Hammer not fully opening

[Charlie G]

Hi all,

For the past couple of days my hammer has not been opening up fully as usual. Nothing new and my parameters have not changed significantly. In fact a little better than in the past.

I have a 32 g Biocube about 18 months old

7/17
Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.6
Nitrate 6.5
Phos 0.17
Ca 400
Mg 1300

7/17
DT
Salinity 1.026
Alk 7.7 (this was dosed with 2 part)
Nitrate 8.4
Phos 0.17

First two pics were taken tonight.
The others are what it normally looks like.

Any suggestions. Is that normal?
I recently learned that I have a lot of vermatid snails and I broke a few that were close.

 

[blaxsun]

What's the flow like in your tank?

 

[Lps_lover12]

Depending on flow/par but also I find my euphyllia do this randomly too. Sometimes they aren’t fully extended but they are still open just like yours and I’m not sure why. But then after 1-2 days of they they go back to their full extension

 

[Charlie G]

For flow I use 2 Hygger wavemaker on low setting for the most part because of the tank size.
It seems like the wavemaker on the right was pointing right at it. I don’t think it was always like that. Maybe the power cord was pulled and diverted it to that direction so I tilted it away. Let’s see if that helps.

As for PAR I have this hammer since 10/2022. Nothing has changed.

My torch did this for a few days maybe about 6 or 8 months ago then opened up again.

Maybe something irritating it.
Hopefully it’s just temporary.

 

[Charlie G]

Hammer still not opening. Same as in my first two pictures. It’s been about 5 days. Should I be worrying or just wait and see?

The only parameter swing I have noticed is that my phosphate has gone from 0.22 which it has remained consistent for 6-8 months to 0.17 to 0.1 to 0.08. (Last night) over a two week span.

Parameters last night
Temp77-78
Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.5 dKH
Nitrate 7.3 ppm
Phos 0.08 ppm

 

[codenfx]

I find that they like higher magnesium. I keep mine around 1500. And when in doubt I do regular and iodine dip as I find that helps in whatever is irritating it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I find that they like higher magnesium. I keep mine around 1500. And when in doubt I do regular and iodine dip as I find that helps in whatever is irritating it.

Some of the nicest euphyllia ive seen have been in higher mag 1400+
Light and flow very important also. Moderate light seems to work for me and medium flow just so that they are swaying gently in the current.

 

[Tcook]

In your first post are you showing that uou had an Alk swing from 8.6 to 7.7? I find hammers sensitive to alk and salinity changes. That is also a 3 fold drop in PO4

 

[TokenReefer]

I be worrying or just wait and see?

With your other corals doing alright, what really could you do? Ya know? The hammer looks big, perhaps it's reached a mass that needs more (food/n+P) than before... Just a theory. Good luck. Following

 

[coraler07]

Yeah, I would try feeding and looking for pests. I find it unlikely that it has to do with levels considering the other corals are fine. I would have to guess that there is some sort of temporary annoyance, maybe hungry, maybe a vermatid you missed.

 

[Charlie G]

Thanks all for replying so fast. My Alk swings really depend have been typical. I’ll check every few days and dose appropriately. Not checking it everyday.
Magnesium has always been between 1300-1350. I guess I could increase that although up until now the hammer was very impressive full, open and nice color. So not sure if that is the cause although no downside increasing it.
The drop in the PO4 has been the most dramatic and surprising swing. Although I am happy about finally getting it lower I am not happy it happened in such a short time. I do have Chaeto in my second chamber with good lighting (I have a 32 g Biocube) but it’s not growing. In fact i don’t seem to be having good luck with that. So what’s taking up the PO4. I do have some GHA growing in the same area as the Chaeto but not a lot.

I guess I could feed more but I haven’t really cut down on that. In fact I increased my feeding slightly (just a little) over this past month. I did add more coral Fraga that I QT’d. That could be taking up the PO4. And I also added a cleaner shrimp that hangs out in the cave under the hammer??? Could that be an issue? Not sure.

Other corals that have been in the system are doing ok. My goniopora seems to have been closing too. And some SPs that I was trying my hand in seemed to develop STN. Could that be a contributor?

I know there are a lot of open questions. I love the feedback. Thank you. If there is anything that I added on this that could be a cause I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Charlie G]

Just to update and if anyone sees anything I may not notice.
I up’s my magnesium. It was 1350. Dosed to get to 1450 today.
Calcium was 390 and I dozed for a target of 420.
All was 8.1 and dosed for 8.5
I fed the hammer last night.
I haven’t dosed in coral rx or iodine as I wanted to try increasing Mg and feeding.

Today was partially closed unchanged from the pics I sent.
Tonight with lights off this is what it looks like (see following pics). Wondering if anyone sees anything that might explain why it’s not fully opening.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Charlie G]

Hi all.
I just posted some pictures of the hammer that I noticed last night when I got in.
Is this brown jelly disease?
If so what do you recommend.

 

[Charlie G]

Hi all. Just an update. I haven’t heard any response since my last post on Sunday. Would love to take this thread and place it under an emergency subject but not sure how to do it. Hope someone sees this and may have some suggestions.

After I noticed some of those brown areas on my hammer I decided to dip is 50/50 peroxide/ tank water. I used a pipette to gently blow that area. I then put it in another bucket of tank water and some iodine. I put it back in the tank and immediately it looked like this (the first 3 pics).

Seeing no real change yesterday I put some carbon in. Currently the hammer looks like this (last two).

It’s over one week now.

Any suggestions?
I hope someone sees this and can offer some help. The hammer was one of my best coral. Large, fleshy, full and beautiful when open (see pics earlier on).

Thanks you.