Unhappy Hammer

[RainbowManatee]

My hammer coral is looking unhappy lately while all of my other corals seem just fine. I've had it about 6 months and the tentacles started looking skinnier about two months ago and now it looks like it's going to burst. Does anyone have any thoughts on what is going on? Could this be a disease?

Could lighting do this? I upgraded my lights last week to an AI prime, moving up from the AquaTop cube lights (30 watts). I set intensities of UV, Violet, Royal Blue and Blue to 40% and white to 20% (17 watts) because I was afraid of overexposing my corals. My frogspawn was reaching upwards for the week so I increased all set at 40% to 55% yesterday (22 watts) and the frogspawn seems happy, but I placed the hammer in the sand bed in case it is a light exposure thing. It just seems odd that the frogspawn would be unhappy due to light limitation with the ai prime on the lower settings but the hammer would also be unhappy due to overexposure.

I don't have a phosphate test yet, but has anyone ever seen phosphate limitation causing this? I doubt my phosphates are high because I only feed my fish every other day and keep up with weekly water changes. It's strange because my frogspawn and all of my other corals look great. Flow is low in this area of the tank too.

Thanks

Temp: 78
Salinity: 36 ppt
Nitrate: 5 mg/L
Alk: 10.5

Hammer yesterday

My tank as of 1 week ago, hammer tentacles are skinny

 

[MERKEY]

What's your cal and mag?

And yes p04 at 0 can cause polyp bailout.

 

[FishyMeister]

You seem like the type of guy who should keep a pH test kit around

 

[vetteguy53081]

Low po4 will not cause bailout but rather elevated will cause recession. It is excessive flow that will often cause bailout as well as low calcium- should be no less than 380 for skeletal health. Hammers are not picky where they are placed but lower third of tank is often the best location due to lower light and flow area
The key is to avoid the extremes. . . . . Extreme light and Extreme water flow. While they need light for production of their energy source known as zooxanthellae, too much light will cause them to expel the zooxanthellae. Moderate light is adequate. Too much flow causes the flesh to tear off the skeleton or get bacterial issues including brown jelly disease. They should be waving in the current but not bent over the skeleton of bouncing vigorously which leads to bailout.
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.
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.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Where do you get your water? If from a lfs do you test cal alk and mag before you do a water change? How much water do you change? In such a small tank you can have wide swings in these areas if they aren't very close to your tank levels. I stopped buying water from a lfs do to the wide difference I was getting from them and started making my own.

 

[RainbowManatee]

You seem like the type of guy who should keep a pH test kit around

My pH is 8 thx. You seem like the type of guy who should offer better suggestions.

 

[RainbowManatee]

Thanks for the suggestions. On closer inspection of the coral, it seems like it is in fact splitting another head! See the pic below. I'll try to get a better pic once my lights turn on today. The way the frag is angled in the tank in the back corner, I never see the back side of it until I put it on the sand bed for the last two days. I'm going to put it back in it's normal spot today.

Other parameters that I had tested
PO4: 0.2
Ca: 405
Mg: 1392

Thanks

 

[mjw011689]

0.2 on phosphate is way too high. While they do need phosphate, this is too much. They should be in the 0.01-0.03 range. Not sure if that’s what’s causing it to look that way, but that needs to be brought down.

 

[FishyMeister]

My pH is 8 thx. You seem like the type of guy who should offer better suggestions.

Give your zoas a tug. Check your Leptoseris again and then tell me how a pH test kit isn't useful

 

[Seansea]

Ya man sometimes corals do weird stuff. Maybe when they are growing they cinch up or move over or something. My blastos look like they are dying when they are crunched up but are just makin room for the new heads underneath to poke thru. And sometimes one of the heads on my hammer is just closed up maybe it caught a copepod and is eating it or something. I just leave them alone unless it gets to a week or more.

 

[RainbowManatee]

Give your zoas a tug. Check your Leptoseris again and then tell me how a pH test kit isn't useful

Well given I do weekly water changes, my pH should stay relatively consistent and therefore, pH isn't important to measure because I don't use toilet water for water changes like you do. I'll save my $20 on a pH test kit and buy more corals at Reefapalooza. My zoanthids and other corals are thriving and don't need a tug, thanks. My frogspawn is also showing signs that it'll split soon. Given your hammer coral hasn't split yet, I don't think anyone should be taking advice from you and so it's YOU that needs to give your hammer coral a tug.

 

[FishyMeister]

Well given I do weekly water changes, my pH should stay relatively consistent and therefore, pH isn't important to measure because I don't use toilet water for water changes like you do. I'll save my $20 on a pH test kit and buy more corals at Reefapalooza. My zoanthids and other corals are thriving and don't need a tug, thanks. My frogspawn is also showing signs that it'll split soon. Given your hammer coral hasn't split yet, I don't think anyone should be taking advice from you and so it's YOU that needs to give your hammer coral a tug.

I may use toilet water but at least I can keep a hammer alive.

Love you, sweetie. See you for dinner <3

 

[OrchidMiss]

Low po4 will not cause bailout but rather elevated will cause recession. It is excessive flow that will often cause bailout as well as low calcium- should be no less than 380 for skeletal health. Hammers are not picky where they are placed but lower third of tank is often the best location due to lower light and flow area
The key is to avoid the extremes. . . . . Extreme light and Extreme water flow. While they need light for production of their energy source known as zooxanthellae, too much light will cause them to expel the zooxanthellae. Moderate light is adequate. Too much flow causes the flesh to tear off the skeleton or get bacterial issues including brown jelly disease. They should be waving in the current but not bent over the skeleton of bouncing vigorously which leads to bailout.
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.
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.

@vetteguy53081 for the win!
Advice is excellent as always.

 

[SandNRocks]

My hammer was getting really thin tentacles over the last week and I attributed it to not enough nutrients. My nitrates and phosphates are really low, but I spotfed some reefroids and let it eat for a while, and 24 hrs later everything looks much better. ( I dont typically spotfeed my hammer because it rarely eats, but in this case it ate and it made a difference) Cant say thats the case here, but thats what i noticed. Like you, nothing else was showing issues, just my hammer slowly thinning.

 

[Icryhard]

I may use toilet water but at least I can keep a hammer alive.

Love you, sweetie. See you for dinner <3

 

[GuppyHJD]

Low po4 will not cause bailout but rather elevated will cause recession. It is excessive flow that will often cause bailout as well as low calcium- should be no less than 380 for skeletal health. Hammers are not picky where they are placed but lower third of tank is often the best location due to lower light and flow area
The key is to avoid the extremes. . . . . Extreme light and Extreme water flow. While they need light for production of their energy source known as zooxanthellae, too much light will cause them to expel the zooxanthellae. Moderate light is adequate. Too much flow causes the flesh to tear off the skeleton or get bacterial issues including brown jelly disease. They should be waving in the current but not bent over the skeleton of bouncing vigorously which leads to bailout.
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.
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.

Vetteguy,
My hammer has pulled back and just does not extend. I have had it in the sand bed, in a frag rack mid tank. The goni and other corals are happy. I will try a slower flow area.