NEED HELP WITH LEATHERS

[dadstank]

Hi. I am Ben, and I am in need of some advice. I have been tending my father's reef tank for the last seven months. Without much drama I caught on pretty quick. However, here is my situation right now:

changed water sunday, today is now friday and my leathers have not recovered. All three look the same. This is not the first water change I have done, however it is the first time i have ever gotten down, dirty, AND REALLY cleaned out the skimmer, and sub tank that holds it. this is not saying that these units were that dirty. Honestly i was done cleaning in less than ten minutes. Needless to say this was one of the largest water changes I have done and my Leathers have not recovered.

water parameters:

salinity = 1.027 (usually 1.025-26 and just topped off sub tank with fresh)
temp = 72.8 (usually 71.6-73.1)
Posphates = .05+ - 1 (still can't get these to drop. mom agrees, this is where it has been all along <six month average>)
Nitrite/Nitrate = 0/0
PH = 8.3

Thoughts...
please?
This is what the leathers have looked like since sunday mid-morning, with six full days under direct light.

 

[Anonymous]

72.8 is a pretty low temp IMO, I keep my leathers at about 80. Were they looking good at that temp. previously?

Try raising the temp to see if that helps. 1.027 is slightly on the high side for SG, but I don't think it would make as much of a difference as the temp.
Just a thought.

HTH

-Marcus

 

[petey]

Raise the temp.. Thats kinda low..
But, I just moved my leather from one tank to another and it did the same thing for like 4 days. They just shrink up for a bit and slough off some mucous to get rid of dirt n grime. Give it a few days.

 

[dadstank]

The temp in the tank has been the same for at the very least the last six months and everything has been in harmony...

 

[Rlumenator]

My leathers do the same occassionally- they slough off their old skin, then return to their former selves. It was scary the first time it happened, until I read that this is normal.

 

[tinyreef]

what exactly did you clean? e.g. carbon replacement, media replacement, vacuuming, shifting/rearranging, etc.?

certain maintenance procedures (if not done regularly-so that livestock are accustomed to the periodic changes) may shock tank inhabitants. a sudden clearing of the water from carbon replacement, a significant loss of the bio-filter mass from a media change, kicking up detritus, etc.

the middle picture doesn't look all that terrible. i have one leather (identical to that) that retracted into that stance/look for the past two years. it had looked 'better' when i first bought it. d'oh!

try cleaning the other leathers with a blast of current just in case there's debris on them. if you don't see any water parameter changes just give them a couple of days. if you still have issues then something may be 'wrong'. hth

 

[starfish 1]

I would definitly raise the temperature to at least 75 and bring salinity down to 1.025 by adding more clean fresh water for evaporation..have you checked KH and calcium levels.

 

[SpecialK]

If you raise your temp do it slowly, very slow like over a 2 week time period.

Kaye