Leather help

[jpa0741]

Any ideas on why my leather has not opened in the last week. It has been in tank for about 2 months. It has been doing fine up until this last week.

Here are some specs.
92g
55g sump/fuge
330 watts pc lighting
1500 gph total flow
sg. 1.025
amonia 0
trites 0
trates 10
temp 80.2
Here is a pic of when it is open
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/jpa0741/100_0803.jpg
Here is pic from today
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/jpa0741/100_0858.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/jpa0741/100_0860.jpg
Any help would be great.

[Drakis]

They just do that sometimes. They will close up for like a week, then shed skin, then return to normal.

[dperrucc]

does not like direct current,seems too close to current.

[tinyreef]

try blowing off the cyano of it and adding some carbon media.

can you show a bigger shot of the tank to see if there's anything in its immediate neighborhood bothering it?

how often and how much are you waterchanging or filter media changing?

[jpa0741]

Here is a pic of full tank.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e336/jpa0741/100_0822.jpg
Nothing touching it.
Do 15% water change weekly.
I run carbon in sump. (change it out every 2-3 weeks).
The pump powerhead in first pic does not blow directly on it, just looks like it in pic.

[tinyreef]

i still suggest blowing the nuisance/film algae off (looks like cyano) first.

i'd then replace the carbon. try to limit it to no more than two weeks imo (that's for a big bag ~ 8 oz.). it looks like you have a sinularia-type in there (middle center), they may be more noxious than appreciated by the toadies, which imo are one of the most sensitive (if not the most sensitive) coral.

when did you place those neon shrooms next to the toadie? it doesn't seem to be there in the full shot when the toadie's in bloom. if it's roughly in the same timeframe as the problem with the toadie, i'd look into moving it farther away. hth

edit: oh, and i'd suggest you clean out your prefilters, on the powerheads and the sump. they may be blowing around "crud juice" straining against the prefilters.

[srbball22]

They do close up for a few days to shed every now and then as someone said above.

[Ciarán]

They can shed for anything up to a week IME. They need loads of alternating indirect flow, enough to move the polyps vigorously but not bend them over fully so they can't remain upright. Water volume as opposed to velocity is what's needed. It seems very close to that return, it may be getting enough "flow" figures wise but in terms of the type of flow it could be totally inappropriate. As i said, laminar high velocity flow is as bad as none - these corals won't open in either of these scenarios. Direct a powerhead/pump right at a wall beside it, so the flow has to rebound off the aquarium wall to reach it. This will make the flow direction more chaotic and is appreciated by Sarcophytons IME. It appears the coral has been fouled by algae of some sort, which - if it opened before in that exact location - is probably the problem as opposed to a flow issue, it looks like cyano so perhaps try to brush it off gently with a soft toothbrush. If all else fails, try a FW dip of the same temperature and pH.

I have found in my experience that Sarcophytons are more difficult and finicky to keep than acropora! Yes, they are hardier, but their flow demands are even more specialised and their "shedding" mechanism is more complex and specific than stonies. They are more sensitive to pollutants and if the flow cant rid it of its mucous, then it will remain closed and refuse to open. Perhaps my experience is unique, though i think it probably isn't.

[nmprisons]

reading this thread has been very helpful. i just purchased my first coral a few days ago and it is a toadstool leather. the folks at my lfs are usually pretty good about their advice. I didn't realize that these were so hard to care for. Mine opens all the way during the day, but is closed up when the lights are off (i assume this is normal).

had a known they were so difficult to care for, I may have opted for a differant starter coral ... oh well!

[Ciarán]

Yeah thats normal glad to hear its ok. They arent that hard to care for really, ive just found they are fussy about flow. If you get that right they are a dream. Hard to get the flow perfect in a small tank. Now Sarcophyton elegans, they are another kettle of um.. well fish!!