Stubby Finger Leather dropping branches

Whoyah · 12-09-2006, 12:11 PM

I have a stubby finger leather that has been consisting dropping branches for 6 months now. I am not sure if this is a sign of stress or good health. The branches turn white at the base then droop down and fall off. The whole process takes a week or so. The branchs then attach to rocks and look very healthy. The mother colony has it polyps extended most of the time and new branches are starting to grow back on the mother colony. About 3/4 of the original branches have dropped off. It is nice to have frags but I would like to see the mother colony grow larger. Any thoughts??

dakar · 12-09-2006, 08:32 PM

Self fragging colony.... Sounds like the weed (aka Kenya tree) we had... dang thing threw a frag every couple of days... they spread like weeds.. though the mother colony never really did grow to great proportions it got quite large over time. Pretty sure this is common amongst most soft branching types, perhaps some sort of growth control, or is there a possibility of some aleopathy going on for you that is inhibiting larger growth.... maybe?

Whoyah · 12-09-2006, 11:08 PM

aleopathy??? Hmm not sure what this means.

At one point it was doing really well with nice growth and expanition but that only last for a couple months. I sure some "thing" has changed. It is in the same spot but maybe the flow has changed. Maybe it is time to move the PHs around.

melev · 12-12-2006, 01:28 AM

Alleopathy is the invisible chemical warfare corals wage against one another. Quite often it is the culprit when you see an anemone withering away even though the other anemone is completely at the opposite end of the tank.

I have a Devil's Hand that self frags all the time. I really believe the reason this occurs is because the coral doesn't have more rockwork to grow onto. If there was more rock, it would spread out. Since it can't feel anything nearby, it drops babies.

Which works for DFWMAS because every new member gets a free frag of it.

Whoyah · 12-12-2006, 10:15 PM

Thanks for the definition. The leather does jut out into up space maybe by having it touch something like another rock it will stop dropping branches. It makes a lot of sense as a survival technique goes. Try to spread out before something does. Thanks for the idea.

jojo22 · 12-12-2006, 10:27 PM

I'll take a frag if you want to sell any little ones that pop up!!

Whoyah · 12-12-2006, 10:58 PM

Or how about a trade? I am all about trading. I have a few branches dropping as we speak. Send me a PM and we can work out the details.

jojo22 · 12-12-2006, 11:14 PM

You have PM.

reefbound · 12-31-2006, 08:13 AM

Mine is doing the same exact thing... I have three 50 cent size piece's floating around the tank bottom right now,with two more ready to drop.
I thought I had a small nudi eating the leather.

Whoyah · 12-31-2006, 09:40 AM

I redirected a powerhead so that leather is getting stronger but not direct current and it has stopped dropping branches plus looks really good. It has started to regrow some of the branches it dropped. You might try that.