Urgent help – Finger Leather

[avflog]

I would like to ask the forums advice on a finger leather which has been perfectly happy in our tank for over 2 years until now. Over the last 4-5 days the finger leather has drooped over and the thickness of the trunk has shrunk by around half its normal thickness.

This morning when I went to check the tank I noticed that it had started to split at the bottom of the trunk and a hole had formed. I have no idea what has caused this rapid decline as all the water parameters are the same as they have been for the past two years.

I have included photos of the coral a month ago and then one taken this morning. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we really don't want to lose this beautiful coral.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

I'm not 100% sure but that hole might be caused by a fungus. Other than that, it could be your lighting(if you changed that recently), or even fish taking swipes at it.

You can frag it by cutting off the drooping piece and seeing if it takes elsewhere in the tank. You might also want to cut that "hole" off of it.

I might be inclined to leave it alone and see if it recovers. If it is some sort of parasite, then a quick low salinity or even a very quick fresh water bath might work. You can also try a very dilute solution of Revive.

I had a similar thing happen to a Kenya Tree of all things.

 

[Mzulu]

I had a finger leather that looked like it was rotting from the bottom up. Still dont know what it was but I took a razor and cut a little above where the damage ended and put that back in my tank. It looks good now and is very healthy.
If you go this way do not expect it to look god for a few days. After that, the only problem I had was getting it to attach to a rock. As a small frag it got blown around alot. Put it in a low flow area or in a cup with small rocks for 5 days to a week and it should attach.

 

[avflog]

Thanks for all the advice so far. When I checked the tank this afternoon the hole had become much worse and one part of the finger leather was falling apart so I decided I had no choice but to attempt to save what was left. I managed to remove the decaying matter and ended up with 4-5 frags which I have now repositioned in the tank.

I had more bad luck this evening when I started feeding and I noticed one of my Chromis had taken a turn for the worst and later died. Less than an hour before he was swimming around fine. It's just been one of those days after having the tank running without a hitch for over two years everything seems to be going wrong the past week. I will post an update on the tank tomorrow. Once again thanks for the advice thus far.