Hammer growth or signs of trouble?

[Ralph Ritoch]

I dont know if the ammonia and nitrate could be a problem, but I grow quite a lot of hammer and it sounds like it is definitely reacting to something. what is the flow on it and how old is the tank? also, I do agree with the above that it is bleached. plus the already missing heads are suspicious. I would say it probably needs better lighting as well. I would also try to raise you SG (slowly) to about 1.026. I find my hammers do better with that.

edit: just noticed your temp. I agree that is way to high

The hammer color changed to more green after it was feed. I suspect it has been under-feed. There are also flowerpot coral in this tank so increasing the SG to 1.026 doesn't seem to be an option. They are ultra sensitive and I don't feel comfortable changing any spec until I have the reef roids in my hand. Right now the flowerpot coral are only eating flake food but are currently fully bloomed.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

What

The water is already at about 88 degrees when its collected so there's no temperature change. With my weekly water changes I haven't really thought much about topping off the tank. I just let the level go down and test regularly, usually before and after the water change. I had one salinity jump in the past month which I thought was mostly due to the weather change (cooling) but it could have been the evaporation. Every other time salinity was high I used it as an excuse to add ice. I already have a 15W PC fan blowing across the tank on hot days. If it isn't hot I don't turn it on.

What is the ice water ? As in rodi?

 

[Mykawl]

Lol sounds like your having quite the adventure, you really need to get the salinity swings under control though that is top priority. Second would be temperature and lighting.

Just to clarify your are gathering brackish water then adding salt until 1.024?

And when your tank evaporates you are topping off with more salt water? You want to top off with ro/di or distilled water because salt doesn’t evaporate out so salinity will keep rising.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

What

What is the ice water ? As in rodi?

Honestly I don't know. The water used for the ice is our drinking water. It is either RO or RODI. I have a RO machine but no one likes to drink that water, its used for the fish tank, our pets, and dishes.

 

[Mykawl]

You can feed all you want most corals get 75% or more of their nutrients from light so if you don’t have proper lighting and try to stabilize tank these guys aren’t gonna be happy.

Their color comes from the symbiotic zoxanthelle if I’m not mistaken and zoxanthelle (like an algae) only feed on light not foods.

I can’t imagine 88 degrees is viable but sounds like there’s nothing you can do about it, pretty interesting journey so far : D keep at it!

 

[Mykawl]

I find it hard to believe their color is changing within minutes I think this is something else your observing at least I haven’t read anything on them being able to do this usually it takes weeks or months. Better and more pictures are always helpful theres a bad glare in those other pictures

 

[Cassian]

The hammer color changed to more green after it was feed. I suspect it has been under-feed. There are also flowerpot coral in this tank so increasing the SG to 1.026 doesn't seem to be an option. They are ultra sensitive and I don't feel comfortable changing any spec until I have the reef roids in my hand. Right now the flowerpot coral are only eating flake food but are currently fully bloomed.

ah ok. didn't know about the flowerpot. your current SG isn't bad or harmful, but getting it up sometime in the future may improve your results.

also, you say the flesh is hanging out of the skeleton. Is the flesh attached to the skeleton at all or are the edges just hanging over?

 

[Amboss72]

Another notable feature of this coral is that 5 heads are missing, 3 on one side, two on the other. It was this way when I bought it. I don't know why it grew in this way and didn't fill the empty tubes.

The empty heads are dead. New growth will look like tiny little buds coming off the main skeletal structure and they will already have flesh within them. I see euphylia coral like this frequently where there are a few dead heads. I often see heads die if they’ve been placed by another aggressive coral. In my experience the dead heads have no impact on the live heads. The exception being brown jelly. I can’t see polyp bail out from the photo. All I see is a few dead heads and some polyps extended out further than others

 

[ChiSox Rabbitfish]

What do you feed your hammers ?
I’ve never feed my hammers or frogspawn they only like light and have split several times.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

What do you feed your hammers ?
I’ve never feed my hammers or frogspawn they only like light and have split several times.

Mine are the same.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

What do you feed your hammers ?
I’ve never feed my hammers or frogspawn they only like light and have split several times.

They like the coralific delight.