is this some sort of parasite?

[schmidt01]

I've had a finger leather for about a year now and it hasn't expanded to it's full size in a couple of months. It's still hanging in there, but I'd really like to see it bounce back. I noticed some small white worm looking things hanging out of it on occasion and I'm pretty sure these are some sort of parasite. My LFS suggested dipping the coral in Lugol's, which I've done twice but it hasn't helped. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Potsy]

Without a photo, it's hard to tell. It could just be shedding some of its skin, something leathers periodically do. When you touch them, do they move or recoil?

[crvz]

Really hard to tell without a decent pic, as pointed out. There are some leather pests, so it could be something detrimental.

[schmidt01]

It's really hard to get a good picture. The worm-looking things are very small... maybe 5mm long. If you touch them, the do pull back a bit. When I dipped the coral in Lugol's a couple came off, but there's obviously more in the coral.
It's not shedding... it's been like this for a couple of months now. Frankly, I'm very surprised it's still alive. I'm not sure what else to do if the Lugol's isn't helping. I tried a fresh water dip as well and that didn't do anything.

[schmidt01]

The finger leather is receeding from the rock it's attached to now. Can some one please help me? Is there anything I can do besides an iodine dip? If not, should I just take it out of the tank so the little worms don't spread to other corals?

[tmz]

Wtihout a picture It's hard to tell. Cutting away the receeding areas going into a half in ch of good tissue and remounting the coral may help.

[Madfronter]

Take a look in my gallery for a pic of my sick leather coral. Not the best picture though. Would like to get a digital SLR. It had a bunch of white spots all over it and was not opening up at all for about three weeks. I did a fresh water dip and all the white spots which I think were the parasite came off but then a day or two later the coral completely deflated and looked dead. I ended up cutting it up to see if there was any salvageable parts. I ended up saving an 1"x1"x.5" piece that is now developing a few new crowns and polyps. Not sure if it will turn into one new toadstool or a few. Only time will tell.