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How to tell if leather is dead?


vanz

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Ok....how do you know if your leather is dead or not?

 

I have this toadstool leather that has remained dormant for over a year now. He has not grown, but probably shrank to half his original size. He was doing well the couple of years before that. Leathers are like one of the easiest corals to care for, but I dunno what happened...everything else in the tank has been doing good.

 

Oh yeah, I tried yanking him out of the hole has grown in, but he's not letting go.

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Nice Monty Python reference lol

 

I don't know about a year hiatus, but I have a devil's hand leather that has been acting strange so I've been reading up on their behavior and I've heard that they can close up and look waxy for a while for no apparent reason and then open up like nothing happened.

 

I also read that if you have one being really strange and unhappy you can frag it and the frags can be happy even if they mother isn't?? And a less appealing option - is most people who couldn't get their leathers to open again gave them to a friend and for whatever reason it opened there and was problem free...

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I have lost probably two leathers in my time (and seen others lose them). Almost every time they seem to almost fall apart, deflate, and just crumple on the ground.

I have seen that if you move them into a little more flow they seem to perk up a little. Even though its hard to get him out of the hole, I really do recommend changing his spot, it might help.

 

Just my two cents

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Does anyone know where the photosynthetic parts of the coral actually are? It is in the large disk? Is it in the polyps? Are the polyps just for gathering "food?" Someone must have done some research on this.

 

I have had a couple of small leather frags in my tank for almost 1.5 years. They will go through phases where the polyps are out, and phases where they are never out. The coral seems to also have growth related to the polyp extension. When the polyps are out, the coral grows faster. When the polyps are not out, there is little or no growth. Go figure. I am wondering if it is a photosynthesis thing, or a food gathering thing.

 

dsoz

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Does anyone know where the photosynthetic parts of the coral actually are? It is in the large disk? Is it in the polyps? Are the polyps just for gathering "food?" Someone must have done some research on this.

 

I have had a couple of small leather frags in my tank for almost 1.5 years. They will go through phases where the polyps are out, and phases where they are never out. The coral seems to also have growth related to the polyp extension. When the polyps are out, the coral grows faster. When the polyps are not out, there is little or no growth. Go figure. I am wondering if it is a photosynthesis thing, or a food gathering thing.

 

dsoz

 

I don't have an answer, but I know mine never showed a polyp for a very long time. Even before he looked very "dead" no polyps ever came out. After it came back all of a sudden, the polyps still didn't show. It took about 2 months for them to come all the way back in. That leads me to believe that it isn't in the polyps but in the skin on the top side maybe?

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I have a devils hand that was the showcase piece in my 55 gallon...it hates my 110! It seems to be trying to "move down" to the rock below it, its polyps come out, but not completely. There is a small frag of it on another rock, and it is doing great! My big one is mid-way down with a pretty good amout of flow. The small frag is in the same area but on the opposite side of the tank....I just keep waiting.

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It my have to do with location in the tank or changes in lighting, flow, etc. too. I have a sarcophyton that took a couple of months to acclimate and start opening up in my tank. It would get a kind of waxy buildup on it. When I got it into a higher flow area, it really opened up nicely, and the waxy stuff would blow off. Seems much happier in a high flow area.

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