Struggling (?) Leather Coral

mill1726 · Dec 1, 2019

Hey Everyone,

Hoping someone can help me with a status update on my leather.

I bought this guy back in August when my tank was newer as one of my first corals (first picture). This is how it looks today (second picture). I don’t think I’ve ever seen it look like the first picture after the first week. Since then I notice it has been going through cycles of “sliming” (I’m not sure really what sliming looks like, I just am assuming from the various forums I’ve read) and it looks as if the polyp heads are literally drifting away on a slime string. It does this for a few days then stands right back up and looks perky. Again, I have not witnessed the green, hairy look since that First week, but I can see some of the polyps attempting to pop out. These cycles seem to be once every few weeks. I assumed it was because of too little nutrients (my nitrates read 0 for awhile) so a month ago I started target feeding it reef Roids without much success. I increased the amount of fish I have and started feeding a little heavier while decreasing the time my fuge light is on.

I know this guy isn’t dead but is it limping along? Would I be better off giving it back to the store? All my other corals are healthy (Xenia, various zoanthids, a frogspawn, Ricordia, gsp, candy cane colony and a big torch colony) as well as my fish and inverts so I don’t want to drastically change my parameters for just one unhappy coral.

general info:
75g (set up 6/10/19)
AI prime lighting w/ Nero 5 flow (main pump discharge points right at it)
ph 8.2
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
I can test the others if need be (not much uptake by the lps yet)
Feed daily/every other day with weekly reef roid and logol dose.

Thanks in advance!

mta_morrow · Dec 1, 2019

I would personally give it more light and indirect, moderate flow.

mill1726 · Dec 1, 2019

mta_morrow said:
I would personally give it more light and indirect, moderate flow.

It’s basically 3 inches from the top under one of my primes, thunk I need to move it closer? I get the indirect flow.

UCF Alum · Dec 1, 2019

The slime and shed is normal. They do that when they’re growing. It’s definitely grown since you first got it. When I had leathers, if I touched it, it would retract its polyps for a week. As long as your not doing that you’ll be fine.
Leathers are impossible to kill.
What’s your cal, alk and mag out of curiosity.

agree with MTA - you can hammer these with light and it’ll be fine.

mta_morrow · Dec 1, 2019

mill1726 said:
It’s basically 3 inches from the top under one of my primes, thunk I need to move it closer? I get the indirect flow.

That’s probably close enough but it should stay open more often. Perhaps try a different location if possible with good light and moderate flow. They rarely die. It should stay open a bit more often.

mill1726 · Dec 1, 2019

Appreciate the responses.

UCF Alum said:
What’s your cal, alk and mag out of curiosity

Just tested:

Mg 1550ppm
Alk 7.7 dkh (I’m as shocked by this as you probably are, the torch was just added today so for the longest time my small frog and 3 headed candy cane sat chillin. I assumed there was minimal uptake)
Cal 450ppm

guess I need to start dosing

mta_morrow said:
That’s probably close enough but it should stay open more often. Perhaps try a different location if possible with good light and moderate flow. They rarely die. It should stay open a bit more often.

I just moved it to a little more indirect flow spot but also being higher up. Will send another picture tomorrow with the light on, my tank doesn’t have the best indirect flow set up unfortunately. Will take suggestions on locations when I post a picture.