Sarcophyton sp (Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral)

Source: liveaquaria.com

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Easy
  
• Temperament: Peaceful
  
• Lighting: Moderate to High
  
• Waterflow: Medium
  
• Placement: All
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Color Form: Tan
  
• Origin: Fiji, Indo-Pacific, Maldives
  
• Family: Alcyoniidae
  
• Insert Date: 19 February 2011

The Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral is referred to as Sarcophyton Coral, Mushroom, Leather, or Trough Corals. They are found in various shades of brown, tan or green, with white or gold polyps. It is difficult to identify many species because they all have the similar appearance of a mushroom or toadstool, each with a distinct stalk and capitulum (cap). As they grow older, they develop a folded appearance.
The Toadstool Mushroom Leather Corals are relatively peaceful, but adequate space should be provided between them and other corals in the reef aquarium. Some can produce toxins which are harmful to other reef inhabitants. The brown Sarcophyton Leather Corals from Idonesia and Tonga are easy to maintain in the reef aquarium and make an excellent coral for the beginning through expert reef aquarist. Toadstool Mushroom Leather Corals require medium to high lighting combined with medium to strong water movement. For continued good health, they will also require the addition of iodine, strontium, and other trace elements to the water.

Culturing by the experienced hobbyist is often accomplished by cutting off a portion of the Coral's crown and attaching that piece to live rock or placing it in the sandy bottom of the reef aquarium.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within its body provides the majority of its nutritional needs from the light driven process of photosynthesis. It will also benefit from additional food such as micro-plankton, baby brine shrimp, or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.

This little Toadstool came from a large rock that I bought long time ago which was full of Toadstool leather corals and mushrooms and buttons. This is unfortunately the only piece that survived. On April 6 I placed the Toadstool on my project called crab-rock, which was moved around couple of times from the sump to the Red Sea Max and finally ended up in the crab part of the aquarium.
This was during the first rebuild on 6 July.


And 10 days later with the latest rebuild it looked like this.