Leather help!

[Kan123]

My leather coral has been closed up for a couple of days and is now falling over… it was thriving just a week ago and not much has changed.

 

[R0L0]

My leather coral has been closed up for a couple of days and is now falling over… it was thriving just a week ago and not much has changed.

What are your water parameters and how long have you had this coral?

 

[sfin52]

My leather coral has been closed up for a couple of days and is now falling over… it was thriving just a week ago and not much has changed.

Do you see a film over it?

 

[Kan123]

What are your water parameters and how long have you had this coral?

Will be doing a water test shortly - had him for several months and he was thriving. I took my skimmer offline 1 week ago so wonder if that could have caused an issue?

 

[Kan123]

Do you see a film over it?

No

 

[R0L0]

Will be doing a water test shortly - had him for several months and he was thriving. I took my skimmer offline 1 week ago so wonder if that could have caused an issue?

could have been. By the looks of it with no film either im thinking more of a water perimeter problem.

 

[sfin52]

Will be doing a water test shortly - had him for several months and he was thriving. I took my skimmer offline 1 week ago so wonder if that could have caused an issue?

Very well could why did you pull skimmer off line?

 

[Kan123]

Very well could why did you pull skimmer off line?

Wasn’t doing anything besides aeration, never got it tuned in and my nutrients were undetectable so wanted to shift towards only biological and refugium based filtration.

 

[shadow_k]

Mm it looks like a Kenya tree ? If it is mine close up sometimes for a few days to squeeze the water out of them sand just refill. In my case at least

 

[sfin52]

I think its a green nepthea.

 

[shadow_k]

Maybe it’s shedding ? I heard they take a week or so to shed.

 

[Tamberav]

My guess is it might be shedding. They are impossible to kill. Mine has been with me like 10 years through every problem imaginable. Can’t kill it.

 

[Kan123]

Im hoping it’s just shedding from your responses. Just did a water test and they seem great to me:
Kh - 9.2 (unchanged since 11/28)
Ca - 400 (dropped 30ppm since 11/28, unlikely cause)
Po4 - undetected (<0.03) (unchanged since 11/28)
No3 <1ppm (unchanged since 11/28)

 

[sfin52]

Im hoping it’s just shedding from your responses. Just did a water test and they seem great to me:
Kh - 9.2 (unchanged since 11/28)
Ca - 400 (dropped 30ppm since 11/28, unlikely cause)
Po4 - undetected (<0.03) (unchanged since 11/28)
No3 <1ppm (unchanged since 11/28)

Those last two are of concern. Leather like more nutrients in the water. No3 10-20 and a little higher on p04.
Running zero or just above zero is a great recipe for dinos.

 

[Kan123]

Those last two are of concern. Leather like more nutrients in the water. No3 10-20 and a little higher on p04.
Running zero or just above zero is a great recipe for dinos.

It’s been at this level for the past 3 months and it’s been thriving. Just started to look like this during the past week, will check ph shortly

 

[muzikalmatt]

It’s been at this level for the past 3 months and it’s been thriving. Just started to look like this during the past week, will check ph shortly

The problem with reading zero nutrients on your test kits is that you don't know if your tank is starved of nutrients or getting juuuust enough to survive. In addition, people have speculated that undetectable nutrients can lead to dinos which are awful to deal with. I would recommend trying to increase your nitrates to at least 3ppm and your phosphates to 0.03-0.05ppm.

I have a very similar green sinularia leather coral and I'm running my tank around 10ppm nitrates and 0.10ppm phosphates and it absolutely loves it.

 

[Lyss]

I also notice the clownfish there by it. Could they by any chance be bothering it, trying to be hosted?

 

[Kan123]

The problem with reading zero nutrients on your test kits is that you don't know if your tank is starved of nutrients or getting juuuust enough to survive. In addition, people have speculated that undetectable nutrients can lead to dinos which are awful to deal with. I would recommend trying to increase your nitrates to at least 3ppm and your phosphates to 0.03-0.05ppm.

I have a very similar green sinularia leather coral and I'm running my tank around 10ppm nitrates and 0.10ppm phosphates and it absolutely loves it.

True, I’ve been trying to feed more and getting more livestock to increase nutrients. Here’s a photo of mine just 3 weeks ago.

 

[Kan123]

I also notice the clownfish there by it. Could they by any chance be bothering it, trying to be hosted?

They aren’t/haven’t tried to host it

 

[muzikalmatt]

True, I’ve been trying to feed more and getting more livestock to increase nutrients. Here’s a photo of mine just 3 weeks ago.

Beautiful specimen! I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing mine get that size and larger!