Toadstool coral with brown stuff on it

[fishyideas]

Left for two weeks as I was on a trip
Nitrates spiked to 50, have it under control now
There’s this brown stuff growing on my toadstool
Toadstool was very healthy before that
Any ideas?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Leather corals need to shed their outer layer of skin, its how they clean themselves, they need to be in higher flow area.

 

[Timfish]

Near as i can tell from what I've read every coral has to shed it's surface mucus layer occasionally as it ages and the microbes in it start to shift to less favorable species You can GENTLY brush it off or GENTLY blow it off with a turkey baster but I would for the most part leave it alone. Bothering it too much will keep it closed up limiting it's ability to feed.

Here's some stuff to read if you want to go down the rabbit hole a little further

The microbiome of coral surface mucus has a key role in mediating holobiont health and survival upon disturbance

Microbes are well-recognized members of the coral holobiont. However, little is known about the short-term dynamics of mucus-associated microbial communities under natural conditions and after disturbances, and how these dynamics relate to the host's ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Regulation of microbial populations by coral surface mucus and mucus-associated bacteria on JSTOR

Kim B. Ritchie, Regulation of microbial populations by coral surface mucus and mucus-associated bacteria, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 322 (September 20 2006), pp. 1-14

www.jstor.org

Coral mucus functions as an energy carrier and particle trap in the reef ecosystem - PubMed

Zooxanthellae, endosymbiotic algae of reef-building corals, substantially contribute to the high gross primary production of coral reefs, but corals exude up to half of the carbon assimilated by their zooxanthellae as mucus. Here we show that released coral mucus efficiently traps organic matter...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

On the Importance of the Microbiome and Pathobiome in Coral Health and Disease

The term “microbiome” was first coined in 1988 and given the definition of a characteristic microbial community occupying a reasonably well defined habitat which has distinct physio-chemical properties. A more recent term has also emerged, taking this one step further and focusing on diseases in...

www.frontiersin.org

Frontiers | Mucus Sugar Content Shapes the Bacterial Community Structure in Thermally Stressed Acropora muricata

It has been proposed that the chemical composition of a coral’s mucus can influence the associated bacterial community. However, information on this topic is...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[vetteguy53081]

Leather corals need to shed their outer layer of skin, its how they clean themselves, they need to be in higher flow area.

This is a result of the lack of water flow and often based on location in the tank where flow is broken up or even a ded spot. Add or am a powerhead towards it, not at it. Begin with light scrub with a Soft toothbrush and giving the entire stem and cap of the coral a few bursts with a turkey baster to loosen likely film on it from flow issue. Moderate light heavier in blue also best

 

[fishyideas]

Thanks for the replies, will try out some of the methods panicking as I have never seen the brown stuff on it’s stem before in the months I had it