Crown Leather trouble

[lumpy]

So about 3 days ago I looked in my tank and noticed that my crown leather had all its little polyps retracted and seemed kinda closed up. As I watched it I was able to identify what I thought was a flat worm. So I mixed up some dip and dipped the leather. The leather still has not opened up or raised its polyps. Yeasterday I looked in and there appeared to be a very thin layer of skin that was pulling off of the top of the leather. How worried should I be?

Also what is the best way to irradicate flatworms from a tank?

 

[Ted]

Flatworm exit. Follow the directions but you can use more of the dosage. I used about double. Then repeated in a week.

 

[little_fish]

The skin coming off is normal, that is part of the growing process for leathers

 

[lumpy]

O. Awesome!! Thanks little_fish.

Thanks to you too Ted. I'll have to see if the LFS carries it. Else pick some up online.

 

[Bifferwine]

Leathers shed periodically. During this time, they slump over and look like crap. But they will perk back up after a few days to a week.

 

[algy1943]

Leathers shed periodically. During this time, they slump over and look like crap. But they will perk back up after a few days to a week.

Sarah, my large leather toadstool has still not opened, I have tried it on the sand , on top of the rock which is around 12" from the top of the tank, it is now half way up 6" from the bottom and 18" trom the top and it still won't open , what is wrong with it nitrates are normal but phosphates still bit high according to the API test done today :frustrat:

 

[FishyReef]

Algy, what kind of lighting do you have for it? When was the last time you moved it?

 

[algy1943]

Algy, what kind of lighting do you have for it? When was the last time you moved it?

my lighting is the LED Kr92 which Ive had for 18 months the toadstool was purchased on 21/09/12 and it looked a beautiful specimen fully opened and about 6" across the top,my tank is 24" deep and the LED lighting is about 8" above the tank, the Live rock is about 9/12 high, the leather was placed on the top initially for a few days and when it failed to open it was moved to the bottom on the sand again it failed to open so it has now been shifted to about 6" up from the sand, it has not opened at all yet and it was a beautiful specimen when i saw it where i buy my coral , it looks like it is trying to shed its skin , so where do you suggest is the best position for the toadstool :frustrat:

 

[FishyReef]

You always need to light acclimate corals, start them on your sandbed where they should stay for a few weeks and then slowly move them higher up in the tank into the place you'd like them. Try placing it on your sandbed and leaving it there - its probably stressed from all of the moving and may have closed up initially from being too high in the tank under your LEDs, which are likely stronger than the lights it was under at the store.

Also, what do your other parameters look like? Alk, calc, mag, pH?

 

[algy1943]

You always need to light acclimate corals, start them on your sandbed where they should stay for a few weeks and then slowly move them higher up in the tank into the place you'd like them. Try placing it on your sandbed and leaving it there - its probably stressed from all of the moving and may have closed up initially from being too high in the tank under your LEDs, which are likely stronger than the lights it was under at the store.

Also, what do your other parameters look like? Alk, calc, mag, pH?

So basically do you think that the leather does not like the strong LEDs , my parameters are all normal except the phosphate which is high , I've been using No3:Po4 X that was recommend by where I buy corals from but as I've said before the different makes of water test kits give different readings the Salifert gives me a very low reading but the Hagen and the API both give high readings , I have moved it again down to the sand bed , think it was happier there, we will see

 

[FishyReef]

I think ALL corals need time to adjust to new lighting, and then need to be placed in a location consistent with their lighting and flow needs. I personally don't have any leathers in my tank so cannot adequately advise you on whether leathers prefer high, medium, or low lighting, or what type of flow they need for their ultimate long term placement. I'd strongly suggest doing some research to find out what type of long-term placement is going to be best for it. But generally speaking, ALL corals should be started on your sand bed and allowed to acclimate to your lights for at least a week or so before you slowly move them higher up into a permanent location. And keep in mind that 3w LEDs tend to be very strong especially if you don't have a dimmer function on the lighting unit (I don't know if your particular fixture uses 3w LEDs, but I presume it does as the 1w stunner strips usually aren't enough to support corals). If your LFS was keeping the coral under a different type of light (and they likely were), then your coral is going to need some extra time to adjust to your lighting. There are a variety of ways you can do this - starting on the sandbed is the most common method, but others include shortening your light cycle substantially and then slowly increasing it (like 15 minutes every week until you get back to your normal time - though personally I think this would be stressful for other corals in your tank), or cutting pieces of screen material and layering them on top of your tank in the location of your coral to block the light and then removing one piece every week. Light acclimation is very important to coral survival regardless of whether you have LEDs or not. Finally, if you own a PAR meter, then another option is to take the meter to the LFS and measure the PAR in the tank where the coral was placed, and then find a spot in your tank with that same PAR to place your coral.