I'm a butcher. Finger leather?

[Fountainhead]

So I've had this finger leather for a month or so. It was attached to a small hunk of rubble rock. I kept moving the rock trying to find a good spot, but then decided the leather would look good on the side of a tall rock that had no other resting places. So I took the finger leather out and used an xacto to cut it off the rock. A surgeon I'm not, and I admit that it wound up a sort of ragged job. But I've rubber-banded it by the base (or what's left of it) to the side of the rock.

It looks pretty sad. It's gone sort of gray and is completely retracted. Have I killed it? Or would this be a normal reaction to being sliced off your rock by a butcher with an xacto blade? How long, if ever, should it take to look healthy again? If it's not actually dead or dying, how long before it will attach enough to remove the bands?

Or did I completely screw up?

 

[da6d2003]

I think you probably did fine. Just make sure the band is not too tight or it will cut the coral into more pieces. If you have a sandbed, keep it out of the sand until it's healed. Depending on the type of coral it should heal pretty quickly. A few days to a couple of weeks. It should start to look better in just a couple of days though.

 

[fsn77]

Each time I frag our toadstool leather, it looks horrible for at least 3 days. I would say your leather is focusing on healing and holding on to the rock right now.

I'd leave the rubberbands on a couple days (or even a week) beyond the point that you think it's been long enough (as long as they aren't cutting into it). Attempting to remove them too soon could result in accidentally pulling the stalk away from the rock it's trying to attach to and you'll be essentially starting all over again. You could just cut the rubberbands, as it involves less pulling and probably won't stress the coral as much.

Give it some time... no worries.

 

[Fountainhead]

Thanks guys. It's still looking pretty gray, but it's starting to regain some of it's yellow/tan color in some of the fingers. The rubberband is around what's left of the base and doesn't compress the fingers at all. It's just tight enough to hold it to the rock, but doesn't compress it significantly.

I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days.

 

[da6d2003]

Good luck. I've got 12 frags in my tank right now.