leather

[liquafaction]

I have a small patch of cabbage leathers. One appears to have died off. I was thinking of plucking it out of the tank, but my wife said she read that sometimes they get inactive (or go dormant), and then they will come back. Is this true? I was also wondering if this is natures sign of any other problems.

[BrianH]

It's hard to tell without a picture but yes, leathers have a habit of shriveling up for no apparent reason. You will see this reaction if you touch them. Sometimes it is a simple as a hermit crab crawling over them. I would let it stay for a while(at least a few days) and see what happens. If this doesn't work try moving the leather into a higher flow area before losing hope.

Brian

[mogurnda]

Leathers will definitely pout. My toadstool pulls in its polyps whenever anyone walks on it. Also at night. If the flesh is firm, it's probably ok and will open up soon. Take it out if it's mushy. Borneman's book describes the phenomenon under "false alarms."

[liquafaction]

brian,
sense you said something about flow, that reminded me. I had it in higher flow untill I introduce my anemone. The flow that was effecting my leathers, was bouncing off of the glass, and blowing my anemone around. I turned the power head so as not to effect my anemone so harshly. That may have somthing to do with it

mogurnda,
the leather is still soft, but firm.

[gcvt]

Yep - in a few days, you may see your leather shedding a 'waxy' layer....that's normal, and it should perk up again after it's finished. One of my leathers does this on a regular basis and my other one never does it...go figure.

[liquafaction]

get this, I was looking at it last night real close, and it looks like a buch of roots, or worms are coming out of the bottom of the stalk.

lets see if I can describe this.

the head of the leather kinda faces about 15 deg. from the water level. The stock or stump grows perpindicular with the water level, and makes an abrupt 80 deg turn into the rock it is attached. Basically it grows out of the side of a rock, then up. At the bend of the stump, there are about 8-12 white "stick, root, worm" looking things comeing out. they are about the size of an 07 mm pencil lead, and about 1/8 to 1/4 inch in length, perpindicular with the bottom of the tank.

[mogurnda]

Two things I can think of:
1. They are polyps, it's growing a new head.
2. It's disintegrating, and you're seeing clusters if sclerites.

Do they retract? What happens if you touch them?

[ereefic]

Here's a pic of my leather, one is open the other is in the process of "shedding".

[liquafaction]

I finally had the chance to mess with these. This one leather is still not opening up. The things growing out of the stump do not react to touch. They are really stiff (spiny) and almost sharp.

[mogurnda]

Sounds like #2 on my list.