Is this leather dieing?

[ellisz]

Check out these pics. leather2 is right after I got it about 2 weeks ago. sickleather is from today.

3-4 days ago it stopped extending its polyps. I noticed what I thought to be a nasty looking critter on the base so I attempted to dip the base in fresh water. It was looked worse since then. Can this be saved or should I remove it? Or do you wait until the scavengers start to remove it?

BTW, I never did get any critter of it either

Thanks

 

[steve-s]

Corals really shouldn't be dipped in FW if you can help it. I would get a proper coral dip med to be safe. If you cannot get the "critter" out, you can try cutting out the affected area. Basically fragging the unaffected areas away from the base.

The condition you are seeing is sloughing. Corals will do this when irrited easily enough. Once the pest is removed and the water quality is up to par, it should recover well enough.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ellisz]

The critter was in the rock at the base not actually on the coral itself. I did have to have the coral out of water though.

The leather is defalting at night and inflating during the day so I guess that is a good sign? The polyps just don't look normal.

I will look into the dip med.

 

[steve-s]

The critter was in the rock at the base not actually on the coral itself. I did have to have the coral out of water though.

Being out of the water for short spurts will not harm this coral. Unless you can ID the critter, it's best to remove it. Even though it may appear to be housed up in the base the corals attached to, many parasites can easily bore through to the coral and cause damage from within.

The leather is defalting at night and inflating during the day so I guess that is a good sign? The polyps just don't look normal.

That is actually normal for the coral as a response to light stimulous. The lack of daytime polyp extension could be from several factors but I would start with the most obvious, the critter. Other possibilities are nearby corals, water flow, lighting and water specs. Being a new coral there is a certain amount of time for adjustment but after 2 weeks, it should be doing a bit better than this.

Chers
Steve

 

[ellisz]

Thanks Steve! You are always helpful.

I will keep an eye out for the critter. I have a new mantis I believe but I really don't think it would hurt the coral. It looked to be something with a pincher but not necessarily a crab.

The polyps actually look better today.

I will get a coral dip and see what I can do about the pests.

Thanks alot. This was to be one nice coral and it was the most expensive I have tried differnt spots in the tank but all my other leathers are doing great.