Leather coral not looking to good

Hello,

New to the salt water tank scene, purchased an established tank off craigs list about 4 weeks ago (had been running for a year prior). It is a 29 gal bio cube. All basic water levels I belive are fine ie. no nitrate/nitrite/ammonia and PH is approx 8 to 8.2. The salt is currently running at 1.026 (i am in the process of bringing it back down to 1.025 which is what it has been at for the first 3 weeks. I keep the temp between 79 and 80.

The problem: A leather coral (not sure if there is a more specific name) that came with the tank seems to have taken a turn for the worse. As i mentioned i have had the tank running for just over 4 weeks and i havent had any problems to date. Lost a few hermit crabs and snails but i belive that is common? i have two cleaner shrimps, a sea urchin, a coral beauty and a clown. For corals i have two enenmies and a group of polyps which both seem to be doing fine. The polyps have been closed alot lately however they seem to be in a high traffic area which i am going to correct, when open they appear healthy. I also have a feather duster which also appears to be doing fine, ie open all the time, arms maintain good color, retracts normaly.

Back to the leather coral, i have attached a picture. The coral hasnt stood it self up in approx two weeks however the 'head' seems to have kept its normal color when open and expands and contracts with the light changes.

I unfortunately do not have test kits for some of the more 'complex' readings like calcium etc. If i need to get these please let me know.

Hopefully someone out there can shed some light on the the issue. Let me know if i need to provide more info - being my first post.

Thanks in advance,

 

We had one that was doing this and it was just attaching itself to another rock, once there it is standing right up.

 

To me it looks perfectly healthy, but it is sagging from most likely not enough water flow, it sounds like it would be the opposite but w/ leathers too little flow makes them sag as well.

Good luck

 

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you are going through a cycle secondary to the move. You need to go buy the following test kits:

NH4, NO2, NO3, pH, ALK, Ca, Mg, PO4

I also bought the iodine kit, but it is not really necessary. I was more curious than anything.

Then test your system for everything and adjust accordingly. Get ready to spend a little money here. Not only are you going to need the test kits, but additives as well. People use different things. I use Reef Builder for my bicarb, Reef Advantage Calcium and Reef Advantage Magnesium. Others use baking soda for their bicarb and epsom salt for their Mg. But before you add ANYTHING, you need to get the test kits, as the cardinal rule of thumb is to not add anything you cannot test for.

 

Hello Brian, I agree with frag and others about the flow, however, look in this (not so clear) pic and see my large Toadstool Mushroom Coral (that is what you have) is laying down on the job. They lay sometimes to reproduce by "budding" and attaching the bud to their base rock or one close to it.

 

Problem fixed

After getting the test kits, RO water implemented and a better flow spot i think i have gotten the leather back in shape, thanks for the feedback, great forum