Leather not doing well

[nick540]

I need advice on my leather it has lost a ot of colour and is notlooking very good. It is a new coral, i got it a week or two ago. Parameters are loooking good so i can not figure it out, here is a pic of its decline:

 

[nick540]

did the pic not work?

 

[gh0st]

It's kinda blurry...

What type of leather did you buy it as, what color did it start as, and what kind of lighting and flow do you have it under.

Water Parameters and temp would also be helpful.

 

[nick540]

sorry about the pic quality. I am not sure of the exact ID as it was a gift. When I first got it it was standing up straight and very bright yellow, now it is drooping and turning white at the tips. My lighting is 50/50 actinics and 10,000K PC a total of 192 watts. The coral is placed near the top of the tank. It is getting moderate to low water flow.
Parameters:
Salinity 1.026
Temp 79F
pH 8.3
Ammonia 0
alkalinity 5.5 ( a bit lower)
cal 420ppm

 

[nick540]

Hope this is better:

 

[gh0st]

Hmmm... had the person you got it from kept it themselves for a while, or did they purchase it and give it to you?

It looks like either a Yellow Finger Leather, or possibly a Yellow Colt or Cladellia.

Any of which may have been artificially died yellow, especially if Colt of Cladellia, although Yellow Finger Leathers are pretty rare as well.

If it has been died, that would explain things pretty well as these corals tend to get very unhappy and lose the artificial color pretty rapidly.

Either way, died or not, possibly increasing water flow, bumping up the Alkalinity a bit, and frequent spot feedings of zooplankton and phtyo should help.

Also, if you can find out what kind of lighting it was kept under that will give you an idea if it is being light stressed. If it was under lower lighting, moving the coral lower in the tank for a while would be a good idea.

 

[nick540]

They got it from the fish store. Yeah i heard some of them can be dyed. I do not know the lighting but i can find out.