Toadstool not opening

[StrangeDejavu]

So I just bought my first coral on Saturday, dipped them and they appear to have acclimated well. Everything is looking good except my white polyp toadstool which has yet to open. Is there something it's lacking or is this normal for toadstools?

SG 1.026
pH 7.85
Alk 10.8
Cal 345
Mag 1130
PO4 0.02
Nitrate 5
Temp 78

Params are a little off since it's regular IO, switching to RC now that I have coral.

This is about as open as i've seen it so far

http://i.imgur.com/IBRuyKOh.jpg


My Acan during the day, and how it looks at night

http://i.imgur.com/401MrQvh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7ot29u1h.jpg


"Salmon Pink" Hammer, not quite fully open but getting comfortable more and more each day

http://i.imgur.com/tsCLL3Jh.jpg


Radioactive Dragon Eyes

http://i.imgur.com/109h9E0h.jpg

[fishchef]

Normal. They don't like to be handled. Toadstools like medium flow and quality lighting. Also mine seemed to like nitrates at about 12.5/25...a little dirty. Yes, your parameters are off. CA way low and Mg. CA should be 400+ and Mg about X3 of CA. Really should of been adjusted prior to adding corals. Bring it up slowly with WC's.

[uncleL]

+1
Do you kalk to your ATO?

[C.Eymann]

Normal. They don't like to be handled. Toadstools like medium flow and quality lighting. Also mine seemed to like nitrates at about 12.5/25...a little dirty. Yes, your parameters are off. CA way low and Mg. CA should be 400+ and Mg about X3 of CA. Really should of been adjusted prior to adding corals. Bring it up slowly with WC's.

+1

Flow will help them open up, an like said above, you should try to get your levels right, mind I asking what brand of salt you are using?? from params guessing maybe I/O?


Also I believe this might be Lobophytum (devils hand leather) vs Sarcophyton (toadstool).

[StrangeDejavu]

+1
Do you kalk to your ATO?

Not yet. I was going to switch to Reef Crystals this week but planned on doing kalk once I had a lot more LPS.

Flow will help them open up, an like said above, you should try to get your levels right, mind I asking what brand of salt you are using?? from params guessing maybe I/O?


Also I believe this might be Lobophytum (devils hand leather) vs Sarcophyton (toadstool).

Instant Ocean. It was cheap and I didn't think i'd need high cal and coral vitamins during the first 3 months of my tank.

I hope not, I asked for a toadstool and this is one of the most respected shops in the Tampa Bay area. I'd be surprised if they couldn't differentiate between leathers.

Here's another view of it:

http://i.imgur.com/sEeaFLkh.jpg

[StrangeDejavu]

Really should of been adjusted prior to adding corals. Bring it up slowly with WC's.

Rock and sand aside, I have 22 or 23 gallons of water. Would 5g weekly with Reef Crystals be too much of a shift each time? Or should I do a 50/50 IO/RC each week?

[C.Eymann]

I could tell by your params your were using I/O (Instant Ocean) its not a bad salt, just lacks a bit in cal/ mag.
You can make a direct switch to Reef Crystals no problem, no need to slowly convert, should be fine.

Im fairly sure its a Lobophytum, some people still consider them to be a type of toadstool so no wrong doing by your LFS.

[BigEZ77]

Pretty typical. Also might be shedding it's skin... Does it look waxy?

[StrangeDejavu]

Pretty typical. Also might be shedding it's skin... Does it look waxy?

Nope, no waxy look, just smooth and brown. It acts like it wants to open during the day but never goes farther than that. I have it positioned in the back-right corner, where I imagined a nice, big mushroom coral growing in as the tank matured. But if it's really Devil's Hand, then it sounds like it's going to need to go on the top rock based on LiveAquaria's Med/High light and Med/High flow demands.

[Animagus]

Assuming your parameters are within reason and the lighting is sufficient, these corals can be very temperamental sometimes. The link below kind of explains this, but like mentioned above I think what you have is a Lobopyhton as opposed to a Sarcophyton too. (different, but the same)

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/3/corals

[mcgyvr]

Yep.. looks like a devils hand frag..
Give it time.. I just moved everything into a different tank and mine have been closed up for 2 weeks now.. They will come back when happy.. You can try moving it around but that may just prolong to wait..

[StrangeDejavu]

Thanks for the ID guys. I had kind of a vision as to what coral would go where, how it would look grown out one day, etc. Even though this isn't the Toadstool I was hoping for, it still looks pretty nice in the videos I was just watching. The white polyps should give it a nice diamond appearance once it's happy.

[scooter31707]

what type of flow do you have on it? Looks like it's trying to block some flow, by the way it's high on one side. Mines was during the same thing and I moved it around a couple times to find a better spot. I noticed it like high flow without direct flow.

[StrangeDejavu]

what type of flow do you have on it? Looks like it's trying to block some flow, by the way it's high on one side. Mines was during the same thing and I moved it around a couple times to find a better spot. I noticed it like high flow without direct flow.

It was actually in the top right corner of the BioCube, where there was virtually no flow. I moved it to the top, out of direct flow but in a high flow area, I also turned the lights down to 20% from 50%. We'll see how it does this week.

[Cthehentz]

They are rather sensitive change but also fish bumping and or picking them.
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/cthehentz12/Dewalt/B9B5C8FC-21BC-43D1-8A83-68D34295D69C_zpsnbptdyic.jpg (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/cthehentz12/media/Dewalt/B9B5C8FC-21BC-43D1-8A83-68D34295D69C_zpsnbptdyic.jpg.html)

[Horace]

They are rather sensitive change but also fish bumping and or picking them.
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/cthehentz12/Dewalt/B9B5C8FC-21BC-43D1-8A83-68D34295D69C_zpsnbptdyic.jpg (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/cthehentz12/media/Dewalt/B9B5C8FC-21BC-43D1-8A83-68D34295D69C_zpsnbptdyic.jpg.html)
I've always loved those corals...one of fav softies for sure
+1

Flow will help them open up, an like said above, you should try to get your levels right, mind I asking what brand of salt you are using?? from params guessing maybe I/O?


Also I believe this might be Lobophytum (devils hand leather) vs Sarcophyton (toadstool).


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[leviburns89]

Every time I make any changes to the water, or even bump my leather with my hand, it takes a couple days to open back up.

It took a week to open when I first put it in the tank.

And once a month, it stays closed for 4 days to shed.

It's quite the character.

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[StrangeDejavu]

It's a beautiful coral for sure, but after what I read, I believe i'll be rehoming it. I read a study they did in '85 with Sinularia and Toadstool by placing them near stony corals in the wild and all suffered tissue necrosis. I also read the coating leathers tend to shed, if it lands on other corals, they can be severely damaged or killed. Since my tank is going to be primarily LPS with maybe a Birdsnest around the 1 year mark, it's just not worth it to me.

[leviburns89]

'85 was over 30 years ago, and most advancements have occurred post 2000.

Toadstool give ample notice that they are shedding, and with a turkey basted and good flow and filtration via carbon, it's hardly an issue nowadays.

I too have an lps dominant tank, and will be adding a pink birds nest soon, but I am not worried at all. I look at my tank every morning and night, and can tell when something happens before it effects anything.

Personally, I love the toadstool leathers, when the grow out they are the eye catcher of the tank.

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