Cannot Keep Hammers

[Nick30G]

Hello all,

I have a issue i keep banging my head against the wall on. I cannot seem to keep hammer corals for more then 6 months or so. I have 2 hammer frags, It all started with on one of the hammers head slowly loosing tissue (I am talking very slowly, over a period of months) Eventually that head died but the other heads were nice and happy so I dident worry. About a month later after that head died, the other head that was previous nice a healthy slowly started to have tissue recession. From the bottom up, and slowly the tissue died over the course of about a month or two as well. Currently that coral has a slither of tissue left, so its not completely dead yet but very close. My other hammer coral which was thriving and growing new heads, was just fine at that time. Once again after about another month after that other hammer died. This hammer coral started with tissue recession. Currently about 50% of the tissue is gone as of this post and has been loosing tissue over a few months now but is getting worse and worse. However my other corals in my tank are completely unaffected which is why im so confused. I have a frogspawn, Bubble Coral, and Acans that are thriving and are slowly growing. I keep my water parameters quite stable with a doser. The only explanation i have found is either starvation (I have 0 nitrates) or some unexplained bacterial infection. I have recently picked up Red Sea Reef Energy Amino Acids and Reef Roids. I have been feeding reef roids twice weekly and Reef energy everyday. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now, with no noticeable improvement to the hammer tissue recession. So i am completely confused and have pretty much given up, what else could it be in this situation?

Parameters:
Alk: 8.1 Dkh (I keep it in the 8.0-8.5 range)
Cal 445 ppm
Mag: 1500 ppm
Phosphate: 0.037 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
I dose 20ml of BRS 2 part via my doser which doses 8 times per day
I run Rox 0.8 Carbon in a mini reactor.

 

[jda]

I have only struggled with LPS when my salinity was not at NSW levels. What is your salinity and what do you measure it with? Have you tested or calibrated your tool lately?

 

[Nick30G]

I have only struggled with LPS when my salinity was not at NSW levels. What is your salinity and what do you measure it with? Have you tested or calibrated your tool lately?

I use a Refractometer. It measures usually between 1.025-1.026. Before I even put water into the tank before a water change I check the calibration on the meter with calibration solution. I usually never have to adjust it as its dead on. I can confirm that the refractometer is accurate. Last time i checked my salinity was a few days ago and it was 1.025

 

[Nikita1981]

My bet is the zero nitrates. I've had hammers thrive with nitrates well in the 20 something range. I would bump it to 5 and see what happens.

 

[Nick30G]

My bet is the zero nitrates. I've had hammers thrive with nitrates well in the 20 something range. I would bump it to 5 and see what happens.

Well to combat that like I said i started dosing Red Sea Reef Energy Amino Acids and started feeding reef roids. The aminos and reef roids should be sufficiently feeding the coral. Like I said this is only affecting my Hammer Corals, All other corals in my tank are completely fine and are slowly growing so that is why i am so confused.

 

[AdamNC]

Could also try Brightwell Aquatics NeoNitro and NeoPhos. Make sure if your raising your No3 to balance it out with comparable Po4.

 

[kichimark]

Hmmm that is an interesting situation with just one head at a time receding. Something like that has happened to me in the past but with multiple heads and it was due to temp swings. I then kept the tank a little cooler (from 81 to about 77-76) and the tissue stop receding as much and grew back.

 

[JohnMzreef]

A lot of my corals get unhappy when I run carbon - so I don't. I think your water is too clean.

 

[Nick30G]

A lot of my corals get unhappy when I run carbon - so I don't. I think your water is too clean.

I may try removing my carbon for a while to see what happens. However it's interesting it only affects my hammers and nothing else.

 

[Nick30G]

Hmmm that is an interesting situation with just one head at a time receding. Something like that has happened to me in the past but with multiple heads and it was due to temp swings. I then kept the tank a little cooler (from 81 to about 77-76) and the tissue stop receding as much and grew back.

I run two Eheim Jagers 100W's on a Inkbird temperature controller which is set to 79F. It swings 1 degree between 78-79 (heater turns on at 78, off at 79), and have other thermometers in the tank to confirm its correct. So I dont believe it is that. A 1 degree temperature change per day should not hurt anything (my whole tank would be affected)

 

[DSC reef]

I may try removing my carbon for a while to see what happens. However it's interesting it only affects my hammers and nothing else.

I don't think carbon will affect your euphyllia. It will help with water clarity, removing toxins which are good things. Ran carbon in every tank we owned and had no issues with euphyllia. I would advise against any drastic changes.

 

[kichimark]

I run two Eheim Jagers 100W's on a Inkbird temperature controller which is set to 79F. It swings 1 degree between 78-79 (heater turns on at 78, off at 79), and have other thermometers in the tank to confirm its correct. So I dont believe it is that. A 1 degree temperature change per day should not hurt anything (my whole tank would be affected)

Nope that would not be an issue. A true puzzle this one is.

I agree with the carbon removal to not be done. I have always ran carbon and it has never been an issue for anything that I knew of.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

My personal opinion for what it is worth is the 0 nitrates as well. A while back I had an issue with 0 nitrate. It affected my purple tip hammer the worse out of everything else in my tank.

Now I have the opposite problem and can’t get nitrates below 50ppm. The purple tip is doing amazing. The heads, I have 3 and a new one has started to show in the past week, get super fat and pillow-ie where I cannot even see the trunk and has a deep rich color to it.

 

[biophilia]

Photosynthate alone really only provides enough carbon to keep coral alive (e.g. basic metabolic needs) under optimal lighting. For actual growth, or if your lighting is not quite adequate, there needs to be a nitrogen source available to the coral. Either as inorganic nitrogen/NO3 in the water itself or organic nitrogen via food capture. Probably worth target feeding the euphyllia or raising your nitrates (or both!).

Not sure if this might also be an issue, but I've seen euphyllia experience tissue recession when exposed to really strong, direct flow that makes the polyps whip around and tear against their own skeleton.

 

[fish farmer]

My personal opinion for what it is worth is the 0 nitrates as well. A while back I had an issue with 0 nitrate. It affected my purple tip hammer the worse out of everything else in my tank.

Now I have the opposite problem and can’t get nitrates below 50ppm. The purple tip is doing amazing. The heads, I have 3 and a new one has started to show in the past week, get super fat and pillow-ie where I cannot even see the trunk and has a deep rich color to it.

I agree that it is low nitrates as well. The hammer in my profile pic has grown incredibly fast in a filthy reef, phos around 1 and nitrates around 20. I have a rice sized baby I took off it during the summer that is about quarter sized now. I also have a purple hammer that has been doing well for several months.

BUT I have been cleaning my system up getting phos under 1 and nitrates around 10 and the big hammer isn't as full as it was.