New Leather Coral

[MarkW19]

Well, I got my first coral the other day. It was a cultivated toadstool leather, a double one. In the store, one was yellow and one was orange.

I drip acclimated them over 2 hours, and then placed them in the tank (this was on Friday). They didn't look good at first, polyps retracted, sunk down, white patches developing. But after a few hours, the right coral (orange one) expanded and opened its polyps. But the left coral changed colour from yellow to green!

Now, 2/3 days later, I've noticed a trend:- When I get up in the morning, the yellow/green coral has its polyps out, but by lunchtime they're back in and stay in all day until the next (early) morning.

The right one brings its polyps in and out throughout the day, regardless of the lighting, but mostly keeps them out.

Any ideas?

[lando]

I would give it some more time. Corals require several days to settle into a new home.

[MarkW19]

OK no probs I've woken up this morning to find BOTH corals shrunk down, polyps retracted, and slight white patches. Usually the orange coral has it's polyps out in the morning.

How often should the polyps be out on a healthy leather? And do they usually go in when lights are off?

EDIT: The polyps on the orange leather stayed in all morning (lights off) and also for the hour with just the actinic on, but when the 2 whites also came on, an hour or two later it expanded again and most of its polyps are now medium-fully expanded.

Again, the left green/yellow coral has shrunk down with its polyps not extended!

[Devilishturtles]

I agree with lando, give them some time to adjust. Leathers are especially finicky and as it adapts to your tank it should show it's polyps a little more often.

Also, don't be surprised if you see your coral looking almost dead one day. Leathers periodically "shed" off tissue. This is how they grow, kinda like when an invert molts.

HTH.

[MarkW19]

Yeah I've seen it shed little bits of tissue the other day!

The orange one looks awesome right now, but the "green" (yellow!) one still really bad.

Also the orange one doesn't like my hermit crabs crawling on it! It's happened twice now, and its polyps go straight in and it sinks down :p

Fun to watch though! It's my first coral, so quite exciting really. I never thought I'd be so interested in corals, but whenever I go into the room my tank is in now, instead of checking if my fish have jumped out (my tank is open-top), I see how my new coral is looking!

I'm going to get another one or two small ones tomorrow and put them at different parts of the tank. In future, will it cause them massive stress if I move them and fix them onto the rock with Aquaspace putty, when/if I figure out exactly where to put them all after they've settled in a bit?

[Devilishturtles]

Nope, won't hurt at all to move them.

Best of luck.

[MarkW19]

Thanks guys

I'll keep my eye on the double leather. It's not looking good for the left one though, particularly as the right one looks so healthy! It looked really good in the store as well.

As you suggested, I'll not sweat for another few days :p

[MarkW19]

Well, the double leather hasn't opened for 3 days now, neither of them They've also paled in colour and appear quite white. I've moved it further up the tank towards the light, but no different.

In contrast, I purchased another similar leather just yesterday, and it was open within 15 minutes of putting in the tank (after acclimation), and looks very healthy, fully open again today.

Have do I know when its died, and it's time to take it out?

[MarkW19]

Well, I'm pleased to say that my double leather has now shed its "skin", and is looking a lot more promising!

However, my other leather which looked amazing for the first 2 days, now looks terrible! Part of it refusing to open, black parts on it, sort of bending itself in...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidw49/1950497143/

Can anyone help please?

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds like it is shedding itself. Leathers are soooo very tempermental, but are very hardy. Again, I'd give it a couple days to see if it perks up, and it should.

As far as when you know it's dead, I am not entirely sure with leathers, but I would guess that when you see it start to disentigrate and fall apart, that is when it will be dead.

HTH