Leather coral & Gorg tank help - running out of ideas.

[RustyRocket]

Think it’s about time to ask some experts.

Ive rescaped my tank from first picture to second. Basically sorted softies on main rock structure on right. Gorgs on the smaller left.

Two days into the new rescape, all the leathers starts clamming up, retracted and shedding continuously. I’ve never had them all go through it at once and for this long (2+ weeks)

 

Some leathers and gorgs are now touching con-species. I know it’s said leathers release toxins with neighbors too close. But from previous experience and examples like Mike C’s softies tank, touching has never caused such a reaction. This is the third week in and situation hasn’t turned up and infact I’m now facing heavy hair algae bloom possibly from the organic materials from the shedding. Algae is taking over the gorgs and I have lost about 30% tissue on them so far.

 

As it’s all the leathers (apart from 1 bruiser of toadstool, I figure it might be copper or some irritant I’ve since done three 10gallon water changes and chucked in a bag of carbon and Purigen in the rear chamber to no prevail. This is the 3rd week and situation isn’t looking good.

 

Tank details:

Fusion 30L with displacement about 22gallon of water. Running for stock with just a heater and relying on water changes for 3 years (bought tank on Black Friday sales 2014). 2 clowns, 1 Six line, 1 tail spot blenny. No known motile inverts.

 

last 2 water tests with API Reef kit

11/9/2017

After water change:

Calcium - 380ppm

Alkalinity - 11.5dkh 

Phosphate - 0ppm

Nitrate - 5ppm

 

11/14/2017

Before water change:

Calcium - 380ppm

Alkalinity - 9dkh 

Phosphate - 0.25ppm

Nitrate - 10ppm

 

I like to think I know my tank well and is not a total beginner at reefing...but I’m out of ideas. I know leathers can generally clam up for about 4-5weeks without irreversible effects. I don’t want to rescape or restart the tank for the fear of adding more stress, but will do so in last resort. Any ideas?

[MainelyReefer]

Not much leather experience, the one I have is finicky and closes randomly over the years.  With the gorgonians as long as you can't see skeleton they should make it.  In my 40 I keep 5 species of carribean photosynthetic gorgonians and they love to catch the hair algae that annoyingly tumbles in my tank after overgrowing.  This has been an on/off occurrence and the gorgs always regrow where the algae claimed.  I think your doing all you can do with WC's and carbon filtration.  Do you run a skimmer? Is it pulling good skimmate from all this action?  Tank looks incredible anyways!

[RustyRocket]

Thanks for the input and compliment.

The gorgs are showing skeleton unfortunately. And hair algae is just clinging to those bare patches. Lucky no tissue lost in the center stem so they should recover once I figure out what this is. Are they known to release toxins if they are touching as well? I’m thinking it could be something the gorgs are doing. Or maybe it’s just old tank syndrome.

 

No skimmer for me, it’s only a 30gallon and I’m fairly good with water changes so no sense in having one.

 

Anyone else have ideas? Am I overlooking anything?

[Clown79]

When leathers are touched and moved they close up, wax over, and go limp. This is normal. They simply are pissed off at the change.

 

They are acclimating to their new home. It can take anywhere from a few days to weeks.

[RustyRocket]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

When leathers are touched and moved they close up, wax over, and go limp. This is normal. They simply are pissed off at the change.

 

They are acclimating to their new home. It can take anywhere from a few days to weeks.

Yeah that might be the case, and it is my first major rescaping of this tank, so you are right about the corals adjusting to their new homes. I’ll give it another week or 2 before to see if there’s any turn for the better.

[RustyRocket]

Any recommendation of what to do with the algae on the gorg skeleton? They don’t come off very easily.

[conradj5]

I tend to just clip the branches when there's algae growth. You can try to brush it off with a tooth brush, but I find that gorgs grow fast enough that it isn't always worth the effort.

[Felicia]

With the algae growth on the gorgonians, I'd recommend snipping off the dead sections of skeleton.  Its very hard to remove the algae from dead gorgonian skeleton and it gives the algae a place to attach and grow, and then the algae can move onto the healthy flesh and irritate it.  I always snip off all dead areas so only healthy flesh is left and that seems to help gorgonians recover much better from any tissue death.  If there is any algae on the flesh of the gorgonians, I'd recommend gently rubbing it off with your fingers and/or blasting it off with a turkey baster.

 

For the leathers, they look healthy, they just seem a bit irritated.  They're still big and puffy, not deflated or shriveled, so I wouldn't worry too much.  I'd keep up with water changes and make sure your water parameters are acceptable.  Running a decent amount of carbon is probably a good idea since leathers release toxins.  I'd also make sure you have enough flow to encourage the leathers to shed properly and not develop any algae growth on their surface, which can irritate them.  I'd maybe use a turkey baster to make sure all of them are clean of debris and algae.

[RustyRocket]

Update to another 2 weeks in. 

 

No sign of getting better or worst. Sacrophyton leathers are still not opening up. There’s an increase in Diatoms on the sand bed. A Torch coral died and on the skeleton was a few large white flatworms...

 

Starting to think there’s something like a pest in the tank. Will keep up with weekly 40% water changes. 

 

Excuse the photo quality, just a quick snap from the phone instead.

[RustyRocket]

Final update, 9 weeks in. Only now has the leathers settled in their new location. Not 100% yet but polyps are out. They still haven’t quite figured the way the way they want to extend.

 

Things done:

To close out, I have kept up the 30% (10 gallon) water changes per week, increased the BRS carbon and GFO. And increased the flow.

I have the confidence to put the rest of my quarantined corals into the main tank.

 

Lesson learnt:

No harm to leather despite 8weeks of closing. Heavy shedding increases nutrients of the tank somewhat, leading to algae. 

 

Things unknown still:

Unsure if the presence of new leathers around each coral triggered the toxin response or not. And whether the toxins contributed to the extra shedding.
The bleached nepthea coral on the front right under the corkyfinger gained back its color significantly during these 9 weeks as oppose to the 4 months prior, could be coincidence. 

 

Hope this helps anyone whose worried about their leathers. If not, at least a good reference.

[Clown79]

Leathers can be very grumpy and for long periods.

 

I have one I added to my tank that stayed closed for almost 3 weeks, it was fine just peeved off from being moved. 

 

An easy coral thats moody.?

 

The toxins from multiple leathers shedding at once, I would imagine would cause some issues. 

I think using carbon regularly when housing leathers is a good method of control.

 

When my leathers wax over, I try to help break up the wax by turkey basting them but I do this once it starts shedding naturally.

 

I try blowing the material into the filter so it doesn't land on anyone. 

 

Your tank is looking very good!