Is my new colt leather okay?

[bubba005]

This colt leather I purchased yesterday has not yet opened up. Today, it has been secreting this stringy mucus stuff. Is this coral just shedding, or does this mean it is dying?

 

[KrisReef]

Obviously it wasn't happy to be moved, which isn't uncommon among corals.

The slime hopefully is it just doing its thing, being a soft coral and shedding, weeping, and looking funky in shock.

The strings kinda of look like bacteria or something present in your tank that is interacting with the coral and growing out of control over it, which always makes me worried when something like this manifests itself on a new addition.

I might use a baster or powerhead to gentle blow the stringy stuff off of the coral. If the situation continues for a few more days, then I might increase or decrease the lights and adjust the water flow and see how the situation responds to the changes.

It does not mean it is going to die immediately, but if it doesn't snap out of the behavior, or if it gets "uglier" then I would start making light and current changes to see if that helps.

You didn't post parameters, some would ask for that information, I would ask if you use carbon or polyfilter in the system and add one or both if you are not currently. Also didn't say if you have other soft corals, they sometimes release chemicals to attack their neighbors, but all in all they are fairly hardy and I expect this one to bounce back once it gets settled in.