sick toadstool leather

[mimiweme]

Hi!
I'm a newbie here. I had a 55 gallon freshwater tank for many many years, then a friend gave me her established saltwater 24gal nanocube about 2 years ago. Because of room restrictions, I gave my 55gallon tank w/fish to a friend and its doing great a her house.
I am really enjoying the saltwater tank, i have:
2 small ocellaris clowns
1 pajama cardinalfish
1 bicolor blenny
1 filefish
1 yellow goby
1 royal gramma
yellow polyps
orange zoanthids
torch coral
green star polyps
pulsating xenia
sun coral
toadstool leather mushroom
All fish are doing great- all corals are doing well except my toadstool- about a week and a half ago the polyp extensions quit coming out and I see some areas of hard white flaking areas around edges. my chems were fine except phos was elevated, and nitrates were 20 , so over 4 days I did 3 PWC, and chems are back okay, but toadstool still has no polyps coming out -any ideas?
looking forward to getting lots of info!

[melosu58]

Leathers will slough every couple weeks. If it continues to act up I would do an Iodine dip.

[mimiweme]

Thanks for the advice, but this is my first time in 2 years that I've had a sick coral, so I don't know what a iodine dip or bath consists of. I've got Kent Marine concentrated iodine that i add weekly to the tank.

[MsBeanCtr]

Ooooh.....I would highly suggest that you not add anything to your tank that you don't test for. Regular pwc's will keep your iodine at the recommended levels.

Leathers are really funny corals. They will look great for several weeks then the next day they look terrible. It's hard, but if you can leave it be for a day or two you might be surprised.

How about a picture of it?

[Innovator]

Melosu is referring to anecdotal iodine dip and not a longterm supplement. Sarcophyton's periodically slough, shedding waste thus making it look rather sickly while not expanding. If there is not enough flow to flush the waste away it can degenerate where the tissue takes on a "cheesy" appearence where obvious necrotic areas flake away. I would first try adding additional flow to keep the coral flushed and the necrotic areas clean. If the condition worsens I would use a razor to cut away the affected tissue and Lugol's (iodine) dip the coral. Depending on the severity, anywhere from 5-20 drops/1 gallon in saltwater from 15min.-2hrs (1hr is a good mid-range).

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by mimiweme

Thanks for the advice, but this is my first time in 2 years that I've had a sick coral, so I don't know what a iodine dip or bath consists of. I've got Kent Marine concentrated iodine that i add weekly to the tank.

Sorry I was in a hurry to get out of the office. James explained it perfectly. I would follow that plan. And yes msbeanctr I was not saying to supplement iodine. IMO PWC`s will add all the iodine you need. I was just bringing up an iodine dip for the coral.

[MsBeanCtr]

Hey! you're the coral guru Melosu......I should have been more clear. What I meant to say was, "mimiweme-you should re-consider dosing iodine unless you test for it." Can't get on your bad side Mike....I need to be able to pick your brain....regularly!

[mimiweme]

Hey- Good News!!! I gently scraped the "cheesy" areas off with a razor blade and did a 15 minute iodide solution dip and within 3 hours of returning it to the tank it began to "grow" its polyps back in several areas and by today (2days) it has "baby" polyps all over its surface except a few tiny areas along edges! i'm so-o-o-o happy- Kudos to all of you who had input-it worked!!! Thanks!!!

[MsBeanCtr]

Great! They are such neat corals........glad it worked out.