Dying Leather

[jimfairchild]

Hi Eric,

I wonder if you may have some suggestions for our
sarcophyton trocheliophorara. We bought our Leather on January 11 and ever since we have seen our $50 prize possession grow down to a nickel size.

Its crown is a minute size of itself in January. As you will see it’s base or stalk looks horrible. Could this deterioration be causing a purplish slime on the rocks below? Hopefully tomorrow I will have a web page you could access to see pictures... I would send an attachment but tried that in your browser and it wouldn't work.

Our LFS told us to purchase and use Seachem’s Iodine Bi-weekly and he will recover. We think he is worse... I could send an attachment to an your address...?
Thank you;

Respectfully,
Jim and Marie Fairchild
jimfairchild@htctech.net

[jimfairchild]

http:// http://

This ain't worken....

[aquababy]

Without more information, water parameters etc. it would be difficult to tell but one thing you mentioned leaves perhaps a clue - "purplish slime". This sounds like cynaobacteria. This form of algae usually grows when poor conditions exist in your tank. High Phosphates and Nitrates are most often the reason along with but not limited to poor water flow. Leather corals need a decent flow to aid discharging wastes as well as good water chemistry including Calcium and Alkalinity. Check all these things to see if improvements can be made. Also check the leather for any parasite/s that might be feeding off of it. Could be a small crab etc. If you find one remove it - they are usually hard to see because they match color with their host. I hope you can save your leather.

[clown2be]

we need current test results! I love softies. not to brag but i don't think i could kill one of these things if i tried. I have moved mine so many times and touched, changed water cond hi and low and still grow. look for parasite.

[jimfairchild]

Hi Aquababy,
Thank you for your reply...
Parameters:
pH 8.13
S/G 1.024
Nitrates 15
Ammo 0
Nitrites 0
T/A 4.80
Ca 450
d/kh 13.4

We did speak with another LFS yesterday afternoon and he agreed with you.. cynaobacteria, so tonight we added our second dose of UltraLife Red Slime Remover. Tomorrow we will do a water change. Not sure if we will dose again tomorrow. Doesn't seem to have helped so far.

The Leather set on a rock about 8 inches under a bio-wheel with charcoal removed for now.. but usually run charcoal all the time to help keep the ph up over 8.0.... Then we have a titanium heater range is from 76.1 to 76.9, a titianum grounding rod and finally an Aqua C Ramora skimmer.

Hope this helps aquababy..
Regards,
jimfairchild@htctech.net

[wakesetter]

if you have to run carbon to keep the pH over 8.0 it sounds like you have problems to me. The pH should stay above that without carbon. IMO the temp is a little low, but I doubt that would contribute to a shrinking coral. Try reducing your Nitrates with water changes and getting a phosphate reading as well.

[MiddletonMark]

Hi Jim -

I'd agree with wakesetter ... if during daytime pH hangs below 8.0 all the time, I'd check into it [maybe ask Randy in the Chem. Forum?].

I'd also ask that you check out this thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=272261
and fill in the other info missed. Good to have test results, but this additional info is useful for Eric who maybe has seen more `situations' than the rest of us.

--
What lights are you running? Maybe give the coral more flow?

[just moved a `yellow fiji toadstool' I had recently got from my softie tank to my Acro. tank ... with some of the faster `results' I've seen ... obviously the flow, lights, or chemistry left too much to be desired. IMO, flow is very important to these corals.

But, I'd encourage you to fill in the little remaining tank info ... and if you can, get that picture working again. [if lots of problems doing that, PM me and I'll always help].

Good luck with it, I'll be keeping tabs here ... but I'd imagine Eric can help a lot more.