HELP!!! Hammer and Torch dying?

[aquamann]

Hello, I have 2 hammer corals and a torch that have been doing well the last 2 months (puffy) but recently they have started retracting. They have been retracted for the last week and seems to be getting worse slowly. I am not sure if they are able to be saved and am not sure why they started retracting all of a sudden. I do have a blood red shrimp and a cleaner shrimp, could they be picking at the hammers? Spoke with a LFS and they suggested dosing Reef Energy AB+ and Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino Amino Acid but nothing as changed. I also have a rainbow hammer and that is still doing well. Any advice or suggestions would help. I don't believe it's a flow or lighting issue since they have been receiving the same exact condition when they looked healthy, but i'm not 100% sure. Maybe they couldn't take it anymore and just decided to retract one day. Any tips would be appreciated!

Parameters:
Phosphate 0.01
DKH: 8.1
Nitrate: 15
mag: 1350
Calc: 440

 

[aquamann]

Time of the pic was during peak intensity, hammers stay retracted throughout the day and don't open up at all.

 

[aquamann]

Tank info:
425xl
Tank 4 months old
Dry rock startup with live sand

 

[Spare time]

Phosphate is too low. That would be where I'd start in terms of adjusting things

 

[officialreefbros]

Have you had any spikes or drops? I had issues when my phosphates 0'ed out

 

[aquamann]

Have you had any spikes or drops? I had issues when my phosphates 0'ed out

about 3 weeks ago. i was testing 0.00 on the ULR phosphate hanna checker.

 

[aquamann]

Phosphate is too low. That would be where I'd start in terms of adjusting things

okay, what level do you think is a good number to hit? and when it comes to raising phosphate, do i just feed more pellets or would you dose it?

 

[Spare time]

If you want to raise phospahte, you can dose, feed spirulina, use reef roids, or just feed way too much dry food.

 

[Spare time]

okay, what level do you think is a good number to hit? and when it comes to raising phosphate, do i just feed more pellets or would you dose it?

0.03-0.05ppm ish is where I like to keep it. You just want to keep in mind the error range of the test kit being used. Mine is +/-0.02 so this allows some flexibility. Dosing phosphate makes things simple and precise but you don't think this issue may reoccur then it might be simpler to overfeed pellets. I once just put a spoonful of pellets into my filter sock lol.

 

[aquamann]

If you want to raise phospahte, you can dose, feed spirulina, use reef roids, or just feed way too much dry food.

okay if i were to overfeed that would raise nitrates as well? im hovering at 15 nitrates with a refugium and protein skimmer woth a 10% water changed every week so if i starting raising phosphates through overfeeding, nitrates would raise as well correct?

 

[aquamann]

0.03-0.05ppm ish is where I like to keep it. You just want to keep in mind the error range of the test kit being used. Mine is +/-0.02 so this allows some flexibility. Dosing phosphate makes things simple and precise but you don't think this issue may reoccur then it might be simpler to overfeed pellets. I once just put a spoonful of pellets into my filter sock lol.

and with phosphates if i were to increase it to that level in 24 hours (say .01 to .05) would that spike cause a shock to the corals or do corals not care if phosphates raise or drop in such a short time?

 

[Spare time]

and with phosphates if i were to increase it to that level in 24 hours (say .01 to .05) would that spike cause a shock to the corals or do corals not care if phosphates raise or drop in such a short time?

No, it would be fine. Maybe anecdotally I would say big drops are not good, but this is very much anecdotal and could be a whole host of other things from my brief experience of rapidly dropping phosphate before (of which only once was it followed by a visibly negative reaction from the coral; albeit this was a larger drop than I had done before).

 

[aquamann]

No, it would be fine. Maybe anecdotally I would say big drops are not good, but this is very much anecdotal and could be a whole host of other things from my brief experience of rapidly dropping phosphate before (of which only once was it followed by a visibly negative reaction from the coral; albeit this was a larger drop than I had done before).

thank you! i’ll start raising phosphates today and hopefully that resolves the issue. Also do you think some of the corals are unsavable or do they have time to bounce back if phosphates were the case?

 

[Spare time]

thank you! i’ll start raising phosphates today and hopefully that resolves the issue. Also do you think some of the corals are unsavable or do they have time to bounce back if phosphates were the case?

I think they can recover. As long as there is tissue, there is hope lol

 

[TraydersAnonymous]

So what happened to the corals ? Magnesium dose to 1500 ppm

 

[aquamann]

So what happened to the corals ? Magnesium dose to 1500 ppm

Lost one of the hammers but the torch is slowly recovering and the other hammer is still hanging in there. Went on a week vacation around Christmas time so phosphates bottomed out while I was gone and ended up getting dinos after I got back. So i am dealing with that now. Haven't dosed mag, but I did see a youtube vid from Fragbox Coral saying they run mag at the 1500 ppm so I may try that out in the future and see how the corals react, but as of now corals aren't dying anymore but wouldn't say they are thriving. Just focusing on getting rid of dinos at the moment.