coral is most euphyplia a big Duncan and some zoas. I’ve had this leather for about 6 months. Was a very small frag when I got it. It grew well and was doing great for about 4 months. About 8 weeks ago I noticed the base of the stalk had turned brown. Did research and came to the conclusion that the only chance to save it was to cut the stalk in half where the rotting ended, and used a rubberband to hold the remaining head to a frag plug. Turns out it worked, after about 6 weeks it had reattached itself to the plug and was open and happy.
Today I noticed that it wasn’t fully open and after further inspection noticed that some of the polyps had turned black. I dipped after fragging. I put it at the bottom of the tank to recover. Parameters are in check nitrate 5 ppm, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, ph 8.3, mag 1300, calc 440, alk 8.6, temp is 78 and salinity is 35 ppt, haven’t changed lighting or flow, I’m somewhat stumped. It was doing so well and then suddenly it’s looking worse. All other coral are doing amazing, literally have never seen them more open, amazing growth the past month as well. Wondering what it could be, any ideas?

Here it is 2 weeks ago.

here it is today. Little retracted, will post close ups of the polyps below.

Thanks for the input and taking the time to read. I just want to learn how to have the best ecosystem I can!

Timfish · May 23, 2023

I would just leave it alone myself and be patient. Often trying to "fix" a probelm just adds more stress to an animal and makes it harder for it to heal itself. FWIW, 6 weeks isn't a very long time, it can take months (maybe years from some experiences and stories I've read) for a coral to adjust after a stress event like you've described.

Stephen Glover · May 23, 2023

Toadstools are very hardy. If your other corals are doing fine I would not worry about this one.

TGamble · May 23, 2023

Timfish said:
I would just leave it alone myself and be patient. Often trying to "fix" a probelm just adds more stress to an animal and makes it harder for it to heal itself. FWIW, 6 weeks isn't a very long time, it can take months (maybe years from some experiences and stories I've read) for a coral to adjust after a stress event like you've described.

Thanks for the input! I really had no other options besides dipping it or just letting it be, so I will let it be!