Hammer Coral Dying…. Help!

djm · Dec 31, 2021

Couple of weeks back I direct fed my Hammer some Reef Roids Nano. A few days later it expelled what looked like a brown jelly balloon. Some guys kindly replied to my question on here asking what it was and let me know the Hammer was pooping.

However my hammer coral never seemed to recover after expelling the waste. It remains shrunken and yesterday appeared that a couple of the polyps were turning black. Below is a picture of it today.

parameters are as follows;
salinity 1.025sg
Nitrates 3.85
Phosphates 0.10
Calcium 455
PH 8
Ammonia and Nitrites both 0

any advice would be really appreciated.

Jekyl · Dec 31, 2021

Alkalinity hasn't been listed. Also sand blowing on them can cause irritation.

Jekyl · Dec 31, 2021

@vetteguy53081

djm · Dec 31, 2021

Jekyl said:
Alkalinity hasn't been listed. Also sand blowing on them can cause irritation.

I need to get a new Alkalinity test, I don’t have anymore at the moment.
Attached is a picture of the hammer expelling waste which seemed to be the turning point. It was doing well up until that moment and had formed a new head a few weeks earlier.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 31, 2021

djm said:
I need to get a new Alkalinity test, I don’t have anymore at the moment.
Attached is a picture of the hammer expelling waste which seemed to be the turning point. It was doing well up until that moment and had formed a new head a few weeks earlier.
View attachment 2483149

Phosphates up a bit ( you want <.04)The algae smothering plug is not helping.( dip the plug in 3% hydrogen peroxide for about a minute).
Keep frag off sandbed and elevate to at least 3" off bottom. I have a suspicion about nitrate level.
WHAT TEST KITS ARE YOU USING FOR NITRATE AND AMMONIA and what is age of tank ?

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.

wonroc · Dec 31, 2021

Def a algae issue here

wonroc · Dec 31, 2021

wonroc said:
Def a algae issue here

Is that a worm in bottom left of pic

djm · Dec 31, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Phosphates up a bit ( you want <.04)The algae smothering plug is not helping.( dip the plug in 3% hydrogen peroxide for about a minute).
Keep frag off sandbed and elevate to at least 3" off bottom. I have a suspicion about nitrate level.
WHAT TEST KITS ARE YOU USING FOR NITRATE AND AMMONIA and what is age of tank ?

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.

hi thanks for your help.
In answer to your questions the tank is 1 year old and I have had the hammer for 9 months, it was one of the first I added to the tank.
I have removed 99% of the algae off of the plug, see the first picture I posted on the thread which was taken today. I had a bit of a hair algae outbreak.
The test kits I have used are the Hanna Checker for nitrates and Salifert for the phosphates.

i’ll move the plug up off of the sand bed and onto the rock work, can the coral be saved?

djm · Dec 31, 2021

wonroc said:
Is that a worm in bottom left of pic

On the seconded picture? No that’s a sand sifting starfish

jeffchapok · Dec 31, 2021

How old is your tank? I had no success keeping euphyllia until my tank was nearly two years old. Now they are finally doing okay. Here's a plc of my placement.

djm · Dec 31, 2021

jeffchapok said:
How old is your tank? I had no success keeping euphyllia until my tank was nearly two years old. Now they are finally doing okay. Here's a plc of my placement.

View attachment 2483165 View attachment 2483166

Tank is one year old, and I’ve had the coral for 9 months. It was doing well, even grew another head not long ago, but seems that it’s just taken a turn for the worse all of a sudden.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 31, 2021

djm said:
hi thanks for your help.
In answer to your questions the tank is 1 year old and I have had the hammer for 9 months, it was one of the first I added to the tank.
I have removed 99% of the algae off of the plug, see the first picture I posted on the thread which was taken today. I had a bit of a hair algae outbreak.
The test kits I have used are the Hanna Checker for nitrates and Salifert for the phosphates.

i’ll move the plug up off of the sand bed and onto the rock work, can the coral be saved?

Assure good calcium- moderate flow and lighting and feed mysis occasionally. It should perk up. I gave you some cautions to consider.

jeffchapok · Dec 31, 2021

I never direct feed my hammers. Not that it's a bad idea but I've just never seen them actually take anything in.

djm · Dec 31, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Assure good calcium- moderate flow and lighting and feed mysis occasionally. It should perk up. I gave you some cautions to consider.

Thanks appreciate your help / advice.

djm · Dec 31, 2021

jeffchapok said:
I never direct feed my hammers. Not that it's a bad idea but I've just never seen them actually take anything in.

Yeah I regret doing it now. First time I’ve tried reef roids.

MaxTremors · Dec 31, 2021

jeffchapok said:
How old is your tank? I had no success keeping euphyllia until my tank was nearly two years old. Now they are finally doing okay. Here's a plc of my placement.

View attachment 2483165 View attachment 2483166

Just wanted to say that I really like your aquascape! You don’t see many natural looking scapes these days. Really well done!