New leather, looking bad?

[DustinKeating]

I just bought from the lfs what they called a leather coral, but i think it's the "finger leather"...but i could be wrong. It looked really good in the store and had some polyps on it that are doing well in my tank. But the leather looks really beat up, it wasn't looking so hot in the bucket i was transporting it in either.

The bucket he gave me didn't have much water in it, enough to keep it almost entirely submerged...but with the sloshing of the car and what not, i'm sure it was out of the water more than i would have wanted.

My question is, with the pictures supplied...can anyone tell me if this is just typical acclimation to a new tank, i assume the coral would react atleast a little poorly when newly introduced. But should it be this bad?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/DustinKeating/Leather.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/DustinKeating/leather2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/DustinKeating/leather3.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/DustinKeating/leather4.jpg

 

[1979camaro]

it could be just the acclimation process...leathers will shrivel from time to time so it could be normal. how did you acclimate the coral when you got it home? how long has it been in the tank? what are your water parameters

 

[dbacksrat]

my cabbage leather (sinularia dura) did the same thing when i first brought it home....scared the "s" outta me
i believe they shed their outer skin to remove any foreign substances that might have settled on them--keep a good current on this guy because constant shedding can be problematic

 

[S.Reef]

Give it time.

 

[dbacksrat]

it should shape up in a day or two

 

[DustinKeating]

PHEW i really hope you're right, man fish tanks are the most stressful things at times. I just moved it under my filter and in the general area of the powerhead, so it's getting a much better current now. Hopefully that will help.

My acclimation was a little rough, about half an hour of swapping my water with lfs water. I was going to drip, but i didn't get around to it. Thnik that might have something do with it?

Question, when it sheds is it normal to droop? because now it seems it's lost almost all it's "fortitude" if you will. infact, i'll take another picture to show you.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/DustinKeating/leatherdroop.jpg

Upon looking back on the previous posted pictures...that's very droopy.

 

[aresgod]

no they dont droop when they shed, i have a sneaking feeling it is because of the aclimation, I always try to do atleast 1.5-2 hours of aclimation, I figure if I spent good money on it I should take the time to acclimate it properly, leathers are hardy and it probably will bounce back... good luck

 

[wayne]

Give it time, it might take a couple weeks to really recover, especially if you keep putting your hands in the tank

 

[DustinKeating]

Update, the coral looks much better now. Straightened up, lost that grey color and seems to be shedding kinda.

But i'm just curious, why shouldn't you put your hands in the tank with corals? what negative effect on them does it have, would it help to wear gloves?

 

[wayne]

In the same way that they open to very small food traces , so they have an adverse reaction to oils,soaps, perfumes and so on your hands