my leather is rotting? whats wrong?

[shameonatrigger]

Hi. I recently inherited a bunch of coral from a fiend and one of them was a leather. Not exactly sure what kind of leather it is. It was perfectly healthy when i got it but my calcium and alkalinity where really high. The coral started developing this yellow discoloration at its tips and in a couple "arm pits" when the branches split off. I fixed my water quality issue over a month ago and all water parameters are in check. I performed surgery and removed the affected areas with a razor. The problem went away for a few weeks but has returned a month later. Its like a yellow discoloration of the "branches" of the coral and it appears to be rotting it away. Today i noticeed that it had "rotted" away so much of a branch that it has almost falllen off. There doesnt appear to be any small parasites eating at it and there are no obvious signs. The leather is exposed to substantial current so it isnt that... Does anybody have any idea what might be causing this? For the most part it only affects the tips and "arm pits" of the leather. Please excuse the crappy picture, taken from my cell phone shortly after the halide shut off (which is why the polyps arent out). When the lights are on the leather fully expands and all polyps come out (except for affected ones). Any ideas?

 

[shameonatrigger]

***friend. (but he was a coral fiend)

 

[AGYDAL]

What type of flow do you have?

 

[shameonatrigger]

two 800gph powerheads (pointed towards the surface) on opposite sides of a 72 bowfront with a 500gph return pump. plenty of indirect circulation. definitely not a circulation issue. water parameters are all perfect. ph8.3 calc 450 ish. i think the alkalinity is 160. barely measurable nitrates and no nitrites. i dont think i have overdosed any other chemicals. im thinking its a bacteria or some evil thing lurking in the tank. but i would be happy if i was just missing some essential chemical in the water. the leather looks perfectly healthy when all lights are on. the discoloration is still present but even the piece rotting off will pop out a few polyps. it used to have a yellow discoloration along the main stalk but that has healed. I removed a 1" piece last week because it was rotting off like the one in the picture and now another (the one in the pic) has rotted off rapidly.

 

[AGYDAL]

Have you read about/considered/tried an iodine dip? That could help if its bacterial.

 

[shameonatrigger]

ive been thinking about doing a dip. i have added iodine after each surgery i have performed but havnt researched my dip options. ill get on that. thanks

 

[lgtentacle]

Looks bacterial. If it was turning black then it would be more of an issue. AGYDAL called it correctly, do an iodine or a freshwater dip. The leather will probably stay closed and shed after the dip, so don't be worried about it not opening up for a few days. Even the pieces that are falling off can be saved and grown back out into another leather coral. Make sure that food doesn't sit in the pockets of the coral and rots since that is a common problem associated with this type of infection. Don't go nuts with the level of iodine in the tank since that can break down the corals tissues as well. All things in moderation.

Also, it looks like you have a hammer coral (maybe a torch, hard to tell from the picture) which may be close enough to sting the leather with it's sweeper tentacles. You might want to move the leather farther away in case that is causing a problem.