Yellow Fiji Leather not opening

[pezcubano]

Last week I added a Yellow Fiji Leather - Sarcophyton species
to my tank and it seemed fine for several days. After a few days the polyps would come out for a few hours at a time. They would come out for a few hours, then dissappear back into the flesh. It was close to an open brain coral, so I moved it, thinking it was getting stung.

Is it normal for these leathers to do this??

 

[Coderabit2]

These guys can be very sensitive being moved or bothered. Mine have taken days before they would open back up.

 

[pezcubano]

I moved mine a little yesterday to get him away from the brain coral that I thought was stingning him, and he is still being pretty fiesty about opening up. He started to open up this morning but then closed up again.

Should I leave him on the sand for the time being (he's actually attached to a small rock thats in the sand?

He's been in the tank for a week now and I want to take the acclimation to the light pretty slowly.

 

[Lotus99]

The yellow Fijis like a lot more light than other leathers. Putting him higher up might help. You should also check your Alk/Cal to make sure they're OK, as leathers can be sensitive to Alk that's out of whack.

Mine seems to only open at certain times. I'm trying to work out why, too.

 

[pezcubano]

My Calcium is fine, but my Alk is way high (15dKh). I'm working on getting it down, but its little by little.
I'm also clearing the phosphates out of my tank by installing a phosphate reactor this weekend.
My parameters are a little out of whack, but all my other corals and fish are doing great. If he doesn't open up today I'll try moving him up in the tank.

 

[Lotus99]

The yellow Fijis are more delicate than others. Try to be careful when moving it that you don't pinch the flesh, etc. It's not so extremely delicate that you can't move it, but use a light touch, whenever possible.

 

[pezcubano]

So I moved the leather up in the tank and its still not opening. It opens and closes multiple times throughout the day, and the polyps rarely show themselves. It does change shape throughout the day, contorting itself, but like I said, the polyps don't really come out.

My Alk is still somewhat high, and that's really the only other thing I can think of. Phosphates are a little high, but I have a Phosphate reactor on its way and I'll be installing soon. All other corals are doing GREAT.
Any ideas?

 

[pezcubano]

OK, so after a couple of days in its new spot, my yellow leather is totally open. It's been open all day!!!
It's looking great!!