limp toadstool

BCReefer

BCReefer

pro stoner, newb reefer
so i've had my toadstool in the same place for about 4 months now, mid tank, lots of light. one day it was just listing over to the side, the next day it was full on bent 180 degrees over. I went to the LFS, his best suggestion was that im lacking iodine. i've heard calcium/magnesium form the skeleton of softies and iodine builds up the muscles.

other parametres shouldnt be an issue, nitrates never stray above 5, phosphates are somewhere between 0.25-0.5, ph hangs around 8.3/8.4, the rest are nil. i have a calcium test kit but it sucks and the LFS wont test it or magnesium or iodine.

would anything else alive in the tank be hurting it? i have a few aiptasia but none of them are close, though ive been warned that they steal nutrients away from the corals. im waiting on a peppermint shrimp from the store to start working on them.

So i've added iodine 3 nights in a row now but its still not coming back. any other ideas? i realise its kinda tough to diagnose without cal/mag/iodine specs but if anyone has something in mind it would be helpful.
 
I dont have any leathers, but I have heard that they will go through a period every once in a while where they shed their outer skin. During that time, they don't look so hot. Maybe that is what is happening.

Also, I wouldn't be dosing anything unless I were testing for it. It is so easy to over dose.

Also, what is your water change schedule? Most elements such as iodine can be maintained doing regular water changes of 10% every week or two.
 
i do about 15% every 2 weeks, sometimes i do it every week. I live in vancouver, our water is very soft, there's ususally not many minerals.
 
Quit dozing your iodine if you do not have, and are not testing what your level is at.
Has it lost any mass in the stock at all, kind of deflated looking? I just moved one in my tank last night that did what yours is doing, however I ripped it off a rock, so it is not happy right now.
 
I agree with everyone else, stop dosing the iodine, your water changes supply enough of everything your tank needs. That's normal behavior of leathers like bj stated, it's just going thru its shedding/growing stage. Give it a few days to start perking back up.
 
I have a few different leathers also and they go happy and sad often. When the lights go out one of them literally closes up like a fist. Another one will lose all its color and look totally dead and a couple hours later totally open polyps out.

I think they are moody
 
Mine seems to shed constantly, and it and my cladiella finger leather both always bunch up at night as well. This is different, the toadstool is literally bent right around and the top is facing the bottom of the tank for like 5 days in a row now. I've propped it up for the last day and the polyps are at least coming out. I'll do a water change today and see if it perks up.
 
cool! the other day it looked all balooned up, like it wasnt expelling as quick as it drank. I have another powerhead in the mail in case he's not getting enough flow. It just seems odd that nothing in particular triggered it and he's acting completely different and not looking healthy at all.
 
so its been like a month now and the toadstool still cant support itself. Everyone except lilfish said it would only last a few days. I would be alright with letting him come back on his own time but it was the home of one of my clowns, now he's bullied his way into the other clown's home in the cladiella and suddenly my only 2 fish that were never territorial/aggressive are starting to fight.

none of my basic chemicals are doing bad (pH 8.2, nitrate less than 5, phosphate 0.25 and old kH kit says 8), so it must be something i dont test for. my calcium test (nutrifin) is horribly inaccurate, so i'm wondering what everyone would advise i test for so i can buy em all at once to save on shipping fees.

i found a site with cheap red sea tests for Ca, Mg and Alk, as well as the supplements for them. I've heard they're decent kits, wondering what you guys think? And what else i should test for; I've heard iodide and strontium are both important for corals.

thanks for any advice :bounce:
 
Trust me, my leather looked like a limp, sad penis for 3 months. Yours is going to be fine, just dont panic. Dont start adding chemicals, that is only going to prolong this.
 
yup. its like he's hit cold water, its shrunk and gotten harder. that's the analogy i've been using too :p
 
maybe i'm missing something but i'm surprised no one has mentioned anything about your phosphates being so high. i'm no expert and perhaps it's just my eyes but when my phosphates get any higher than .09, i start to see changes in a lot of my coral's appearance.

while you are waiting, you might as well test and begin working on lowering your PO4 and see if that helps at all with this predicament.

and the hanna checkers are really convenient to use for calcium and phosphate, especially if you are looking for a reliable way to test those parameters - i find i test diligently now that i have their line up. perhaps give them a go!

g'luck and let us know how things work out!
 
The problem with testing for phosphates is that even the best tests are highly unreliable. Algae is so efficient at uptaking phosphates (its in the water column for on average less than a second) that any phosphates you do have arent likely to be tested and those tests are notorious for giving false readings.

Finally, the toadstool is a soft coral which actually do much better in water that is higher in nitrates and phosphates because they can use them as a food source.
 
little_fish said:
The problem with testing for phosphates is that even the best tests are highly unreliable. Algae is so efficient at uptaking phosphates (its in the water column for on average less than a second) that any phosphates you do have arent likely to be tested and those tests are notorious for giving false readings.

Finally, the toadstool is a soft coral which actually do much better in water that is higher in nitrates and phosphates because they can use them as a food source.
Click to expand...

that's curious. i guess i don't really have that problem. when my phosphates hit .15 i start to see cyano on my bed forming, i do a water change and drop it to 0 and it halts immediately.

thanks for the info on the toad - that makes sense so he probably has more ideal params for that lil guy. you're a smartie!

i guess like everyone else said....wait.

g'luck!
 
Leather corals will sometimes stay closed for several days or shed a waxy film layer as part of their growing process. A little extra flow may help stimulate the leather to open up again.
 

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