New Leather

My tank's been looking good lately - less algea with new ro/di from awi, corals perking up, etc.;D So I saw what I think is a sarcophyton leather at the lfs and picked it up. problem is this - lfs is not so good with corals. it seems like some distributor just drops off things, they stick them in their one coral tank, and they either get sold or die. mostly the stuff in the tank is big (like 6") chunks of lr covered in polyps/palys/zoas. then there's other stuff, like this 'leather' i picked up. they id'd it as sarcophyton. i've had bad id's from them in the past. i looked in borneman's book, and it looks like a match to me.

but - i'm looking for 3reef expert advice. is this sarcophyton, or another species. and does anyone have care advice? i did check out omard's toadstool sarcophyton text from cotm - lost the link.

thanks is advance!

 

looks like a finger leather

 

new leather showed millions of tiny polyps the first night in the tank. i checked again last night and there seem to be several (maybe 7-10) areas, each about 5-7 mm in diameter, where there are no polyps and the tissue is a little yellow-brown, rather than brown like the rest of the animal.

is this a sign of trouble? will get pick next time i'm home...

 

How long have you had this coral for? If it's a new addition, give it a week or so to adjust to your tank. As long as you don't see rotting flesh, the coral should be fine.