ok then. i bought myself what i was told was a finger leather coral, an it does look like one, either that or a spaghetti leather. but obviously lots of leathers look very similar. so im not so sure...
either way it looked great in the shop and was being kept under less light than i have run. 30w t8s in the shop. i run 50w of t8. it had been in the shop for a while too, and looked like it was happy in the conditions it was living in, so i got it for £20. not bad considering frags of the stuff are usually £10 +p&p, and it is about the size of a fist when deflated.
anyway, i i acclimatized the leather over a period of 5 hrs yesterday (the lfs was at 1.024 and my tank is 1.025). i noticed it was slowly turning mustard yellow in some places. i thought nothing of it, as i did some research and i know that leathers do sulk, and also shead in times of stress. so anyway its in the tank. it has inflated to 2x the size it was but has developed yellow spots like this . spaced evenly all over, like the head of every other polyp. but the yellow is still there.
i dont think this is sheading, though it has that waxy look but its not coming off yet. i could only find one thread with google that describes similar issues to mine, and it basically just gets better at the end of the thread, but there is no info on how or why it got better, just that it did.
the base of my leather is about 9" from the light source, and the tips are maybe 5" from it. its in a moderate flow area of the tank. i put a powerhead above it today though, to give it a bit more water movement to help it shead. its not pointed directly at it though. i can remove the powerhead, or even give it more flow if need be.
today i noticed that there are some zoas at the base of it too. do you think they could be stressing it out? one is touching it. the other two arent. im thinking im gonna try to remove the zoas and try to place them somewhere else in the tank
anyone have any ideas? i only have test kits for ammonia (0.0 mgl) and nitrite (<0.3 mgl) but i dont think its my water as my other corals (mixed zoas, mushrooms, button polyps, and green star polyps) are all doing fine.
either way it looked great in the shop and was being kept under less light than i have run. 30w t8s in the shop. i run 50w of t8. it had been in the shop for a while too, and looked like it was happy in the conditions it was living in, so i got it for £20. not bad considering frags of the stuff are usually £10 +p&p, and it is about the size of a fist when deflated.
anyway, i i acclimatized the leather over a period of 5 hrs yesterday (the lfs was at 1.024 and my tank is 1.025). i noticed it was slowly turning mustard yellow in some places. i thought nothing of it, as i did some research and i know that leathers do sulk, and also shead in times of stress. so anyway its in the tank. it has inflated to 2x the size it was but has developed yellow spots like this . spaced evenly all over, like the head of every other polyp. but the yellow is still there.
i dont think this is sheading, though it has that waxy look but its not coming off yet. i could only find one thread with google that describes similar issues to mine, and it basically just gets better at the end of the thread, but there is no info on how or why it got better, just that it did.
the base of my leather is about 9" from the light source, and the tips are maybe 5" from it. its in a moderate flow area of the tank. i put a powerhead above it today though, to give it a bit more water movement to help it shead. its not pointed directly at it though. i can remove the powerhead, or even give it more flow if need be.
today i noticed that there are some zoas at the base of it too. do you think they could be stressing it out? one is touching it. the other two arent. im thinking im gonna try to remove the zoas and try to place them somewhere else in the tank
anyone have any ideas? i only have test kits for ammonia (0.0 mgl) and nitrite (<0.3 mgl) but i dont think its my water as my other corals (mixed zoas, mushrooms, button polyps, and green star polyps) are all doing fine.
The toadstool has done great, and lived through 2 crashes. Good luck!