Leather coral

I

ironbird456

First of all let me say how nice this forum is. Seems to be a wealth of knowledge and good people. Now on to my issue. I have a fully established 72 gal bowfront. This past Saturday I purchased a gorgeous 9 inch tall multi branch leather coral. Since being in my system is has completely sagged to the side. I matched the lighting, placement in the tank, and flow from it's previous home. Is it safe to say that it might just be getting acclimated? All my other corals and fish are doing fine. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
 
I agree to wait, it's pretty hard to kill leathers. They are almost bullet proof. I just cut my huge one up and gave away some pretty big pieces, the little stalk I have left is doing great.
 
Yup, what they said. It'll be fine. All livestock need about 2-3 days to get adjusted to it's new home. Leathers are pretty tempermental and look ugly or waxy when they shed so they can grow some more. I have a toadstool that hasn't come out in. .umm. .3-4 days or so. All will be well.
 
I have some of the pieces that Mark "hacked" off with a kitchen knife. When I first put them in my tank, they looked just as you described.

It took about 3 days for them to fill back up.

Thanks Mark!
 
Do you dose Iodine? It does wonders for my leathers and other inverts. People differ as to its value (or even safety), so read up on it before doing anything. But usually a drop of Lugol's is just what the doctor ordered for flagging leathers.
 
I just want to make sure I have this right. To raise the Alkalinity I would use a product like coral builder, and to lower the PH I would use something like Kent super buffer? What is the prefered method of raising the akalinity?
 
I would use baking soda, but If you already have some chemical buffers just use them.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
 
Make sure you read the article and understand what your doing... Raising ALK will raise your PH fast and kill livestock in a heartbeat if your not carefull. Use this calculator to detmine the appropriate amount after testing your water.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html
 
The people who come out to clean and do water changes for me once a month just left. They said that my calcium is low as well. So I am going to use B-Ionics or Tech CB where I can raise them at the same time. Try to maintain balance. That you so much for the help!
 
Your welcome... You might think about getting a Salifert KH/Alkalinity Test Kit and Calcium kit, so you can check your parameters yourself that way you know exactly how much to add and etc. It's a very easy test and it will help you learn more about the hobby. :D
 
@ironbird456 wrote:
The people who come out to clean and do water changes for me once a month just left. They said that my calcium is low as well. So I am going to use B-Ionics or Tech CB where I can raise them at the same time. Try to maintain balance. That you so much for the help! said:
If you decide to use B-Ionic, that is fine. I used it for over 2 years, but remember you dose it daily early in the morning. I wrote about it on this page: http://www.melevsreef.com/chemicals.html

I wouldn't dose buffers to raise and lower pH. If you focus on Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium, the pH tends to take care of itself. Of course temperature and salinity are important. The goal ranges are listed at the top of this page: http://www.melevsreef.com/parms.html (Hmm -- I need to do some water tests myself :wink: )

Regarding your leather, keep in mind that about once a month a leather coral will look miserable for about three days. This is the time when it may shed some tissue around its base, which you can siphon out if you wish. After the short duration, the coral should perk up and even exhibit a growth spurt.

If your water quality is off, the coral may look unhappy for a longer period of time. And if you try to solve problems such as phosphates in your tank using an aluminum-based product (Kent's Phosphate Sponge), it can take three weeks or more for the leathers to rebound and look good again.

HTH (hope that helps!)
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all the input. I have a magnesium test I ordered online on the way. I checked the calcium personally and it is a little low. Around 320 PPM. My Alkalinity was on the high end of acceptable but not outside the range. I am just going to try to bring my calcium up slowly, and check the magnesium when my test arrives.
 
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