leather coral help...

[aqua_aaron]

just recently, I purchased a lime green leather coral rock @ the lfs. It actually had GSP on it as well so i figured I was getting two corals for the price of one anyways, it has been 2 days since I added it, showing signs of dark purple. this purple I soon found was covering the entire top (it's not any algae, but a change in coral color) it looks completely different than it did at the lfs where it was a brilliant lime green. so, what would cause only the top of it to turn purple, while the bottom still shows signs of the lime green color? did I not let it acclimate to the light long enough?

thanks

aqua_aaron

[Aiptasia]

I'm having one go through the exact same thing. First, check the tank parameters and make sure the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates are 0/0/<10ppm.

 

Second, provided it isn't being irritated by runaway nitrates, your leather may show signs of poor acclimation, shock, and darkening. Check and make sure it's not being over exposed to light and that it's not in easy reach of other corals that put out sweeper tentacles at night (frogspawn, bubble coral, etc.).

 

Mine is going through a waxing, sloughing off problem and it seems to like being directly blown with a strong stream of water. This is helping it shed the waxxy, slimy outer coating. It's about 5" in front of a maxi jet 400 and it's turned its "arms" in several positions to wash various parts of itself in the water stream. The water is on a wave maker, so it isn't constantly blasted, just intermittantly (30 seconds or so at a time). The color is lightening from dark purple to pinkish purple and it's inflating better.

 

I think mine had problems associated with light shock. It got deep purple, deflated, and produced an irridescent green color in its surface layer as if trying to defend itself from too much light. It is, however, surviving and adjusting and just now starting to come back. The corralites are pushing up against the waxy layer and the water is strong enough to blow small parts of it off at a time depending on how the coral turns into the stream.

 

I've read up on these sarcophytons, and apparently, the sloughing off response is quite common in this coral. If you can, try to move yours to a low light area of the tank and give it a good strong water flow. I'm also using a coral-vite suppliment with iodide every other day (plus B & C vitamins) by seachem and running a skimmer full blast.

 

If the coral starts to die, the nitrates are going to skyrocket, so keep a careful watch and employ a skimmer if you can. If the nitrates are way up there (above 10 ppm) do water changes and/or use a rechargeable color changing product like seachem's purigen to filter it out.

[tinyreef]

could be shock as suggested and this can only be overcome thru time (if you have a full tank). if it's the only resident than you could change the parameters (raising/lowering lighting, temp., etc.) to ease the transfer. re-location inside the tank sometimes helps if it's a lighting diffential or even water flow diffential.

 

aggressive neighbors or irritating tankmates (e.g. crabs that suddenly find a toadie lounge chair) can also drive a coral to stay retracted and shrunk.

 

some of the coloration could also be from each lighting situation. more actinic, less actinic, more red/yellow spectrum, less, and so on. diet can also affect this but that is more long-term issues.

 

shedding, while common for toadies and leathers isn't a natural occurrence imo. yes, it occurs but imm it occurs more from irritation than a natural reaction such as molting. shedding signals something wrong, whether in the water column (i.e. irritant or cleanliness) or on the coral itself (i.e. detritus or parasite). when i see shedding, it tells me there's an issue to be addressed rather than the coral is going thru normal paces.