kevnkev Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I was just about to post the following message: I have a leather coral (~id'd as devil's hand, or Lobophytum) mother colony that has spent the last couple of days looking really unhappy - a little like this one. I'm hoping maybe someone knows how to make leathers happy again (prozac in the fish food?). All of its polyps are withdrawn, it's looking kind of yellowed (usually more of a pink-beige) and secreting thin sheets of mucus. I would think poor water conditions, but no parameters are off, and there are lots of smaller colonies (~1cm-5cm across) that the mother has dropped off over the last few months that are doing absolutely fine. It has gone through bouts of polyp withdrawal in the past, but never for longer than a day at a time. Has anyone else experienced something like this before? How can I help her out? But then I didn't get the chance to post immediately. I went home and, lo and behold! the leather coral is back to normal, polyps extended, looking just like before, with the last remnants of mucus sheets just peeling away. So my question has changed - Does anyone know if leather corals molt or shed? Does anything in particular set this kind of thing off, or is it a regular once-a-year phenomenon? Normal behavior, or a symptom of some deeper problem? Here's a picture just as she started improving. You can see the peeling skin / mucus on the left, and some of the smaller colonies looking like they should on the right. Thanks for any advise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Im not sure what exactly they do and why. I seen a devils hand do this same thing for 2 weeks and was getting ready to pull it out of the tank and the next day the polyps were back out again. I think this is some kind of growing cycle or stage for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschwarz Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 i have a toad stool that dose this every few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefSafari Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Yeah, my leathers do that too, from what I have read (various places) is they tend to do it when they are growing, They shed thier skin so to speak, It seems to be a very common thing for leathers to shut down and then shed this mucusy skin, and once the skin sloughs off, its polyps will come back out. As far as timing, I would say everyone is probably going to expereince different things, some systems (ie lighting, flow, ec..ect.) will grow leathers like crazy, so they probably will expereince this type of thing more often, I have never read anything about how often they do it, just that they do it and its normal. Good to hear it its back to normal....Cool looking leather by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Agreed, its part of them growing. When I had my devils finger I would use the turkey baster and blow that stuff off, it just seemed to speed up the process- Leathers are almost buyllet proof, if you can kill one it might be time to sell the tank (laugh) Just kidding to anyone who has killed one-Breathe people Like your sig Safari-LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Mine does that too. I was pretty freaked out the first time, but now I don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 My devils hand has done it before. Another time it turned black, shrunk and looked dead. I waited 2 days then it came back even bigger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevnkev Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Thanks for all your replies - it's a big relief to know it's a normal and common thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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