Need a hammer coral doc

[CoastieFlo]

Hello Reefers,

My hammer seems to be in I'll shape but maybe recovering. About a week ago I used aptasia x on the opposite side of the tank from the hammer and did a water change l. Since then it almost seemed like the polyps we're bailing out and now it seems to be slightly recovering but the tips of the polyps are retracted and losing color. I'm guessing it got a whiff of the aptasia x but never had this problem before. All of my other corals are doing just fine sans the aptasia and blue palys I was targeting...has anyone experienced this before? So far I plan on being patient for recovery but I am slightly worried about my hammers health.

 

[Mikedawg]

Hammers, torches (never seen frogspawn do it) occasionally change shape and size like your top right pic shows and then return to "normal" in short order, even when conditions have not changed. Looks healthy to me and I would just watch for any bailout or BJD.

 

[sam2110]

Imo It just looks a little annoyed, give it a few days. If there's one thing I've learnt, If it's only one coral that looks off dont do anything major as you may end up doing damage to everything else.

 

[Woodyman]

One other thing I don't see mentioned, you said you targeted some blue palys. Depending on the specific paly you targeted it could have released some paly toxin into the tank. That could be irritating other corals, but I would expect your other corals to be irritated as well not just the hammer.

So while I wouldn't suspect it in this case with only one coral it could be a possibility if that hammer is overly sensitive, or if you notice other corals doing the same. Also nothing some carbon wouldn't take care of.

 

[CoastieFlo]

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I did a water change and lo' behold it started recovering the next day...it does look like some of the tips have melted away, some tentacles grew some extra nubs almost like a frogspawn and it lost a bit of color. At least it doesn't look as bad as it was before. I'm sure it will gain it's color back eventually. At least the rest of the tank is doing well for a 9 month old.