Is my new hammer frag dying?

liamelias · Mar 7, 2023

I got my new hammer about 2 days ago. Dripped acclimated then did a revive dip and rinse. Coral opened up with the light yesterday. Seemed to be doing good. Today I wake up to this. 1/3 of the coral has “fallen from the plug.” Does anyone know what caused this and if there is anyway for me to save it?

Timfish · Mar 7, 2023

Looks like part of the skeleton broke off. How the hammer will respond will depend on how well it acclimates. Just be patient and best to just leave it alone.

Bucs20fan · Mar 7, 2023

Definitely skeletal degeneration. Probably hasnt had enough calcium for some time. I highly highly recommend keeping a close eye on it, a bacterial infection is probably looming here. Hammers are highly susceptible to bacterial infections and die very quickly from them. And quickly as in, 24 hours an entire Hammer can be melted.

liamelias · Mar 7, 2023

Timfish said:
Looks like part of the skeleton broke off. How the hammer will respond will depend on how well it acclimates. Just be patient and best to just leave it alone.

Interesting you mention that. While i was dipping the coral, I noticed a few fracture on it’s trunk. They weren’t very big so I figured it was just the way the coral is.

kevgib67 · Mar 7, 2023

There may be hope. I was using a bone cutter to remove a new hammer from it’s plug and the skeleton split vertically and through the flesh leaving me 3 pieces with polyps on them. I thought it would not have a chance but glued them down and the one with the most polyps made it and currently has two large heads. That was about a year ago. Older picture.

liamelias · Mar 8, 2023

liamelias said:
I got my new hammer about 2 days ago. Dripped acclimated then did a revive dip and rinse. Coral opened up with the light yesterday. Seemed to be doing good. Today I wake up to this. 1/3 of the coral has “fallen from the plug.” Does anyone know what caused this and if there is anyway for me to save it?

So today the entire main hammer melted and its flesh withered away. However notice down here a part of it split off. It looks like it’s alive because the polyps have come out a bit. What should i do? It’s literally just laying on its side. Should i glue it right side up?