What's going on with my finger leather? (pic)

[StinkinTuna]

What's going on with my finger leather?

I got it about a week ago and after the last water change (a few days ago) it looks like this.

The stalk looks like its shedding but what's worrying me is that there are white and brown areas working its way up (or down in this pic) to the 'fingers' of the leather and there is some die off.

Its hard to see in the pic but the stalk seems to be shedding a rough outer layer and underneath does not look like the stalk did before, but more translucent.

The outer Finger areas are not shedding, just the stalk and finger areas closest to the stalk.

This is day 2 of this. Anyone seen this before.

 

[ACBlinky]

The die-off worries me. Has the leather collapsed? It doesn't look great, but it does look salvageable to me. If the areas of white/brown are disintegrating, it may be best to frag the healthy portion to prevent the disease/decay from progressing further. I'd also make sure the leather has a healthy amount of random flow on it -- sometimes they collapse because they're not getting enough water movement; leathers like a lot more than people sometimes think.

See if you can do some research on coral disease -- I don't know much at all about specific diseases, and this may or may not be a fungus, bacteria, etc. I'm not sure if a dip would help, or just stress the coral, and whether or not you choose to frag is a call only you can make -- it would be very stressful, but sometimes it can save the coral from total decay.

Best of luck, hopefully someone more experienced can chime in and add to this.

 

[StinkinTuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12171202#post12171202 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ACBlinky
The die-off worries me. Has the leather collapsed? It doesn't look great, but it does look salvageable to me.

By collapsed if you mean it no longer stands up straight then yes.... it used to stand up straight and was looking pretty good untill that water change, it was full, is in the upper area of my tank and seemed to be loving the light...

COuld it have just stressed out due to a water change...

The die off is the most worrysome part to me too, if it was just the shedding of the stalk with no die off I would just assume it was shedding.

The quickness of this condition is very strange as well, overnight from doing great to shedding/ with die off

 

[StinkinTuna]

Well here he is this morning, more of the stalk has shed off, the stalk looks thinner and the leather seems more elongated at the stalk.

Some more die off too.... should I cut off the finger areas with die off or let him him be ahwile.

If someone could chime in whose seen this before I'd appreciate it... please help don;t know what to do with him (don;t want to stress him out more but don;t want the die off to spread either.

 

[MushRoomie]

Are you dosing any iodine in the tank or just doing frequent water changes? These leathers need iodine in the water at all times. Try an iodine dip. Also, are there other leathers around it? Sometimes other leathers leak chemicals into the water to stake out their territory. Maybe if there is one near him, try a different location.

 

[bubblevssqueek]

Id suggest fragging the top healthy proportion before what ever it is spreads up the rest of the leather.

 

[kar93]

I may be wrong but im thinking it could be brown jelly?

 

[DidYouSayReefer]

You could try to frag it. I would remove the rest as it will pollute your tank. It looks like you have some serious algae problems going on in the back ground. What ever is causing the algae bloom could be killing your leather. Could be phosphate, PH, nitrate. You should take a look at your chemistry, most likely that is the problem. I don't think there as many coral diseases out there that are killing our corals as people believe. Good Luck!

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

I think I would have taken it out by that point. just my opinion

 

[StinkinTuna]

Thanks for the replies everyone, long story short I went to get the leather to trim off the dead areas and the thing pretty much fell apart in my hands (smelled REALLY REALLY bad too. Ended up tossing him

To answer some of the questions:

- not dosing iodine but am doing weekly water changes of about 10-15%. At least started to before I got the leather.

-Yup had an algea outbreak after my sebae went sexual and starting letting out its business all over the tank (man when they release, they release, frequently and ALOT! Long story but first time it happened to me ,didn't do a water change and havent for a while I think when all the sperm/eggs whatever was coming out and stayed int he tank and started to deteriotate after a week it polluted my tank, had a small crash, lost my frogspawns and had an algae outbreak like you see...since then been doing frequent water changes to get the water back the way it was...thought I was OK and perms look good, but maybe need to take a closer look). The leather was doing good untill my most recent water change...grrrr..

Anyways thanks for the input everyone, leather didn't make it, but tank goes on......

 

[ACBlinky]

So sorry to hear that I hope the rest of the tank is okay, sounds like it's been a bit of an uphill battle.