Hammer Coral- Trouble?

[cedarreef]

Hey guys, it's been a very long while since I've been on the boards... It feels good to be back! I've noticed that my hammer coral has been closed up lately. I thought this was really weird as all my other corals are doing great. I walked by the tank and noticed my clowns have finally taken to hosting my mushrooms, kenya trees, and even my hammer. The shrooms and kenya trees seem to love it, but my hammer is apparently not liking it very much. It's closed and a bit puffy. What should I do? Will it learn to adjust and just keep an eye on it and hope for the best? Thanks in advance, guys. Again, it's good to be back!

 

[cedarreef]

Here's a picture... The litle buds on the coral are new heads. Does it look ok? What should I do?

 

[btldreef]

OUCH. Looks like that coral has taken a little bit of a beating from your clowns "love." You might want to try moving it to keep your clowns off it, but honestly, it doesn't look good IMO.

 

[cedarreef]

I can't really move it... it's epoxied into the rock... The clowns have stopped hosting it, though. There are a ton of smaller heads on it and they look fine since the clowns really loved to rub on the larger heads. Do you think since the clowns stopped hosting it there's a chance it will get better? Is there anything I can put in the water that will help it? I know feeding it at this point would only hurt it even more, but maybe something like reef chili or selcon?

 

[btldreef]

some people claim that painting the edges of LPS with iodine helps. I have never really seen it do any good. Just keep your water quality really good. If the clowns are leaving it alone, it might be able to recover. I add VitaChem to my water once a week, that might help.

 

[cedarreef]

I think I'm just going to leave it alone and see how it does. The last thing I want to do is stress it any more than it already is. I'll try the VitaChem. Thank you!