What is causing my Leather grief ?

[mling]

A few days ago my Leather started to look like this. Not obvious but there are little black spots that have started to show up.

 

This is what is usually looks like

 

Does any one know what the problem is ? All the other corals are doing great. The only other issue I have is hair algea.

Water parameters are all normal.

 

Is this a Finger Leather ?

[Coral Hind]

Leathers shed a skin as they grow or when something stresses them like a large water change or large addition of fresh carbon. Sometimes that skin can start to break down and rot while still on the coral. Try taking a turkey baster and blowing it off.

[zygote2k]

It's probably going to slough off a layer of skin. The black spots need to be addressed though. Usually when they develop black spots, those areas are necrotic and need to be scrubbed away. I've had various leathers do this over the years and if you remove the necrotic tissue, they bounce right back.

 

Looks like a Lobophyton.

[lancer99]

Necrosis can develop when a coral gets to a certain size...it's a prelude to asexual reproduction.

 

It can also develop as a response to stress, i.e. the coral thinks it's going to die, so it deliberately "rots" parts of itself, in hopes that the remaining healthy bits will survive.

 

-R