Cabbage Leather Not Happy

[NeedBiggerTank]

Ever since we started using Phosguard, my Acan hasn't been "puffing up" (like my avitar pic), so I decided to test this theory by removing the Phosguard from our Eheim. Worked like a charm - Acan is now all puffed up and happy.

However, the cabbage leather is now kinda shriveled up and not extending polyps. It looks sort-of glassy in places. Obviuosly, it isn't happy.

I can put the Phosguard back into the Eheim tomorrow when I clean it - but then the poor Acan will suffer.

Should I find the Acan a new home, or is there another solution? Certainly there is a way to make them both happy?

 

[nightfire]

give it a day or so with out the phosguard to let the corals get used to the water with out it and see what happens.....some corals may like that there is some phospate in the tank and others might not.......though im no expert on corals so others should come along with help though for now if it were me i would let the water flow for a day or so with out it in there and see how things react first before just popping phosguard back in there

 

[fishiegirl]

I have cabbage leather in my tank, and I know when it's really not happy the whole thing shrivels up- and not just kinda. It is very noticeable. Also, it becomes a much darker color, sorta purplish/ grey. When it gets to that point, then I would start to worry a little more. But not to much- when my coral gets like this, usually either something knocks it over so its face down in the gravel, or if I'm moving a frag around and am not as gentle as I should be, it has always bounced back. For now, I agree with nightfire, just give it time to readjust.

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

I removed the Phosguard last weekend - so its been a week already. And yes, it is a darker color - sort of purplish-pink (the way it looks at night when it goes to bed, typically - only it looks this way all the time now).

None of the other corals have shown any changes (Zoas, Toadstool Leather, Candy Cane, Mushrooms, etc.) - except the Acan, who seems really happy.

I'm just wondering if there is another product like the Phosguard that I can use - keeping in mind that I don't have a reactor.

 

[estutesman]

I have had leathers that close up for a while from time to time--even when other leathers in the same tank showed no issues. Usually, they shed after a while and then open back up. Any other notable changes?

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

OK - I have noticed another change. Ya'll are gonna think I'm crazy - but my Toadstool and the nuc. greens and the metalic blue/greens are TALLER. Noticibly taller... is that nutts or what?!? Whats up with that?

 

[nightfire]

any pivs and ya say taller but isnt that what ya want......could be all ya corals there like a bit of phospate but that one coral ya say reacts badly.....maybe just get rid of that one coral

 

[estutesman]

Sometimes leather corals have biological war with one another...I know that is a difficult thing to test/validate. I bet that after a few days, it will open back up. Like I said, I have kept several leathers and it was not uncommon for one to shrivel up for a while when the others looked fine. I even experienced this with two different colonies grown from the same cabbage leather. One would be opened and nice while the other was shriveled up.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would get rid of the Sinularia (cabbage) coral. It's notorious for chemical warfare. Anemones use physical warfare via nematocysts.

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

Would it wage chemical warfare if I put it in my refugium where there are no other corals? Just live rock, 2 nassarius snals, 2 urchins and 2 hermits - and lots of pods...