white on tips of finger leather

[goldielox]

I have a large finger leather, and on one of the branches some of the tips have turned white.  What causes this and is there anything I can do?

[fishboy]

Pictures would be helpful...

[Funkmotor]

It may just be shedding...leathers will do that regularly.  If it's still firm to the touch, you're okay.

If it lasts for more than 3-4 days, it might need more flow to blow the shed clear.

[goldielox]

Here are a couple of pictures, the quality isn't that great.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[groan]

I have a hard coral (digitata?) that gets those, it looks like standard skeletal growth. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[Funkmotor]

Well, leathers will have sclerites (small calcareous bits) in them that give them some degree of firmness, but they don't have a skeleton as such.

From the pics, it looks like the ends may be damaged.

If the 2 affected fingers are being eaten away by this then I'd say you should take a razor and cut off the 2 affected ends.  You don't have to cut those fingers right off, just make sure you're cutting through healthy flesh to completely excise the damaged stuff.

The leather will slime when you do that, but it doesn't look that big so I wouldn't worry about it as long as your skimmer is operating at the time.  Watch it to make sure it doesn't overflow, though.

As for the ends you cut off, throw them out.

If they aren't being eaten away, then it could just be damage.  As long as it doesn't progress, it may very well heal over all by itself.  It can certainly take time.

I don't know if you spot-feed anything, but a nice shot of phyto or reef roids (or something similar) is very appreciated by my finger leather.

Hope that helps.