Leather question - Brown polyps... normal?

[Jason31]

i got this leather in about 1-2 weeks ago and i've been trying to acclimate it to my tank (30g JBJ). i put it initially on a sand bed and i'm using Hydra HD 26, running at about 35%. Just yesterday i secured him to a rock thats at the upper left of the tank.

My question is that its a faded green color but it also has these brown tipped polyps. is this normal? or is this because its not getting enough light? Has anyone seen this? The pictures (from iphone) dont represent the color well, its more brown than it looks in the pictures... thanks

[Jason31]

Also, can somebody tell me exactly what kind of leather this is? devils finger?

[CrayolaViolence]

I'm pretty sure it's a tree leather. As to which type hard to know for sure. Could be a Mushroom finger leather or a Paralemnalia, or some type of sinularia.
And yes, leathers will shed skin so sometimes they discolor. They are also temperamental and change shape and extension on a daily basis.

[Jason31]

ok thanks for the feedback... so the browning doesn't mean its not getting enough light?

i'm wondering if my Hydra 26 (10" above the water) running at 30-40% is too much. The leather is probably 6-8" from the top of the water level. So light to leather is 18" going through a glass lid

[Jason31]

sorry i meant too little light, not too much...

[elishapep]

It seems like some type of finger leather...I have kept leathers for years they don't require a lot of light and flow is generally light to med...are all the polyps out and fully extended? is there algae in the tank ? take a turkey baster and squirt on the polyps to see if it is algae in the polyps.

[Jason31]

Yea there some brown (diatom) algae going on. i'll try blowing the polyps too see if its settling on it. does that harm the leather in anyway to have diatoms on it if it is that? The leather has been slumped over for the first 2 weeks and doesn't expand much. its slowly expanding more and more and looks better than it did day 1 but still its taking awhile for it to expand. Not sure if the polyps are all out, pretty much what you see in the picture is what its like normally.

[miranda1960]

its a capnella so its normal they have brown polyps

[Jason31]

Thanks. Is it also normal that it never fully extends and is always drooped over?

[VirginiaMarine]

Thanks. Is it also normal that it never fully extends and is always drooped over?



My leathers droop a bit when you first move them and when unhappy. I bought a toadstool leather that I thought for sure was dead. I kept moving him hoping for a recovery. They draw up and get tiny when annoyed. I found a place he likes and he eventually opened up.


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