Hammer Coral Question

[TheSun126]

Hey folks, I’m relatively new here and just looking for a bit of help. I bought this hammer (first picture) yesterday at my LFS and the guy at the store said that this head (2nd picture) had started to retract but should recover pretty quickly after acclimating. I drip acclimated it for 40 minutes and glued it down on my rock work. The other heads came back out really quick, like almost as soon as I put it in the water, but now looking at that middle head it seems to have retracted further and I’m not sure what to do. Any recommendations?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would leave it. I'm sure there are other options, but sometimes its interesting to just see what will happen. Good luck

 

[spicymikey]

Yes you should just leave it at this point. Moving from one tank to another is always stressful and almost every coral is going to go through something like that for the first couple days to a week. Water chemistry is different than what it was in before. The lighting is different. The temperature is different. It's all stressful and quite frankly sometimes things die during a transfer.

 

[TheSun126]

Thanks for the quick responses, I'll leave it as it is for now.

 

[patrck17]

I am equally newb, and I had a hammer coral that looked almost just like that, then started doing the same thing a day or two after I placed it in my tank. Looked a lot like the image with the skeleton showing. I messed with it and it died. Sounds like these guys have the right idea.

 

[bubbgee]

Usually when a hammer retracts like that, it is either a flow issue or light issue. It needs to be low for flow and light to acclimate to the tank -- like I wouldn't glue it immediately into the rockwork without testing if it likes that area or not. At least from my experience.

@VintageReefer thoughts?

 

[VintageReefer]

If 2 heads open then placement is probably good and the third one needs time

 

[TheSun126]

Thanks again for all the advice, my hammer is looking better each day. Starting to show tissue on the bottom of the middle head again and the top and bottom are opening pretty well

 

[BriDroid]

Honestly, I think they’re pretty tough. A little picky at first, but one they get comfortable they’ll open up.

 

[BryanM]

I am also in the leave it alone camp, and hopeful that the one head recovers.