Did a creature do this? Or is it PBO?

[canadianeh]

Another day another issue.

woke up this morning and found piece of the coral dangling like this. Is this PBO (polyps bail out)? Or, did a creature in my tank did this?

I have no angelfish in my tank. I have peppermint shrimp and is it possible that my peppermint shrimp did this to my hammer?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Peppermint can be and are known to get destructive.
What are your tank parameters and what test kits are you using ?
With bailouts, usually too much water flow or lighting is present, polyps get stressed and bail

 

[Uncle99]

Yup, at times, they do damage.
I always wonder if they just bug the crap out of it and it bails, or the pest actually consumes.
I will never keep another, but, Skunks and Red Fires so far, so good.

 

[vetteguy53081]

To add, these coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.

 

[canadianeh]

Peppermint can be and are known to get destructive.
What are your tank parameters and what test kits are you using ?
With bailouts, usually too much water flow or lighting is present, polyps get stressed and bail

I got 5 of them to battle aiptasia and they worked. After a month my tank is aiptasia free. I guess it is time to sell them? Thinking of keeping them just in case of aiptasia.

alk 8.76 trident
Cal 443 trident
Mag 1481 trident
Nitrate super low or none.
phosphate was 0.05 last week.

my alk is swinging from 8.8x to 9.1x. Will this cause polyp bail out? Flow - two MP40s set at 30% max and lower at other times. Light- two xr15 blue at 60% or lower.

 

[Goaway]

It looks like the hammer got munched on. Keep an eye out on the coral as much as possible. Its probably the shrimp

 

[Goaway]

my alk is swinging from 8.8x to 9.1x. Will this cause polyp bail out?

I highly doubt that. More sensitive sps will though. But, maybe someone who knows better will correct me.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I got 5 of them to battle aiptasia and they worked. After a month my tank is aiptasia free. I guess it is time to sell them? Thinking of keeping them just in case of aiptasia.

alk 8.76 trident
Cal 443 trident
Mag 1481 trident
Nitrate super low or none.
phosphate was 0.05 last week.

my alk is swinging from 8.8x to 9.1x. Will this cause polyp bail out? Flow - two MP40s set at 30% max and lower at other times. Light- two xr15 blue at 60% or lower.

Put them in the sump. There may be aptasia down there