Is this Hammer dying?

[drblank1]

I'm new to LPS so not too experienced. Had this hammer frag for about 3 weeks now and was happy until yesterday. Is it dying? My phosphates were off the scale and I've been working to bring them down slowly over the last 3 weeks (about .1/week).

I did find 2 bumblebee snails around the base right under the bubbles. Do they have a taste for LPS? I moved them to my sump just in case.

Salt
Calcium 450
Alk 9.0
Mag 1350
NO3 15
PO4 .47

 

[TX_REEF]

yes, it is dying. I'm seeing a decent amount of nuisance algae in the background, which makes me suspect sub-par water chemistry or contaminants. some comments/questions

• how old is your tank?
• what are you using for light and flow? specifics please - hammers do not like lots of direct flow or too intense lighting. conversely, too little flow and they can't rid themselves of waste
• do you have other corals? how are they doing?
• Are you using RO/DI water?
• What are you using to test parameters? specifics please
• Salinity?
• Temperature?
• your phosphate is too high vs. nitrate, I'd aim to get it down to .2 or lower (water changes)
• bumblebee snails do not eat coral to my knowledge

 

[drblank1]

yes, it is dying. I'm seeing a decent amount of nuisance algae in the background, which makes me suspect sub-par water chemistry or contaminants. some comments/questions

• how old is your tank?
• what are you using for light and flow? specifics please - hammers do not like lots of direct flow or too intense lighting. conversely, too little flow and they can't rid themselves of waste
• do you have other corals? how are they doing?
• Are you using RO/DI water?
• What are you using to test parameters? specifics please
• Salinity?
• Temperature?
• your phosphate is too high vs. nitrate, I'd aim to get it down to .2 or lower (water changes)
• bumblebee snails do not eat coral to my knowledge

Tank is 5 years old
I have 2 kessil A360x as 40% intensity. Spectrum favors LPS.
Flow is light and indirect. 2 MP40s behind rocks for indirect flow except to SPS where they get a lot of flow. And 1 orbit 4 at top angled up for surface agitation.
I have a mix of softies, LPS, and SPS. The SPS polyps are fully extended. Other LPS are happy campers. And softies look good too.
I use Hannah for all tests except for Calcium. I use Red Sea.
Temp is 78
Yep, phosphates go out of control. I have been reducing them by .1 each week until I get them down ~ .1

 

[TX_REEF]

yes, it is dying. I'm seeing a decent amount of nuisance algae in the background, which makes me suspect sub-par water chemistry or contaminants. some comments/questions

• how old is your tank?
• what are you using for light and flow? specifics please - hammers do not like lots of direct flow or too intense lighting. conversely, too little flow and they can't rid themselves of waste
• do you have other corals? how are they doing?
• Are you using RO/DI water?
• What are you using to test parameters? specifics please
• Salinity?
• Temperature?
• your phosphate is too high vs. nitrate, I'd aim to get it down to .2 or lower (water changes)
• bumblebee snails do not eat coral to my knowledge

Tank is 5 years old
I have 2 kessil A360x as 40% intensity. Spectrum favors LPS.
Flow is light and indirect. 2 MP40s behind rocks for indirect flow except to SPS where they get a lot of flow. And 1 orbit 4 at top angled up for surface agitation.
I have a mix of softies, LPS, and SPS. The SPS polyps are fully extended. Other LPS are happy campers. And softies look good too.
I use Hannah for all tests except for Calcium. I use Red Sea.
Temp is 78
Yep, phosphates go out of control. I have been reducing them by .1 each week until I get them down ~ .1

That being the case, I suspect the sudden elevation in phosphate is your culprit, should improve once you have that under control.

 

[drblank1]

It was introduced to the elevated phosphates initially three weeks ago. Didn’t seem to bother it until yesterday. Thanks for your thoughts and insights.

 

[drblank1]

The hammer is dead and all the polyps have disappeared. I now suspect my copper banded butterfly. While I never saw him pick at the hammer, all of a sudden, I see some white spots on both my laptastreas. And then I saw him this morning picking at them. He has never showed interest in my corals before but maybe the introduction of LPS corals has jogged something in him. I'm going to start target feeding him hoping he stops showing coral interest.