Hammer Coral deteriorating.

[uberlink]

My hammer coral seems to be losing some polyps on one end of his skeleton. SG is steady at 1.024; ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all zero. Not sure what is up.
Do I need to increase my lighting schedule? Currently I have about 200w of PCs on 12 hours per day and an additional 350w of MH on about six hours a day. I have tried to avoid increasing it due to algae growth and increased difficulty maintaining temperature.
Do I need to spot feed this guy? I have not been doing so, but will start if needed.
Could it be that he's getting too much flow from my various powerheads? Nothing is pointed right at him, but I have four Maxijet 1200s going full tilt in there pointed around the tank.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[mes1]

i dont know much about corals but it could be that hes to close to the MH. another thing to look at is the age of your lights. maybe its time to change them? take a close look and see if there are any parasites present. what else is in the tank fish/coral/invert wise. could be a million things but we just gotta try and narrow it down. im not sure if hammer corals NEED to be spot fed but i do know if every other day you give it some krill dipped in vita-chem, you will notice faster growth. sorry i couldnt be that much help... i dont personaly own any corals :notsure:

 

[aztec reef]

you shouldn't have to spot feed him..i don't think is the flow, and i don't think you should have to increase lighting.what is your calcium/alk/ levels at? are the other corals doing fine? is something eating it at night maybe?

 

[reeffreakgeek]

Check your calcium/alk level like Aztec said.I don't think you need to increase your lighting schedule but I would move it to the sandbed if it isn't already.Since the polyps are receding I would spot feed it,I think it gives your hammer a better chance of recovery.

 

[uberlink]

I am starting to give the coral a squirt of food every time I feed.
Where should it be placed? In the sand bed? Like stuck down in the sand? Right now it's wedged between a couple of rocks. It's still looking good now, but it's lost a few polyps just on one end.

 

[volcom69]

I feed my hammer mysis shirmp and it loves it u can try to feed it somthing along that effect.

 

[uberlink]

I feed my tank a frozen mash of raw scallops, shrimp, and nori. Everybody seems to love it. I am starting to squirt a little across the hammer coral from now on.
I'd love advice on placement.
Also, I have a brain coral a few inches below the hammer. Could they be bothering each other? I've never seen anything to suggest agression, but I guess I can't be sure.

 

[jesses89]

what size tank is this?
in a 55 .. i had ONE maxijet 1200.... which was killing my pulsating xenia because it was way too much flow for it.... wasnt growing much either...
changed to a 600 and its doing a lot better now.. went from 2 stalks to 4....

 

[reeffreakgeek]

I seen people shove the base in the sand and/or have it wedge between two rocks.Either case,they were always in the lowest part of the tank when they were under halides.
Or you could go the PVC pipe trick and bury it in the sand then place it inside.(That doesn't work with the wall kind)

 

[sjgsm]

Originally Posted by Jesses89
what size tank is this?
in a 55 .. i had ONE maxijet 1200.... which was killing my pulsating xenia because it was way too much flow for it.... wasnt growing much either...
changed to a 600 and its doing a lot better now.. went from 2 stalks to 4....
I have a 30 gal. and have 2 maxijet 1200's and a smaller rio for the flow in the back of the tank. All my corals seem to do fine.
As for your hammer... I have a frogspawn in the middle on the side of my tank with a halide... It doesn't need much flow at all it just slowly waves side to side and has branched off about 4 times. I'm assuming a hammer wouldn't be much different. Low current and mid lighting should work. I don't spot feed either. Good luck

 

[uberlink]

I'm going to place it in a different spot in my tank where I think it will get a bit less flow.
By the way, I have some peppermint shrimp in the tank, which I added to control aiptaisia. Could they be chewing on my hammer coral at night?

 

[saltn00b]

ok no peppermints will not touch the hammer.
he may be too high up in the tank. with MHs, i would put hammers mid to low level with medium flow.
what is your calcium, your pH, your ALK and your phosphates? these are all important.

 

[uberlink]

You know, I haven't checked all my levels in the past few weeks. I'll check when I get home and let you know. Last I checked, they were all good.
One issue is that I've been having a bit more trouble maintaining temperature since it's gotten warmer and the air has gotten less dry (leading to less evaporation/cooling). I'm hooking my chiller up for the summer tonight.

 

[coral1119]

how do you spot feed hammer corals mysis shrimp? do you just squirt some its way? i didn't even know they ate things that big?

 

[reeffreakgeek]

I don't spot feed my hammer/frogspawn.They sometimes catches what floats by when I feed the fish.Yep they can eat larger foods like mysis,brine and smaller like cyclopeeze.I turn the pumps off when I feed my Goni but I rarely direct feed the other corals(hammer/frogspawn).I use a turkey baster for this.