Wall hammer not happy

[Sharkbait19]

Here's some pics of my wall hammer completely receded until it gave up entirely and died. It got BJD rather quick once its condition became so low. None of my other euphyllia have done nearly as bad. I just don't think wall corals are as hardy. Of course, many people keep them successfully, but it takes a lot of stability in water parameters.

 

[Idoc]

I'd attempt to increase the nutrients to around 5ppm no3 and 0.05-0.08ppm po4 if you're wanting to keep mainly euphyllia. Let nutrients like you are losing have been the death of euphyllia for me! Good success with higher nutrients.

 

[Lukeva]

It’s not dead or dying but rather receding.
Assure you’re providing moderate light and water flow. If the coral is bent over, too much flow.
Additionally, what test kits are you using?
Temp 77/79
Alk 8-10
Mag 1300
Ca 440
Nitrate < .5
Salinity 1,025

location also important. No where near sand is best.
Will add more later. Departing very soon and our jet has useless WiFi. A few things for you to verify in the mean time

Yes I am within all of parameters, tank has been really stable. It was on the sand and doing ok for a week until I moved it up to where is is now. As soon as I picked it up all the polys shot inwards and it’s not recovered since/yet.

 

[Lukeva]

What vetteguy said!

Also, your tank is only 8 weeks old and that's likely part of the challenge. It's hard to keep stable parameters in such a young tank. Take it from me... been there, done it and lost more than my fair share of coral. Stability is the key for hammers and IME, they don't tolerate swings or low nutrients well. They prefer a little "dirtier water", so that may be contributing as well.

I've had wall and branching hammers, and I agree with other posts, walls are more difficult to keep. Not impossible...
Had a massive bi-color wall hammer for 5 months until my WAVs went haywire...

Looks great!

 

[Lukeva]

I'd attempt to increase the nutrients to around 5ppm no3 and 0.05-0.08ppm po4 if you're wanting to keep mainly euphyllia. Let nutrients like you are losing have been the death of euphyllia for me! Good success with higher nutrients.

I am trying tbh, I am adding a few more fish and feeding well. I have a bit of algae but haven’t registered PO4 at all yet.

 

[Lukeva]

Here's some pics of my wall hammer completely receded until it gave up entirely and died. It got BJD rather quick once its condition became so low. None of my other euphyllia have done nearly as bad. I just don't think wall corals are as hardy. Of course, many people keep them successfully, but it takes a lot of stability in water parameters.

Yeah shame looks like the way mine is going

 

[Lukeva]

It’s not dead or dying but rather receding.
Assure you’re providing moderate light and water flow. If the coral is bent over, too much flow.
Additionally, what test kits are you using?
Temp 77/79
Alk 8-10
Mag 1300
Ca 440
Nitrate < .5
Salinity 1,025

location also important. No where near sand is best.
Will add more later. Departing very soon and our jet has useless WiFi. A few things for you to verify in the mean time

Salifert for Mag and Ca. And JBL for the rest

 

[jassermd]

Don't get discouraged! We've all been there.
Get your no3 and po4 up and keep the parameters stable. That's critical for any corals you add, especially LPS...

vetteguy and Idoc are spot on in their recommendations!

 

[Idoc]

I am trying tbh, I am adding a few more fish and feeding well. I have a bit of algae but haven’t registered PO4 at all yet.

Try dosing Seachem Flourish Phosphorous....I have to do this occasionally in my coral quarantine tanks to keep nutrients up. I also dose Sodium Nitrate for nitrates.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wall hammers are indeed challenging and not sure why and will challenge even the most experienced hobbyist. It takes a moderate level of skill to care for Hammer corals in a saltwater tank. Like most other coral species, Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.
The hammer coral is considered to be an aggressive coral species that will attack its neighbors with sweeper tentacles. These are stinging nematocysts (similar to the sting of an anemone) on the end of a specialized polyp that can extend several inches away from the body of the coral. The sweeper tentacles pack a punch and will chemically burn any neighboring corals.
Hammer corals are more subdued eaters who would benefit from the occasional feeding of a meaty marine food like mysis and brine shrimp.

 

[ScottR]

I’m not certain this is a wall hammer. Looks branching? But sometimes pics can be deceiving. I’d look into a euphyllia iodine dip as euphyllia are notorious for bacterial infections. The tentacles are still there. It’s not a goner yet.
However… if it is indeed a wall hammer and the skeleton was cut, exposing flesh, I wouldn’t expect it to survive but I don’t see a cut in the pic.

 

[Lukeva]

Try dosing Seachem Flourish Phosphorous....I have to do this occasionally in my coral quarantine tanks to keep nutrients up. I also dose Sodium Nitrate for nitrates.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll look into that but don’t want to necessarily change my parameters. I think I need a better nitrate and phosphate kit as I’m concerned about accuracy. So I’ll invest in a better kit and retest then maybe dose

 

[Lukeva]

Wall hammers are indeed challenging and not sure why and will challenge even the most experienced hobbyist. It takes a moderate level of skill to care for Hammer corals in a saltwater tank. Like most other coral species, Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.
The hammer coral is considered to be an aggressive coral species that will attack its neighbors with sweeper tentacles. These are stinging nematocysts (similar to the sting of an anemone) on the end of a specialized polyp that can extend several inches away from the body of the coral. The sweeper tentacles pack a punch and will chemically burn any neighboring corals.
Hammer corals are more subdued eaters who would benefit from the occasional feeding of a meaty marine food like mysis and brine shrimp.

Thanks, I have done everything by the book, it was fine until I moved it off the sand and placed (adhered) it to the rock about 75mm (3’’) above where it was on the sand. I think I over handled it as it’s a deep tank and awkward

 

[Lukeva]

I’m not certain this is a wall hammer. Looks branching? But sometimes pics can be deceiving. I’d look into a euphyllia iodine dip as euphyllia are notorious for bacterial infections. The tentacles are still there. It’s not a goner yet.
However… if it is indeed a wall hammer and the skeleton was cut, exposing flesh, I wouldn’t expect it to survive but I don’t see a cut in the pic.

I think it is a wall hammer but I’m no expert. I don’t think it was cut or damaged but I did touch the skeleton whilst moving it. The polys look better this morning, not as good as pre-move but better than yesterday evening. It does look there there is some brown on the skeleton

 

[Lukeva]

It’s looking better this morning as it did yesterday morning before receding again. Moved it Sunday morning it wasn’t happy, Monday morning better but then reversed through the day, Tuesday morning better than Monday evening. Still hasn’t looked as good as before I moved it

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

Any update on this?

 

[Lukeva]

Any update on this?

Yes, died sadly. I won’t buy another wall euphyllia. Branching torches are growing well

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yes, died sadly. I won’t buy another wall euphyllia. Branching torches are growing well

So sorry to hear. In my experience, wall euphyllia don't last very long. I'm glad that the torches are doing well, though.