Toadstool Leather

[brndfrb]

I got a todstool leather last night and when we saw it in the tank at the LFS it looked perfect. Standiing straight up and everything. Well last night when i put it in the tank It is layin over almost in half. Is this just becaaue it is in shock? All of the little polyps are out on it. But it is laying down

Thanks

 

[fishfreek]

Its very possible this id due to the move. Soft bodied corals like the toadstool will fill their body up with tank water to give themsome regidity. And during the move the coral probably expelled a decent amount of this fluid.

It should perk up over the next day or so. One thing is to note the water flow pattern around it. Is this coral in a direct stream of current? I would classify toadstools as doing best under moderate water flow vs heavy current.

 

[brndfrb]

it is in moderate flow. But since the polyps are out that is a good sign right?

 

[cj10488]

yes that would be a good sign.. At night you will notice when they go to "sleep" the will shrink up and possibly lay down.. About an hour or so before the lights come on you will notice him getting up to stand tall... Mine shrinks down to about 2 or 3" at night and is well over 8" during the day.. Its becoming time where I think I am going to chop him up and spread him as by x-mas he will most likely be out of the tank.. BTW it will take a few days or so before he looks like he did in the LFS... Very Interesting softie...

HTH,
James

 

[brndfrb]

I was talking to someone at a lfs and he was saying that you can frag them very easily. I don't know anything about fragging and i was wondering if anyone could tel me about it or give me a website on how you do it. thanks

 

[cj10488]

Actually fragging them from what I have read is extremely easy.. As in off with the head and cut it like a pizza and place it in the sand or use wedding veil to hold it to rocks.. Here is a website that I was given when I asked the Question

http://hangarspace.co.uk/chrisreef/chris_reef_propsarc.htm

http://www.reefsuk.com/CoralPropagation/Articles/PropFAQ.htm

HTh,
James

 

[RogerMcAllen]

There is an article about it here in the articles section.

 

[fishfreek]

To frag a toadstool you can just cut it into 4 even sections like your cutting a cake.

 

[Michel]

You can also visit www.garf.org they have a video showing how to frag and all kind of info on corals