Help w/ a leather toadstool

[eggman]

Hello all
i have a very healthy looking leather toadstool for about 4 months. last night I noticed that the leather has what can only be described as a "bullet hole" on the back part of it's stalk...the skin around the hole is bleaching, the hole itself is about the diameter of a pencil eraser.

being a good reefer I immediatley went to Bourneman's Coral book, he describes this in the coral disease chapter as "Leather condition 1" and suggests Lugols and freshwater dips and excising the wound...now I'm an accountant NOT a surgeon and am extremely nervous about all this.

Has anyone else had this issue and how did you deal w/ it?
i know that leather toadstool as very hardy and can survive all kinds of trauma, but i have no idea where to start w/ this, so can someone hold my hand a little on this one?
thanks
egg

[nicchick]

i have cut pieces off of my toadstool, and it recovers fine. how big of a chunk are you taking off?

[eggman]

well the hole is right in the center of the stalk right below the crown...so I'm not sure what to do...I suppose i could just cut the stalk above the hole or just kinda cut around the hole and remove the necrosis...like i said i have no idea what to do

[NicoleC]

Leathers are easy and heal well if you use a very sharp instrument so that it slices nicely instead mashing it to death.

*Put on gloves.
*Get a nice sharp Xacto knife with appropriately shaped blade.
*Remove coral from tank and place in bucket of tank water. Add Lugol's if desired.
*Quickly excise the diseased portion and throw away -- I wouldn't lop off the whole stalk unless it's a really large chunk of disease.

Leave the leather in the bucket for 10-15 minutes, then remove from bucket and place in tank. Don't put the bucket water back in the tank. It will be shrivelled up and complaining, but don't worry. Put the leather in an area with good flow until it heals.

[eggman]

NicoleC
thank you, you are a godsend. it is a very tiny spot like i said the diameter of a pencil eraser w/ maybe a dime diameter of necrosis around it...how deeply do I cut to get under the disease?
thanks

[clsund]

Eggman, if you need help, PM me and I can come over help you perform surgery. Leave me your phone number as well if you would like the help. I live in W. L.A.

[NicoleC]

Originally posted by eggman
NicoleC
thank you, you are a godsend. it is a very tiny spot like i said the diameter of a pencil eraser w/ maybe a dime diameter of necrosis around it...how deeply do I cut to get under the disease?
thanks

Well... until it's all gone. You will end up excising some healthy flesh to be sure you get it all, but it's really a judgement call.

If you are worried, and it's a large leather, you may want to frag a piece from a healthy portion while you are at it and attach it to some rubble. If the usual happens and the leather heals up well, you'll just either have a frag to keep/sell/trade. If the absolute worst happens and the whole toadstool dies, your frag may survive.

[merlock116]

when i used to keep softies, i got a new sinularia in from the lfs... it looked great for a while, but then started developing a hole in its stalk. I was inspecting it closely and there was some sort of nudibranch that was burrowing into the leather, eating its flesh. The little bugger was the same color as the leather. I yanked it out with some tweezers.

You might want to keep an eye on it, or take it out into a shallow pan and give it a good look.

[eggman]

thank you all
I have decided to perform the surgery tomorrow, thank you for your detailed post Nicole, that was a huge help. Clsund thank you for your offer, but i think i can do this. and merlin i will give it a good look over b4 I make any cuts. I think i will frag it a little b4 i proceed, so i can learn 2 procedures at once and hopefully have 2 or more leathers once we get thru this.
this board has been amazingly helpful and i honestly couldn't have the breath taking tank i do w/out you guys
here's to many years of happy reefing
egg

[eggman]

i have posted some new pictures in my gallery, this is the new 60 gallon after the 40 started leaking...never ever use an old aquarium...lol

[NicoleC]

Good luck! After you're done you're going to say, "that was IT!?"

[eggman]

Hello all

well i made the incision yesterday and removed the affected area. I also was able to remove 2 fairly larege sections of the corwn of the leahe to frag. I mounted the frags on rubble and w/in a few hours they had both extended polyps and are looking well. The leaher itself was looking very unhappy and shriveled most of the afternoon, eventually it sort of puckered around the wound and it looks like the cut is already healing. time will tell but it all looks really good thus far.
again thanks for your assistance
egg

[NicoleC]

Good to hear!

[eggman]

ok it's been 5 days since i cut the leather, and it hasn't extended polyps at all...the stalk has turned quite brown and the wound is very visable...i can't see nay signs of healing yet. the frags seem to be ok, they extend from time to time and seem to be healing.
it is in an area of high flow...I'm getting concerned
any thoughts?
egg