help!

[majic051]

When i got my new leather milk coral home i realized it has 2 small holes on the side of its base they look like theyve healed but there is a few spots where it looks like somthing recently ate at it....i did see somethin that looked kinda like a feather duster in the bottom of the rock but havent seen it since.......in my tank i have 1 coral banded shrimp 3 turbo snails and some blue leg hermits .........so my question is what shoudl i do ? will it heal on its own and is there some invert that i can get that would eat whatever is attacking it?

thanks,

[tinyreef]

post a pic of what you're talking about. leathers can sometimes contort to appear like they're 'dented' in one specific little spot. or look like they're growing an arm (and sometimes do). or moving along by growing across the LR like a shroom (very slowly-months/years). or have a real deep hole on the side like a knothole (bad).

 

the feather duster might just be a commensal creature or a leather coral eating slug creature. need a picture

 

also, whaddya mean by leather 'milk' coral? is that what they (lfs) just called it or it looks bleach white?

 

is the leather expanding/extending its polyps? is there little dusty detritus around the leather? long grains/particles that look like rice?

[majic051]

yea the lfs called it a leather milk coral but its not bleached white

 

i cant get a pic

 

no its not extending it polys and yes there is dusty detritus around it

not sure if they look like rice...........the hole looks like a real deep hole on the side like a knot hole and more of it has been eaten

 

thanks,

[tinyreef]

dude, you're effed.

 

well, not really, if you can carve that little coral eating bastich out of there. try to get a razor-sharp pen knife, like those that retract or a scalpel. i usually like to work in a separate bin rather than the tank itself for "surgical" procedures and to keep the coral juice :x out of the water column.

 

i'd cut a horizontal cut about 1/2" deep and the width of the coral stem so that the hole is in the middle. then pull the coral back to reveal the little monster. here's where my stomach starts to retch btw. carve the little fugger out. a plastic spoon along with the blade is very useful. btw i'd suggest you wear plastic gloves or sandwich bags at least.

 

rinse the entire area with tank water treated with a couple drops of lugol's or capfuls of iodine (kent's tech I seems like a diluted lugols to me). vacuum up the detritus and double dose the tank itself with iodine (mfg. recs) for a couple days. the leather should look better in a week ime. hth good luck!

[majic051]

thanks allot.....ill give it a try...btw what would happen if i accidently cut parts of it off? would they die?

 

ill let ya know how it goes..

[tinyreef]

parts of the crown will usually regenerate into a whole new leather coral. the bigger the cutting the higher the probability of survival. parts of the stem are usually harder to coax into regeneration ime but can also accomplish the feat.

 

i hesitate to recommend a complete chop of the area to limit traumatizing the coral (and coral owner) that much more. if you're lucky you might even sprout a new crown where the cut occurs (maybe, very maybe). i'd tilt the cut upwards toward the light. this accomplishes two things, first forces the coral to bend toward the light and shut close the wound itself and may coax another crown to grow there.

 

also i would put a light current on the coral. (1"~2"/sec.) good luck!