declining hammer

[discusking]

So i recently got a small hammer coral and I can see a little bit of the skeleton underneth the polyp. The coral still expands fully and seems to be doing ok. The tank is a 7 gallon with a 32 watt pc light, the temp is abouit 84 and the tank inhabitants include, a large green frogspawn, small green fox coral, the hammer, four GSP, 2 false perc clownfish, and a turbo snail. I do a water change every week and add kent calcium, Iodine, stontium, and buffer. Is there anything I should do to help this coral recover, or will it die? How good are my chances of saving my coral, pleeze help!

 

[bdhough]

It could just be environmental changes are stressing him. I would work on reducing your temperature as much as possible. I've always found that when my tank got up that high the corals didn't expand very well. Keep your salinity up around .024/.025 too....

 

[discusking]

yeah, i tried everything to lower the temp, without the use of a chiller, but with the pc's on a 7 gallon it keeps the tank temp at exactly 84. Can the corals adapt to this temp?

 

[bdhough]

sure but thats pushing the spectrum of the temperature. 84 is really pushing it. Give it time. He may never fully be what yo uwant though due to the temp

 

[bang guy]

84 is a perfectly normal temp for these coral. I would point fingers at the Frogspawn if anything. They sometimes send out really long sweeper tentacles.

 

[kpogue]

I agree w/Bang. Next time you watch the Wx channel take note to what the reef temps are around the world. "They ain't 78*!"
Most reefs run in the 80's and right now temps in the keys are around 86. Although, I wouldn't recommend 86 in a tank!

 

[bang guy]

I maintained 85F for years. Since I now have a big lagoon in the basement it was taking too much energy to heat it to 85 so I now heep it around 80 winter and 83 summer. I still prefer the 85 but I'd need a really big heater or two.
Stability could be an issue though. If you're at 84F with the PCs on and 78 with them off then that's a HUGE stress for coral. They can't take that kind of fluctuation.

 

[discusking]

bang ic what ur saying, the weird thing is the tank temp stays 84 all the time, i wake up in the morning and its 84 and when the light goes off at night its still 84, but just to let u guys know, it seems to be recovering, the flesh is now starting to grow back over the spot where it was bare and teh coral opens and retracts like it is supposed to. Oh yeah, about the sweeper tenticles on the frogspawn, i havent really seen any, but I did read that u could keep hammer and frogspawn nextg to each other and they would now sting one another, is this true?

 

[krux]

weekly water changes on a 7 gallon should really eliminate the need for all those suplemental chemicals. if you are not testing for them, you might have levels of something way too high, which might be adversely affecting your hammer (and other stuff).
i agree, the temp should be ok. all of my stuff looks at its best when my temp hits about 82.

 

[krowleey]

Bang how do you get away having all that stuff? are you single or something? lol

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by krowleey
Bang how do you get away having all that stuff? are you single or something? lol
I have a wonderful wife that I'm thankful for every day. We've divided up the decision making and anything outside or in the basement is my responsibility
She actually purchased my current 155 Bowfront as a birthday present. Now, if I can just get her to buy me a canopy.....