Hammer coral

[Jblaine]

sorry I am new to this hobby and not sure what I should try. My hammer coral for the last few days has not been extending. I am battling a green hair algae problem at the moment. Not sure if I need to do something for it
Thanks
Jon

Water parameters are currently
Nitrate 2 ppm
Phosphate.02 ppm
All 8.4 dkh
calcium 396 ppm
Magnesium 1480 ppm
Ph 8.2
Salinity 1.026
Temp 76° F

 

[lapin]

It could be its trying to adjust to the new tank. How long have you had it?
Could be a difference in flow, alk, light ect.. from what it was used too

 

[Jblaine]

It could be its trying to adjust to the new tank. How long have you had it?
Could be a difference in flow, alk, light ect.. from what it was used too

I have had it for about 3 weeks. It has never opened all the way. Currently it look like this

 

[BlennyTime]

What’s on the rock to the right of it? Looks kinda like aptasia. Could be irritating it.

Your calcium is a little low as well.

You could try moving it somewhere else in the tank, to see how it does.

 

[tnewell]

Try doing a water change, and moving it to a lower flow/light area

 

[Jblaine]

What’s on the rock to the right of it? Looks kinda like aptasia. Could be irritating it.

Your calcium is a little low as well.

You could try moving it somewhere else in the tank, to see how it does.

thats a Rock anemone

 

[Jblaine]

Try doing a water change, and moving it to a lower flow/light area

Going to do a water change and vacuum the sand bed tomorro. Just mixed some salt up this afternoon

 

[DinoMagnet]

Check around the ceramic discs my toadstool grows aiptasia around it and it doesn’t open up all the way.

 

[Jblaine]

Check around the ceramic discs my toadstool grows aiptasia around it and it doesn’t open up all the way.

What is that and is it bad?

 

[DinoMagnet]

What is that and is it bad?

It’s a pest anemone in other words. And it’s sting is powerful to fish and corals with the potential to kill them.

 

[tnewell]

It’s a pest anemone in other words. And it’s sting is powerful to fish and corals with the potential to kill them.

It pretty much looks like a zoa but brown and ugly. It’s stupid invasive and will take over your tank if you don’t deal with it, if you even have it to begin with.

 

[tnewell]

It pretty much looks like a zoa but brown and ugly. It’s stupid invasive and will take over your tank if you don’t deal with it, if you even have it to begin with.

I still think if you move it, and add some new water then leave it be for a couple hours, it should adjust. My wall hammer does the same thing when I haven’t done a water change in awhile.

 

[kartrsu]

A couple of thoughts and sorry for the exhaustive list, but hopefully helpful.

1. Have you dipped for pests when you received it? CoralRX or Revive are great.
2. How are other corals doing in the tank? If okay and are also LPS, might not be parameters or water quality (though Ca a bit low).
3. If above are okay, then it could be placement. Try moving to area of low light / low flow and see if that helps.
4. If moving it doesn't help over next week or so or you get tissue recession, then do an iodine dip. Can use lugols or Seachem reef dip. This will help with any bacterial issues, etc.
5. Hopefully by now, it's all good. If not, might just be better to leave it alone and give it time to adjust in low flow / low light.

Hope that helps. Usually how I troubleshoot my euphyllia problems. Sometimes I will do a water change too, but usually that causes more parameter swings and your parameters look good for the most part.

 

[tnewell]

A couple of thoughts and sorry for the exhaustive list, but hopefully helpful.

1. Have you dipped for pests when you received it? CoralRX or Revive are great.
2. How are other corals doing in the tank? If okay and are also LPS, might not be parameters or water quality (though Ca a bit low).
3. If above are okay, then it could be placement. Try moving to area of low light / low flow and see if that helps.
4. If moving it doesn't help over next week or so or you get tissue recession, then do an iodine dip. Can use lugols or Seachem reef dip. This will help with any bacterial issues, etc.
5. Hopefully by now, it's all good. If not, might just be better to leave it alone and give it time to adjust in low flow / low light.

