This is the Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral several days after performing a simple cleaning procedure of the substrate in our 92 gallon reef tank. It was determined that due to the amount of fine sediment that was suspended in the water from stirring up the sand, and periodically blowing water over the coral with a turkey baster to remove any debris that settled on top of it, this caused the coral to respond and go into the shedding mode.
In the first phase of shedding, the coral closed up and shrank, and the surface took on a waxy appearance. The coral remained in this stage for several days before it actually started to shed, as seen in the next picture.
