New leather coral

[lando]

I went ahead and got a leather finger coral at the LFS, talked him down to $30 for a nice size one attached to a piece of rock. Got it home and it did not open up and extent the hair like polyps, even after feeding DTs. It started to turn a light brown color and I got worried. Today i noticed the light brown skin was sluffing off of the coral and the hair like polyps were starting to come back out. Is this normal? i thought it could be algea, but I do not have it anyplace else in the tank. Parameters...Amonia and nitrite at zero, nitrate is up a bit at 5, SG is 1.024, temp is 80, ph is 8.2. Everything else in my tank is doing great. Do you think my leather is on the rebound? Thanks...Lando

 

[brndfrb]

THat is complelty normal. He is shedding his mucos skin. He is probably very stressed from the move. Give him a few days he should be fine.

 

[lando]

thanks! That is good news. Should I move it closer to the light or to a place with higher water flow for feeding?

 

[brndfrb]

i would put it about half way up in the tank in pretty good flow not to much though.

 

[jackdp]

Leathers will do this when stressed from the move, and don't be surprised if they do it later on either. Leathers will often shed their outer layer to remove dead cells and detritus.

 

[mrmarine]

you can rub it a little to help the skin off but be gentle and only do this when the polyps are completly rettracted