Hope that helps. Usually how I troubleshoot my euphyllia problems. Sometimes I will do a water change too, but usually that causes more parameter swings and your parameters look good for the most part.

2nd this

 

[Jblaine]

2nd this

A couple of thoughts and sorry for the exhaustive list, but hopefully helpful.

1. Have you dipped for pests when you received it? CoralRX or Revive are great.
2. How are other corals doing in the tank? If okay and are also LPS, might not be parameters or water quality (though Ca a bit low).
3. If above are okay, then it could be placement. Try moving to area of low light / low flow and see if that helps.
4. If moving it doesn't help over next week or so or you get tissue recession, then do an iodine dip. Can use lugols or Seachem reef dip. This will help with any bacterial issues, etc.
5. Hopefully by now, it's all good. If not, might just be better to leave it alone and give it time to adjust in low flow / low light.

Hope that helps. Usually how I troubleshoot my euphyllia problems. Sometimes I will do a water change too, but usually that causes more parameter swings and your parameters look good for the most part.

Just did a 30%water change. All other corals seem to be ok at the moment. I did dip the hammer when I got it. Also, I moved it after the water change. Thanks I will try to keep an update

 

[Jblaine]

A couple of thoughts and sorry for the exhaustive list, but hopefully helpful.

1. Have you dipped for pests when you received it? CoralRX or Revive are great.
2. How are other corals doing in the tank? If okay and are also LPS, might not be parameters or water quality (though Ca a bit low).
3. If above are okay, then it could be placement. Try moving to area of low light / low flow and see if that helps.
4. If moving it doesn't help over next week or so or you get tissue recession, then do an iodine dip. Can use lugols or Seachem reef dip. This will help with any bacterial issues, etc.
5. Hopefully by now, it's all good. If not, might just be better to leave it alone and give it time to adjust in low flow / low light.

Hope that helps. Usually how I troubleshoot my euphyllia problems. Sometimes I will do a water change too, but usually that causes more parameter swings and your parameters look good for the most part.

Here is an update pic. Hammer still seems the same but not sure but it looks like some algae and something else growing on hammer. Not sure if I should do a hydrogen peroxide dip or Seachem Reef dip. That’s all I have currently med wise. All other corals look good at this time.

 

[kartrsu]

Here is an update pic. Hammer still seems the same but not sure but it looks like some algae and something else growing on hammer. Not sure if I should do a hydrogen peroxide dip or Seachem Reef dip. That’s all I have currently med wise. All other corals look good at this time.

You could use peroxide on a swab and dab the area after you pull the coral out of water. Just try to avoid getting it on the coral to not add further stress.

Have you noticed any tissue recession? If not, we are still doing okay. Did you do the iodine dip? Might be worth a try if moving to low flow low light doesn’t work. Not sure how often you do water changes, but try to do smaller ones more frequently or avoid altogether for a bit so parameters are more stable.

End of the day, it could be adjusting to your conditions, a process that has taken 2 weeks or more for me for some euphyllia. Keep thing to watch is tissue recession!

 

[Jblaine]

You could use peroxide on a swab and dab the area after you pull the coral out of water. Just try to avoid getting it on the coral to not add further stress.

Have you noticed any tissue recession? If not, we are still doing okay. Did you do the iodine dip? Might be worth a try if moving to low flow low light doesn’t work. Not sure how often you do water changes, but try to do smaller ones more frequently or avoid altogether for a bit so parameters are more stable.

End of the day, it could be adjusting to your conditions, a process that has taken 2 weeks or more for me for some euphyllia. Keep thing to watch is tissue recession!

Thanks for the reply. I haven’t noticed any tissue recession that I’m a where of and I did do a iodine dip before it went in the tank. I haven’t done one sense. Will try it again and see what happens. As for the water changes, I do about 15-20% water change every two weeks.