Help please! 15 yr old fancy toadstool problem

[Tango451]

I have had this leather for about 15 years and have never had a problem with it. When I came home today, it was closed (not shriveled up or small or anything, but all the polyps were retracted) and it had a hole. I used a turkey baster to push water into the hole to clean it out and it did.

Does anyone know what this hole is? Did something in the tank bite it and make this hole? Can this potentially cause him to become not healthy? Is there anything I need to do or is this just normal and something I have never noticed before?:uhoh2:


There are also two smaller holes next to the larger one.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

not sure of the cause, but i had a toad do the same thing…

i am pretty sure it impart of the toads natural splitting process…not sure if they split from stress or if it was caused from something rotting on it.

mine split into three pieces…all were fine till they succumb to death by chalice.

 

[Tango451]

So do you think it is definitely going to split/ is there something to do to prevent it from splitting? The hole is dead center. I really hope it doesn't, just because it is my favorite part of my tank.

(And I cleaned out the hole again. Should I keep doing this?)

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Congradulations! The hole means it's a male leather. This is good news! This means it won't get any bigger. The females get massive! So yours has reached his max size.
The other news is also good, the hole means he is reproducing. He will start dropping babies.
No there is no way to prevent it.
No you do not have to keep cleaning the hole, but it doesn't hurt either.
If you do not want to keep the babies, I'd suggest laying down pieces of tile before the babies drop. It will make them easier to remove or sell.
You've got a good looking leather!
Ps. It takes a long time to split. So don't be too worried about a mass of leathers.

 

[Tango451]

Wow that's really cool! I never knew how to differentiate male and female toadstools. I don't mind the babies at all, just would be sad if he got smaller- but I'm glad it is slow. So any toad stool that drops babies is a male? And the females just keep growing?

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

on a side note my splitting wasn't slow, it happened i would say over a matter of a week or so…once the hole started to open it went in a couple days…but it did take the week or so to get there...

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

I never knew there were male and female Toadstools either, till I found a hole in mind and went crazy researching. That's interesting, NanoreefWanabe, that yours was so fast. Mine has had a hole for months. Maybe it depends on various environmental conditions? Is yours big? Mine is 10-12".
The article I read said males get about 10" but females grow to 24".
Can you imagine that size Toad in your tank?! A two foot Toadstool!

 

[Daniel62]

Great info on the Male/Female. I have a male and he drops babies all the time, but has not gotten any bigger. Thanks for the info