Leather Coral And Toxins

[ChiTownRomeo]

Wow been a long time since I been on here. This cancer is kicking my butt. But I have a question. It might be a dumb question but do leather corals excrete toxins or do they have to be close to a coral to release it. I have some ricordias that were fine until I added 2 green neon leather corals. I stopped using carbon for some dumb reason and I'm thinking since I stopped using carbon the toxins are aggravating them. Maybe I'm wrong. Haven't kept leathers in a long time.



BEFORE THE LEATHER CORALS

AFTER THE LEATHERS

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yup, Leathers sure do produce and release toxins. This stunt the growth of near by corals and adversely affect other more sensitive corals. Running carbon in the system will keep these relatively low.

 

[Sniperhank]

That is how soft corals battle for territory, compared to sweeper tentacles off of calcium skeletoned corals.

 

[ChiTownRomeo]

Time to get some carbon fast! lol

 

[Brookster123]

Would vinegar suffice? I know you can use it replacement of vodka dosing

 

[Sniperhank]

Would vinegar suffice? I know you can use it replacement of vodka dosing

This isn’t dosing to lower nutrient levels, this is removal of toxins in the water column.

 

[Brookster123]

So what would you use as a carbon source?
Edit- we're talking activated carbon here huh?

 

[Sniperhank]

So what would you use as a carbon source?
Edit- we're talking activated carbon here huh?

Yep. It’ll suck any and all possible toxin out of the water column.

 

[Autumnsky]

Learning something new all the time! About the toxins!!!

That's something I didn't know.

 

[Sniperhank]

This is something that makes keeping a mixed reef difficult. As corals start to encroach on each other, they get defensive. Just last week I watched a great show on BBC, a blue earth I think, that focused on corals and them not liking each other. Showed some brain corals using their sweeper tentacles to consume their neighboring coral. The same goes for soft corals. Unlike stony corals, they don't have these sweeper tentacles so they utilize chemical warfare to keep things at bay.

 

[Brookster123]

Would running carbon in a mixed reef be a must?

 

[Sniperhank]

If heavily stocked and little room to grow as that’ll be what causes corals to wage war for territory.
But with all things, some are more aggressive than others.