Leather corals acting up?

ok so i'm getting worried aboiut a toadstool leather (Sarcophyton glaucum) i purchased about a week ago. but i'm not sure what's going on. here's what i've seen.

Day 1. Fully closed up (clearly upset from the move )
Day 2. Fully open lots of polyps fully extended seems to bend its stalk a little towards the light
Day 3. Fully open but no polyps with a clear white "skin" flaking off (appears to be sheding his skin)
Day 4. Fully open all polyps back seems to be settleing in
Day 5. Fully open again no polyps and seems to be shedding again?
Day 6. Back to normal Fully open all polyps back
Day 7. No Polyps again?
Today. Strill no polyps and top of toadstoll has a "shiny" look to it? but it does still close a little if you get near it.

these are the notes from my tank log for the last 8 days taken in the morning as the 14000k lights come on.

i'm not sure what's going on with it. Nothing in the tank has changed as far as i can tell. all the water permiters are fine and everything has been stable.

as this is a new tank tank i'm settign up i've been adding things slowly 1 thing a week.

the other inhabtants are

corals
pulsating xenia
finger leater (Alcyoniidae sp.)

Inverts
12 nassarius snails
25 Blue leg hermits
2 banded serpant stars
3 emerald green crabs
1 dwarf sea hare
1 Coral banded shrimp

Fish
Yellow tang
Tomato Clown
Lawnmower Blenny
Purple dottyback

 

Am just guessing...but it sounds like your critter wants more water flow.

All those events you reported are normal...just not the frequency.

There may something in tank it does not like, or doesn"t like it. :-/

 

Any issue with tank temperature? How warm does your water get? I have found the leathers to be VERY sensitive to temperature change...and they do not do well over 84 degress...I had an issue with my tank that caused the water to spike to 85 and lost all of my leather corals (other types actually survived, but the leathers never came back).

 

I also think it may be a flow problem. When I had one it used to have problems shedding the mucus until I moved to a higher flow area. Basically it was at the back of my tank where the flow was very calm. With mine it used to go a few days closed and it would also have that 'shine' that you mentioned on its head. This does go away and the polyps will return.

 

could it be fighting with the (Alcyoniidae sp.)?

i have never read that leathers are sensitive to iodine but i did also dose with iodine a couple weeks back for the xenia but the levels do not test very high.

my temp has been stable as far as i can tell in the morning when i get up it's susally aroud 79 degrees and peaks at about 81 in the evening after full lighting. its possible it drops lower than that during the night but i don't have a thermometer that keeps a record.

 

Its been my experience leathers are like women. Completely different from one minute to the next. Cant ever figure them out. Beautiful one minute and not so the next.

Give it some shopping money or turn up the flow. Either way will help it out!

 

thanks for the replies all.

i couldn't really move it to a higher flow area as it was so i went out and got a new powerhead and adjusted the flow so it now has a pretty good current flowing right over the top of it.

hopefully that will help it

 

Give it a bit of time to adjust and hopefully it will be back to looking its best, let us know how it gets on.

 

: too bloody right!!!!

 

Leather corals do this sometime, unless its closed up for a long preiod of time, I wouldn't worry about it.

Have you started using any phophate removal pellets before this?