My toadstool won't open. Looks like it may melt. Help?

[STiTCH87]

So I added a baby toadstool to my reef yesterday afternoon, and the mother colony in Don's tank looked great and healthy and has a bunch if polyps open and the pieces I brought home had polyps showing for the first hour or so and ever since then the polyps won't come out at all and the whole coral has shrunk and looked squished and almost like it's getting ready to melt and die to me.

Here's a picture in the bottom left:

Tank is 78 degrees.
No ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.
pH is 7.8-8.0 (on the line)
Lighting is a 3W total strips of LEDs at 12k color.
It is in what i'd call medium to high flow and medium lighting.
All my other corals look fine except my rasta leather hasn't fully opened yet but it's certainly getting there and atleast looks fine.

Any ideas what could be the issue?
I'm gonna do a waterchange tomorrow and see if some fresh saltwater perks it up.

 

[frank180reef]

raise it halfway up and give it more flow, they do this quite a bit, it may last a week, no biggie

 

[badlands25]

Any phosphates? Toadstools usually close up for a few days or a week when entering a new system. Give it some time and gl

 

[STiTCH87]

Have no way of testing PO4 right now. May get water tested tomorrow. As for raising it higher up, it's kinda super glued to the rock its on, lol. Would the benefit of raising it really be much? It's in a rather bright spot.

It looks wrinkly now and where it's the most wrinkly I can see what looks like the skeleton. It's still fleshy colored, but has the skeleton texture.

Sorry for the over-bearing purple hues. My digital camera HATES LED lighting and my other camera is not available.

 

[JohnK]

Looks like it's going into a shed to me. This is perfectly normal with sarcophyton/toadstools, especially right after being moved to a different tank.

IMO those guys will adapt to just about any light level, I'd leave it be and give it a few days. I bet you'll see it start to look waxy on the top, then a thin skin will begin to sloth off. In a couple of days it'll be done and you'll see it open up nicer than ever.

 

[STiTCH87]

IDK how well it shows up in the pic (I can see it clear as day but thehn again I have the advantage of knowing where to look cuz I see it in person), but it DOES look kinda fuzzy on top.

I'm REALLY waiting for these blue hornets to fully open. I have one polyp at 3/4 open and 4 at 1/4 open. I have 8 polyps of blue hornet total and couldn't be more excited waiting to see them open fully.

 

[dagger]

Frank and John are right - they do this sometimes. Mine didn't open for a week after I put it into my tank. Does it look like there's a sheet of saran wrap forming on it? It's probably just preparing to shed. Flow will help.

 

[jamesdong009]

It does look like it's about to shed. Unless it starts to decay, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Mine will close for weeks at a time only to open up and look better than before.

 

[vp6799]

X2 to what Frank said. When I first got mine, it looked just like yours does. It took a week before it started to show any good signs, and it took another 2-3 weeks before it put out all of the polyps. I have mine located where it gets plenty of flow and it loves it.

relocate it to a more flow area and give it time.

Vic

 

[Turbosnail]

+3 Shedding

 

[STiTCH87]

What if I am unable to move it to a higher flow area? Will it live it's life okay in a moderate flow area? There's enough flow to where water passes by it good, but not enough as to wear I think the polyps will get swayed by the flow so IDK if it may need more. Adjusting flow is tough in such a small tank unfortunately. Trying to keep flow away from my spaghetti leather and blue hornet but near my war coral and toadstool is tough. Also, what are your opinion on the glass lids that come with some picos? I feel like it may deprive the tank of oxygen. Maybe not?

It doesn't look like it's covered in saran wrap yet, but in the days to come i'm sure it will. Can't wait to see this baby after it sheds though!

 

[Turbosnail]

I would not move it I would just give it a couple of days to do its thing.

 

[The Ng Thing]

Is that piece of rock on the top left of the picture movable? (Theres a pump behind it right?) If it isnt blocked you might get more flow to the front of the tank in a counterclockwise motion.

Just my personal preference, I wouldn't put a lid on the tank because it blocks the light & accumulates salt screep/dust. The down side is the evaporation.

The tank looks good, I can't wait to see everything open up as well.

 

[STiTCH87]

Yes I put that rock there on purpose to diffuse the flow because otherwise that spaghetti leather gets blasted and blows over.

If only I had a good location for the rasta leather. Anyone see a good spot in the pic? I'm thinking I may try and switch the rock with the rasta with the rock that has the toadstool. If I can manage safely.

The lid certainly does not block the light I promise that. It's equally bright with or without. Think of it like how people with an LED build use that acrylic splash guard.

Also it does not accumulate salt creep or dust. The water drips back into the tank but the moisture keeps salt off of it and as for dust, the dust that accumulates on top would otherwise just fall into the tank which is bad.
So I just take off the lid every day or so and wipe both sides and put it back on. Easy as a 3 second fix.

Nobody really answered my question on if that lid may block oxygen from mixing with the water? Surface flow is decent, but not crazy.

I like how the lid keeps evaporation down though. Keeps tank params very stable.

 

[Aquaman_68]

Have no way of testing PO4 right now. May get water tested tomorrow. As for raising it higher up, it's kinda super glued to the rock its on, lol. Would the benefit of raising it really be much? It's in a rather bright spot.

It looks wrinkly now and where it's the most wrinkly I can see what looks like the skeleton. It's still fleshy colored, but has the skeleton texture.

Sorry for the over-bearing purple hues. My digital camera HATES LED lighting and my other camera is not available.

don't sweat it...they do that when they are grabbed or pulled off something they r attached to... keep it in moderate flow....it will swell back up in a bit & may possibly shed...(if u see it get a glazed look it will b sheading soon after that)

 

[STiTCH87]

Yeah it was pulled off the rock with its mother yesterday afternoon.

As an update:

A few more days and my babies will be fully open!

 

[Aquaman_68]

that is what it looked like to me.....no shed most likely....It will puff back up....keep it in decent flow........................ not pounding straight on it though....should b ok in a week or so....

B

 

[vp6799]

If you can't move it, just leave it as long as it has moderate flow. Be patient, it'll be all good in some time. It may take a few days or a couple of weeks.

 

[STiTCH87]

Well the issue is, moderate flow is hard to describe as what one guy calls moderate could be heavy or light to another. I'm just gonna leave everything where it is and wait a week or two and go from there.

 

[Aquaman_68]

moderate flow is decent flow...but not directly on it....u just need to have a small flow of circulation around the coral for it to heal up & not cause a secondary infection.....as long as it isn't in a dead flow area u will b ok....