what's going on with my neon green toadstool?

[Candi]

My toadstool isn't looking so great, it's hasn't extended it's neon green in 3 days (normally this wouldn't be to concerning to me as I know it might be sloughing) however there are areas taht almost appear to be tears on it at the outer edges. My perc decided over a month ago to host it, at first it stayed closed mostly and was obviously distressed but after a few days it was open all the time even with him rolling and laying on it. I'm wondering if his rough behavoir has caused the issues?

This is by far my favorite coral in my 24g aquapod so I want to be sure I do everything/anything I need to in order to save it/keep it healthy.

Here is a pic I just took. Would you just wait and see or would you do a lugol's dip?

[Nagel]

Thats not uncommon in leathers.. I have plenty (300g worth), and I have seen fish cause that damage (tangs, yes TANGS), but in a 24g I doubt thats the issue.

What are your parameters, and whats the flow / lighting like? If its lower flow, that could be necrosis due to accumulating waste. But increasing flow and helping the coral shed its mucuos coat would help.

[Candi]

Should be plenty of flow (plus its where it's always been) I replaced the stock pump in the 24g aquapod with a maxijet 900 and hyrdo, then drilled the false wall and added another maxijet900 with locline Y.

amm/nitrite/nitrate all 0, I'll be honest I haven't tested for anything else in ages, I do weekly 5g water changes using tropic marin which always kept everything exactly where it should be.

[Nagel]

If its just tears and doesn't look to be rotting, or black, then I would leave them alone. If you notice any rotting or discoloration though, I would remove the coral from the tank and slice off the affected area with a very sharp blade. I have a few toadstools that look like yours do, and there's no rotting, but theres regular growth and repair and re-tear.

[tinyreef]

could be the uninvited guest/clown. toadies aren't natural hosts and some never get used to the clown guest.

but the rips/tears/nips on the edges are more likely the issue imo than the clown. i've seen clowns nip coral but usually not thicker corals like a sarco. is there anything else in there that might have nipped/tore the sarco?

as for the wounds themselves, i'd blow clean them with a clean turkey baster and maybe dose a bit of lugols 1-drop per 20g as an antiseptic. check the base and look for anything out of the ordinary. any recent additions or changes? e.g. livestock, rock, equipment, flow direction, temperature, salt, etc.

[Candi]

Still no changes in how it looks. There haven't been any changes to the tank at all, only other fish are a purple firefish and a 6 line wrasse neither of which has ever gone near it. Since it's closed up my clown had left it alone entirely... she's now hosting a large hairy shroom.

I decided to do a dip tonight w/lugols so we'll see if that makes any difference. Really hope I don't lose it, not only is it my favorite but I couldn't afford to replace it if I lost it

How would I know if it was doomed? Besides the few little tears on the edges it looks/feels "normal" just not extending its polyps at all. The stalk/stem looks normal and is still facing upwards towards the light (after dipping it I couldn't get it exactly how it was, had to turn it a bit and it promptly pointed itself back up so that's a good sign right?)

[Candi]

Dip must have helped, no lights are even on yet for the day but it's starting to extend it's polyps

[Candi]

or not...

came back after doing some things once the lights were on and it's back to no polyp extention... maybe the clown saw it was coming back out and harassed it to close again? I don't know... ::sighs::

[wtb_exotics]

mine do that, seems like when I moved it to higher light it did it alot. I left it alone and it came back within a few days. I think it may either be aclimating or absorbing nutrients, because it (they, I have several) keep coming back and growing. just my .02

[tinyreef]

have you done any waterchanges? when in doubt, waterchange out.

how's your chemical filtration, if any?

if you run carbon, change the carbon even if it's ahead of your regular schedule.

if you're not running carbon, try it.

nothing unusual around the toadie? any neighbors that might be bothering it in the tank?

can you get a closeup of the tears? (they look like rot to me, should be cleaned) any parts crumbly or disintegrating when you dipped it?

[Candi]

about 1/2 an hour ago it was starting to extend a bit again, I'm clueless.

I do weekly 5g changes (24g aquapod), did one 2 days ago decided to do another tomorrow for good measure (water is mixing/heating right now)

I use chemi-pure & purigen, purigen is still light colored... chemi-pure is only a month in the tank but I'll replace that tomorrow as well.

Nothing close to it that I think would be bugging it... at least no changes to where everything is and no growth of anything near it.

I can try to get a better closeup later, really not a great camera for this... nothing was crumbly or disintegrating when it was dipped, the tear areas look no different texture/color wise from the rest of it other then they are obviously torn. Whole thing feels same as always.

[tinyreef]

change the chemi-pure but i'd also look into some carbon, more because it's cheaper than a difference of effectiveness between that and the chemi.

a tub of carbon can last a year and cost about two chemis (reuseable pouch/filter bag). i like the ability to just change it weekly (if necessary or for aggressive chemical filtration, which i suspect might be an issue here) without the wallet taking a huge hit.

but i also don't like to change too much at a time so right now, i'd just go with the planned wc and new chemi pack. give it a week and see how it goes.

[GobyJohnKenobi]

Have you run Phosguard or any chemical media that might contain aluminum ever? I ran Phosguard for a while until I learned that it contained aluminum and I saw a post that tested the affects of elevated aluminum on a toadstool. Mine was starting to behave the same way as the test subject. I removed the Phosguard, flushed out the rear chambers of my Biocube and did a big water change. Next day my toadstool looked great. I think I might simplify the chemical filtration to either carbon or Renew.

My toadstool loved to get blasted regularly by my Hydor Flo when I used it. My shrooms did not, so I removed it. Try moving it more into the flow if possible.

Try another dip. I've read that they can handle Lugols dips as long as 4 hours without any problems. But I'm not sure I'd recommend one that long.

[Candi]

Didn't read this until after the water change & chemi-pure change this am... that said it's not fully extended and is still sort of in a weird shape but the polyps are all out, so either the water change or new chemi-pure perked it up some. Thankfully our "nemo" is still hosting the big shroom and giving it a break. I'll look into getting some carbon in bulk to use as well (any certain brand you recommend?)

[tinyreef]

i think there was a in-depth write up in the reefkeeping magazine here on comparing carbon brands (couple of years back?). iirc, AP's (a cheap brand) and marineland's Black Diamond (higher cost) turned in the highest ratings.

coincidentally, those were the two brands i had primarily used over the years. AP for cost and BD not as crumbly. i'd suggest the BD primarily because of the "less crumbly" issue.

you can buy a reuseable filter bag or cheap pantyhose and section off as you need it to hold the carbon. normally, i'd say a change every 2~4 weeks should be fine but in case your present problem is chemical/alleopathic i'd suggest weekly changes of the carbon for a while (month or two). hth

[Scuba Josh]

Does anyone know if Rowaphos granuals is a good brand? I have it in my bio-cube. It says that it made with ferric hydroxide.

[lvreefer]

Originally posted by Scuba Josh
Does anyone know if Rowaphos granuals is a good brand? I have it in my bio-cube. It says that it made with ferric hydroxide.

Rowaphos is considered to be one of the best brands.

[Scuba Josh]

THANKS!!!!!IV

Now if anyone can tell me how to get my pics onto a thread.
I can get them onto RC but cant for the life of me figure out how to get them on to the threads.

[cstires]

My LE Neon Green Toadstool does this on occassion. It's went 3 weeks before extending it's polyps before. I wouldn't worry about it and stop bothering it. The more you mess with it the longer it's going to stay that way, at least that my opinion on the subject...