leather coral

[Shelby1317]

I found some small holes in the base of my toadstool leather. Has something burrowed its way into it? The coral is closed up and does not look happy. Any deas of what this could be or what I can do to help?

 

[Hammer]

Squeeze it, if you get some brown 'gunk' coming out, it is rotting.
If it feels pretty solid, you might have something borrowing into it.
BTW, if it squirts out brown gunk, now is the time to propogate every salvagable piece. Not the best thing, but at least you can keep the animal, even if in a few different pieces.
If only a little bron gunk comes out, I put mine in a high flow area to help clean it out. Works sometimes.
Hope all goes well.

 

[Shelby1317]

Hammer,

If something is burrowing into it, should i be worried or is that normal?

 

[Shelby1317]

I squeezed it and some gunk did come out. The holes are brown around the edges so I think it may be rotting. These holes are at the very base of the stalk, if I cust the stock above the affected part, will the coral should eventually reattach to a rock, right?

 

[Hammer]

From my experience, by the time I see the holes, it has already rotted a large portion of the stalk. If this is the case, and you would really be able to FEEL the difference if it is missing a lot from the inside. Then you are most likely going to loose most of, if not all of the stalk. Just cut the head off and you can either cut it up for more pieces, or let it attach as is if you like the size and or shape.
If it is only a small amount of rot, I would open up the hole some, and make sure it gets enough current. This might be enough. Otherwise, cut it at the base, and then trim ALL the bad parts away.