Mushroom Coral appears to be deteriorating

[Rhetoric]

Hi, your friendly neighborhood saltwater newbie is at it again.

75g w/38g sump
Current Orbit #1031 = 4X96 Daylight & 4X96 Actinic
80lbs LR, assorted snails/hermits/emeralds/mushrooms
4 Green Chromis

Everything was going well in the tank so I decided to add my first coral. The LFS recommended a leather because they were pretty hardy. So I got this Toadstool Mushroom Leather (according to LiveAquaria).

I put it in last Wednesday and it still looked good Saturday morning. On Monday morning however, it had changed. Its base was on a rock half way up and the crown reached pretty high up...around 3/4 of the way up in the tank.

Originally, it looked healthy and vibrant. It stood up straight on its stalk and it had hundreds of little tentacle thingys swaying in the breeze.

Now, all the tentacle thingys are gone. Sucked in? Fell off? I don't know... It was bent over and its crown was kind of curled up.

I knew that the soft corals didn't need too much light. So I moved it to the bottom of the tank somewhat shaded beneath some rock. There is also substantially less flow there. But in almost two days, it has shown no improvement.

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates are all good. PH is 8.0. The one other thing that concerns me is the Specific Gravity. It was at 1.020 when I put it in and is now at 1.021 (I am in the process of raising it) Did I put this guy in too early? I hear that 1.025 is ideal for coral.

Any other ideas? Thanks!

 

[waymack97]

leathers shed. thats what yours sounds like it is doing. to help it shed you can use a baster to help blow the old skin away. right before it sheds you will see the leather get a shiny look. they often stay like this for weeks at a time.
_________________
Mercedes Benz C291

 

[Rhetoric]

I did notice that the skin on its stalk appeared to be sloughing off. I read that this was normal and have been trying to help it using a syringe to blow it but it hasn't been too effective. I'll try the baster since that will be easier is seems like a good idea.

I expected the skin to come off, but didn't expect the "tentacle" things to disappear and for it to appear to shrivel up. Is this all part of the "shedding process"?

Thanks!

 

[waymack97]

yes it is part of the process. the polyps go into the crown they will slowly come back out after the shedding process is done. mine likes to be placed half way down and with medium flow.
_________________
marijuana

 

[Rhetoric]

Whew.

Thanks for the reassurance. I've been watching that guy day and night for two days. I'll keep an eye on him over the next few weeks but at least I won't be sweating bullets the whole time.

Appreciate the response!

 

[Rhetoric]

That didn't take long at all. I came in this morning and the polyps had already come back out and it has perked up considerably. The baster worked like a charm too to help remove the shedding skin. Thanks for that. Just had to be careful since it is really powerful and I blew a lot of other stuff around too.

 

[Anonymous]

Leathers just "do" that periodically. Like waymack said, just use a turkey baster to hel pit along. I used a small (nano sized) PH to "storm" my tank once a week and I always "dusted" off a huge leather I had at the same time.