Is my toadstool dying?

[MalawiMd]

I just bought a finger leather and a toodstool together on one rock. The guy at the LFS said I could put them up at the top of the tank right away. My tank has 2 - 250 Watt MH and 4 NO flourecents. Since I put them in yesterday, I think they may have sagged a little. I don't know if this is normal or if I am burning them up.

Can anyone help?

~Aaron

[Nagel]

Hey Aaron,

First, a toadstool and a finger leather are leathers, aka soft corals and not LPS... Just so you know..

As far as them being "saggy" or "deflated", thats quite normal for leathers. My finger leather deflates nightly, and inflates every day. The first time I bought these I freaked out because I thought I did something wrong, but soon came to realize that this is quite normal for them...

Also, make sure there is enough current near them. They will sometimes slough off their outer skin to remove wastes / algeas, and they need the current in order to facilitate this process.

Check your corals out in the daylight period in a few days, I am willing to bet that they will look more normal after a few days acclimating to your system.

As far as bright lighting is concerned, these corals can tolerate a pretty wide range, from medium-low lighting to intense lighting, and 250's and an IceCap aren't really intense, I would classify them more in the bright light then intense lighting category. My toadstools have been kept under everything from 175MH to 400 MH and done fine, sometimes they just need to acclimate a bit.

HTH