For a week now, my hammer has not been opening all its heads up. I suspected water conditions, but tests did not reveal anything out of the ordinary. So, I did a 25% water change last Saturday. The hammer looked marginally better afterwards, but still not fully open, WTF?!? Everything else in the tank looks fine, what could be affecting only the hammer?!? Something environmental I can't test?? I put in a new bag of carbon to be safe, but still, one or more heads would be retracted. It would look fine, then a few minutes later, deflated...WTF?!?
When I get home today, 2 of the heads are balled up tight. I am perplexed...until.....
Peppermint Pattie (a peppermint shrimp) comes along, cuts off a polyp AND EATS IT!! 
This ungrateful wretch was brought in to control a couple small aptasia I had, and did a great job. Since then, I fed it raw shrimp right along with the cleaner shrimp. Pattie stayed outside the rock unlike most peppermints, so she was a favorite. I would have petted her head and scratched behind her ear if she had let me. She often gets into the skimmer surface box and I am was always careful about letting her out. Not anymore.
The next time she gets trapped in the box, which will probably in the next week or so, she will find herself on the street corner with a "Will work for Aptasia" sign.
Ungrateful wretch.
Edited by Slice - 2/8/12 at 7:19am
