Toadstool problem...any ideas?

[maitai123]

Hi everyone,

Last week I put a fairly large Toadstool leather in my 300 gallon tank. I put him in a corner, all by himself on the sand bed and shaded him from direct MH light exposure. He is getting diffused VHO white and actinic light.

The current in that part of my tank is extremely low by design. It has been 7 days now and he is still looking quite poorly. No tentacle extension, nothing. He has a very slight slime coating on him, but nothing major. He is brown, with hints of green, but it does not appear to be rotting.

My other corals and a large Toadstool Coral in the same tank, 9 feet away from him are doing fantastic.

Any ideas what I should do to help "revive" him?

1. Should I use a micro pump to give him a bit of water movement, using my red sea wave maker?

2. Should I cut back all the light in his location, so he only gets daylight?

3. Should I move him to a location in the tank that has full flow and light?

4. Should I simply leave him, as 7 days is no real problem, and he will come around eventually?

Thanks for your suggestions folks.

 

[fsn77]

Personally, I'd increase the amount of indirect flow it receives. Otherwise, I'd try to leave it alone as a week is a very short period of time in the life of a toadstool leather. Our first one took almost a week to open, then shed, and kept shedding every 5 days for about a month. Now, I find myself cutting frags off of it every couple of weeks to keep it from getting overly large.

 

[lemadl]

Ok, thanks fsn77.....I wait a few more days to see what develops.

 

[michaeldaly]

Leathers seem to like a reasonable amount of flow, they can also close up for extended periods. I once moved a devils finger coral of mine to a different area in my tank and the coral closed up and refused to open for over 3 months. It is now back to normal and doing great.

 

[Aseidman]

i had the sam eissue.. in my case it seems my lights were shot> When I put a new bulb on the tank it was restored to its original granduer. How old are your lights ?

 

[maitai123]

My lights are brand new, only 4 weeks old.

2 pairs of VHO (run 12 hours per day)
3 250w, MH (run 4 hourss per day)...I know its not enough, but am acclimating a few new corals in the tank. They normally run 8 hours per day.

 

[michaeldaly]

You could have too much light for the leather if it is directly under one of those bulbs.