Toadstool leaning way over

[BigDora]

I have a large long polyp toadstool that is leaning over so the cap is resting on the sand. It has gradually been leaning ever since I put it in the tank about 6 months ago. It still looks healthy when it is closed up, and most of the polyps have been coming out like normal, some look a little off where they are touching rock, glass or sand, but other than that it looks ok.

Is it ok that it is leaning over, or should I be concerned?

The attached picture is closed up with lights off.

Thanks.

 

[afboundguy]

What are your parameters? How old is the tank?

 

[BigDora]

The tank is 10 months old. Parameters are:

Salinity 1.025
Temp 80
PH 8.2
KH 9
Ca 410
Phos 0
Nitrates 0

the tank has been stable. I'm just wondering if it is normal if it leans over like that, or if it is a sign that it isn't happy due to flow and/or lighting.

 

[willray]

It's all about the flow.

 

[thomb]

+1 on the flow
Mine does the exact same thing if I mess around changing rockwork / powerhead placement = disturbing flow
Also extreme disturbance in the lighting - but that has to be a long outage - icestorm, going dark for a day to fight dino's.

Physical distubance causes it if the rock its attached to gets knocked off by the 'dozer urchin.

Recovers quickly though < a day - mine seems to be pretty tough, it came with the rock I bought when I first set up my tank and had been in a partially broken down tank for a while, then I put it in a new tank - it looked much worse than your picture, but recovered nicely.

 

[agentfive]

Mine does that at night sometimes - sometimes it just looks like it's game over - always comes back in great shape.

 

[jojo1n2]

Could just be cleaning itself, Leathers will do that from time to time to get rid of sediment that collects on top of it. How long has it been that way? Also look to see if its shedding its top layer were the polyps usually are. Just a thought, but that might be all it is

 

[agentfive]

Yeah - we've had ours do that for 3-4 days then snap back after a big shed.

One thing to note - after it snaps back - watch it at night - it always shrinks a ton - so expect that it's doing the same as it grows.

 

[stingman]

im not much of a leather fan but i aquaculture sps lps and xenia/gsp ive heard leathers have a large iodine requirement and like xenia if the iodide or iodine levels fall they loose there standing ability as xenia looses it pulsing ability. i dont know that this is the problem but i have remedied the issue for customers by adding iodide and iodine

 

[frank180reef]

mine does that all the time, it is a foot in diam and happy

 

[BigDora]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I tried to retrace my steps and undo all the little adjustments I have made to the powerheads and return to try to get the flow back to the way it was. It is up off the bottom now, so it looks better, but still leaning over. It has been closing up at night (didn't used to), but I thought that was because the clownfish have been snuggling in so close. I'll continue to keep an eye it.

 

[reeferpj]

keep us posted

 

[susyq458]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I tried to retrace my steps and undo all the little adjustments I have made to the powerheads and return to try to get the flow back to the way it was. It is up off the bottom now, so it looks better, but still leaning over. It has been closing up at night (didn't used to), but I thought that was because the clownfish have been snuggling in so close. I'll continue to keep an eye it.

Glad to hear the flow changes helped. That was my suggestion as well. I have a very large diameter toadstool and it does NOT appreciate any changes in flow across the trunk. I have mine in the middle of the tank with power heads directing water across the front and back areas so that it is in medium/strong but indirect flow.

Also, since it is a newer specimen to your tank, you may notice that it will close up for a few days and shed a layer of skin once it is settled. That is normal and you should see it really open up after that.

About the clown fish, I used to have a pair of clowns that nested in mine. It was always amusing to watch them try and feed it.

Good luck.

 

[stingythingy45]

It's actually quite normal for toadstool's to do this,imo.It's how they move up the rock.

 

[BigDora]

Looking better

The toadstool is looking better. It is still leaning over as it always has, but isn't resting on the bottom anymore. I think it tries to avoid direct flow, but tries to reach it's polyps into the flow. Here is a happy picture.

Thanks for everyone's advice and ideas.

 

[afboundguy]

Def looks much better... Glad to hear it...

 

[67belvedere]

i recently added a large toadstool to my tank and it was leaning over but now it looks like it has gotten shorter and the stalk got thicker and is now standing straight up probably just needed time to adjust to a new tank