Hammer shrinking and losing color

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I have had this yellow hammer for over a year. Was doing great and just recently started losing color and shrinking. Parameters are all in check and stable (see below) and all other euphyllia doing great. Any thoughts?

Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.3
Calcium 475
Mag 1,300
NO3 5
NO4 .06

D2D43C0E-DF86-42C1-9517-EE41D65013D3.png AB886063-F28C-4073-B721-7AB84EBF6E8A.jpeg
 
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Nice tank, I doubt it’s water.
Anyone in your DT that might “bug” him?
Not that I have ever seen. My clowns enjoy hosting the frogspawn and the sweepers on the space invader pectinia lol, but never seen them touch this hammer. Nor have I seen any other fish, inverts, or anything else mess with it.
 
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I have also been battling AEFWs, but I don't think they would mess with a hammer???
 

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I have also been battling AEFWs, but I don't think they would mess with a hammer???
I've never seen them eat euphyllia but if they are making a home in its skeleton this may be causing an issue.

Not sure they even do that but I'm trying to think outside the box for you.
 
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Any swings?

Any other little unwanted guests ?
Yeah no swings. Everything has been very stable. I pulled it out and dipped, didn’t notice anything come off of it. I guess we will just wait and see if it recovers.
 

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The other thing is coral warfare....I know you covered the space invader but perhaps there is some chemical warfare going on in the water between some of the corals.

Do you run carbon?

I don't unless something happens but again I'm just trying to pull at everything.
 

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I have also been battling AEFWs, but I don't think they would mess with a hammer???
Let me introduce you to, EEFW (Euphyllia Eating Flatworm). Those guys are nasty and way bigger. I have only spot one once so far, hitchhiking a new hammer. I used a pippette to squirt some freshwater on the flatworm to remove it and scrubbed the hammer’s skeleton to dislodge any eggs. The FW may look like the euphyllia’s flesh.

However, they don’t pop out of nowhere so I’d doubt thats case for you. Unless you’ve introduced a new euphyllia into your dt recently.
 

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I wish I could help you, but I have the same problem. Over the past 2 years, every hammer, frogspawn and duncan I've tried has eventually wasted away, some within a week or two. Everything else is doing okay, including other LPS and even some SPS.

The only euphyllia I've been able to keep any time at all has been this one, which I've had maybe 4-5 months. And it's just maintaining -- no growth.
IMG_20210421_122341129~2.jpg


Here's my latest Duncan, which is newer than the hammer. I'm only keeping it because there is still the slightest amount of flesh still visible. But I don't really expect it to come back. I've experimented with various placements across the tank.

IMG_20210421_123132329~3.jpg


This was it for the first few days after I bought it.

Attach6808_20210307_131114.jpg


It's not like I'm incapable of growing coral, just euphyllia.

IMG_20210421_124411915~2.jpg
 
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theocorals537

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I have had this yellow hammer for over a year. Was doing great and just recently started losing color and shrinking. Parameters are all in check and stable (see below) and all other euphyllia doing great. Any thoughts?

Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.3
Calcium 475
Mag 1,300
NO3 5
NO4 .06

D2D43C0E-DF86-42C1-9517-EE41D65013D3.png AB886063-F28C-4073-B721-7AB84EBF6E8A.jpeg
Check the base of it for eefw “euphyllia eating flat worms “. They are extremely good hiders especially on hammers. Bayer insect dip will kill the mature ones and any other pest
 

wtrbug

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I’m a fan of carbon as well. I’ve had some good results but once my euphilla were going I just couldn’t stop it.
 

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