ID my leather and help with strange behaviour

Hi every body, I was hoping that you could help me identify what type of leather coral I got from my LFS. I've had it in my tank now for a couple of months and it has done very well until about a week ago (more on that later). When I got it, the LFS lady said she thought it was a cabbage coral, but it seems to have too large of a stock. All of the cabbage corals I have seen have laid directly on the rock, but I've never kept one, so I could be wrong. It has green polyps.


As for the strange behavior, for the last week it has been acting really strangely. First it retracted all of its polyps at all times, so I assumed it was simply getting ready to shed. After a couple of days, it began leaning over so that the top of the coral was resting on the rock and the stalk was bent almost 180 degrees. After a few days, I noticed a film on the surface of the coral, but the coral had bent away from the powerhead and the film wasn't blowing off. I used a powerhead to blow off the film and a couple days later the coral was upright again with its polyps extended. The next morning it was bent over again and its polyps haven't been out at all. (this morning they were slightly out under the morning actinic cycle, but just barely enough that they looked like little green dots all over the leather, rather than flower shaped polyps)

Should I be concerned about this behavior? I know leathers can be finicky and they sometimes just throw little fits for no apparent reason, it just seems strange to me that it would recover and then appear to have problems again so quickly after recovering. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the coral now that it is leaning, I'll try to take one as soon as I get home from school.

I apologize if the picture isn't that great. My iPhone 4S takes pretty good pictures, but I had to severely reduce the size of my image to upload it here.

Note that the image attached here was taken about three weeks ago. Since that time, the stalk has almost doubled in length and there has been some new growth on the "cap." Also, the stalk of the coral seems to be a much deeper color now, almost like it turned purple rather than the normal tan color that you can see in the image.

 

Cabbage Leather Coral ?? maybe

what are your param and the type of light you have it under?
leather gives off a smell when they are dying/sick.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/asap/what-going-92243.html

 

Oops. I meant to include that. Did a full range of tests this morning and everything was perfect

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: as close to 0 as it gets
Ph: 8.3
Temp: 78
Calcium: 480
All: 12
Phosphate: almost 0 (test kit isn't exactly the greatest)

I have a 125 gallon tank with a 4x96 watts power compact strip above it. 2x daylight bulbs, 2x actinics.

 

And the leather is located on the top of the rocks in a moderate/high flow area. Cant get any more light in my current setup due to location and lights.

 

Looks like a toad stool or a cabbage leather, could be just a shed. Mine will do that from time to time, just keep an eye on it if it doesn't open in 7 days, change flow/light and see if that helps. My devil's hand stayed closed for 7 days, then it shed like mad and nearly doubled in size! Leather's will do that.

 

Thanks. I'll keep an eye on it. I'm not gonna flip out unless he really goes down hill.

Is it possible for a cabbage to have such a long stalk? I thought they grew really close to the rock.

 

+1 agree

 

I think it is possible if it is reaching for more light.

 

I got a picture of him, but it's not great. I'll try to get a better one later.

Notice how he is complete leaned over toward the back of the tank. It still doesn't have it's polyps extended.

 

That is a toadstool leather, looks like he needs more flow/light.

Ok here is my toadstool when I first got it in August of 2011. GSP had completly surrounded the base and were growing up the side on the leather itself.



Here it is a few weeks ago after I seperated it from the GSP and gave it some good conditions. (next to the Zoa colony on the right)



It will come back!