Hammer coral stressed need advice

[Jeisold]

Hey all, new reefer here in need of advice from the knowledgeable!
Back story: My tank has been up since August so 5 months, month ago I started adding some soft coral, then I went for the wwc black Friday sale anyway Initisl gsp, and zoa's from the sale are going ok it looks like to me. My hammer from the sale is another story.
Branching neon hammer, first few days it seemed to be going strong was opening and looking good to me, a few days ago I noticed it was looking withered, it still opens during the day but just looks deflated, some of the tenticles are almost gone now, shriveled up like a grape. Picture doesn't quite show as much as the eye can see. It's been expelling brown stringy stuff from each mouth, at first I thought was waste but it's almost every other day so I'm worried about zooxanthellae. It seems to have lost green coloration, but it's not turning white. Parameters are below any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Tank: 36 gal bowfront with additional ~10 gal in sump.

Temp:78.5
Sal: 1.025
Ammonia:0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Phosphate: 0 (seem to have trouble building this haha)
Calc: 420
Alk: 7.5 (too low?)
Ph:8.3
Lighting is single ai prime

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate should be in the 0.03 - .1ppm range or you’ll starve corals.

 

[Gtinnel]

I used to have problems keeping nitrates and phosphates above 0 and when they were at 0 my corals were always unhappy.

 

[Jeisold]

Thank you, i feed lrs reef frenzy 1 - 2 times a day (current stock is pair of clowns and a diamond goby). Maybe some flakes to try and get some phosphate in there?

 

[corey904]

Make sure that you are testing you parameters enough to keep absolute stability (alk is number 1) also some hammers in my tank prefer lower flow when they are healing( I got a hologram hammer that was very stressed from shipping and lower flow helped it heal) but it does depend on the hammer. Are you having any other troubles with other corals? And you can buy phos and nitrate dosages by bright well or Red Sea.

 

[Jeisold]

Sadly yes, a pink chalice frag my wife picked.. it bleached this week also, only some pink remaining, I have it in a shady spot, it did this even with the prime in acclimation. And an earthbound echinata frag, which just doesn't do much, i never see feeding response or sweepers, but still has all it's color. Hoping it's just adapting.
Gsp, zoa's, pipe organ all seem fine. Noticeable growth from the gsp across it's island rock
I'll look into phosphate supplements thanks!

 

[corey904]

Bleaching can happen from many different things but it could be relating to temperature which would explain the hammer as well. An inkbird temperature controller are very useful to control that. I use 3 ai primes for my 40 gallon mixed reef here is my lighting setup if your interested

 

[Jeisold]

thank you, it's actually on an inkbird wifi already, guess I should find another thermometer to use as reference.
I did kinda figure i might have to add a second prime to fill in the sides but hoped i could get away with one at first, thanks for your settings, i notice your running higher than I am, without a par meter I was concerned about going too hot.
I have ordered some brightwell phos, see if I can boost phosphate numbers a touch.

 

[Jeisold]

Well unfortunately this hammer is continuing to waste away. I got neophos from brightwell, dosed according to bottle, then dosed more... Tried a couple times i still can't get any reading on the test even using the high res method (salifert test) it always comes out clear like plain water. I confirmed the test and phos works by dosing into a cup of saltwater, but in my tank its like it's being absorbed or removed instantly, or something. Nitrate stays put in 5-10 area (based on color) the only thing that's changed coral wise from attempting to add phos is my xenia is now mighty unhappy it's retracted almost to a stump. I'm testing daily so I know things aren't swinging. New photo showing how retracted and still expelling zooxanthellae. Wondering if it's just terminal at this point. Still wondering what killed it.

 

[serez]

Well unfortunately this hammer is continuing to waste away. I got neophos from brightwell, dosed according to bottle, then dosed more... Tried a couple times i still can't get any reading on the test even using the high res method (salifert test) it always comes out clear like plain water. I confirmed the test and phos works by dosing into a cup of saltwater, but in my tank its like it's being absorbed or removed instantly, or something. Nitrate stays put in 5-10 area (based on color) the only thing that's changed coral wise from attempting to add phos is my xenia is now mighty unhappy it's retracted almost to a stump. I'm testing daily so I know things aren't swinging. New photo showing how retracted and still expelling zooxanthellae. Wondering if it's just terminal at this point. Still wondering what killed it.

The same thing is happening to mine ever since I glued it on the rock. I had it on the sand bed for a couple of weeks and it was healthy.
do u have any fish that might be nipping it? This is my suspicion.

 

[Jeisold]

Hey, well after that post I kinda just accepted it was gone but left it I'm. Few weeks later it started inflating again and now every day it's completely full and looking great! Odd. But I guess that's how things go sometimes, best thing I did was leave it be haha

 

[corey904]

That’s great! And yea corals in general but especially euphilias do weird things sometimes for the most random reasons but good to hear

 

[Jeisold]

Sure is a lot to learn about in this hobby! Not that that's a bad thing!.. thank you.
..note.. I will say in relation to my previous post I never did actually have a low phosphate issue, just turns out the salifert test is useless till you get quite a level in the system. Got a Hanna low range, and realized my numbers were fine despite the other test reading solid zeros haha!

 

[serez]

Hey, well after that post I kinda just accepted it was gone but left it I'm. Few weeks later it started inflating again and now every day it's completely full and looking great! Odd. But I guess that's how things go sometimes, best thing I did was leave it be haha

Oh fantastic that gives me hope!!!

 

[serez]

My hammer coral looked good most of the day and then poof brown stuff came out of it out of nowhere
Mouth wide open

And then 5 minutes later it shriveled up

Is it having a moody day or what???

 

[Jeisold]

If your parameters are ok and nothings changed recently I'd guess just moody. Though I'm honestly beginner myself! Wish I could be more help

 

[serez]

If your parameters are ok and nothings changed recently I'd guess just moody. Though I'm honestly beginner myself! Wish I could be more help

Yeah it was totally just moody lol hammers are so moody! Hahaha

 

[Jeisold]

Haha I know right!. Im learning alot of corals are.. got one acan been mostly closed for over a week, now it's starting to open again. Lol

 

[serez]

Haha I know right!. Im learning alot of corals are.. got one acan been mostly closed for over a week, now it's starting to open again. Lol

I find my torch to be the most nonchalant