2 yr old hammer coral issue

Attreui · #1 08/21/2007, 08:11 PM

I have a rather large hammer coral that I have had for 2 years. It has always been healthy and large. In fact one of the center pieces of my tank. In the last couple weeks he has looked sick and not extended and recently his tissue is starting to recede into the skeleton. I can't imagine what is wrong with him. His location and lighting haven't changed and I have tested and retested the water parameters. All other creatures are fine. I have messed with the flow some because I lost a circulation pump but he started to go downhill since then. Does anyone have any ideas? He also looks like he "coughed up" something through his mouth. Doesn't look like normal waste.

The tank is stable at
Ph 8.0 <-- a little low yes but for years it has run around 8 over the summer in florida even with Kalk.
Ammonia 0
'trite 0
'trate ~10
Salinity 1.025
Cal 350 --Yes I know this is low too but it shouldn't affect tissue and all the other LPS and SPS are okay..
Magnesium 1100

thecichlidpleco · #2 08/21/2007, 09:55 PM

Your parameters are fine, I have pH of 7.9 and friend has low 300 calicium and our euphyllia are fine. I would think it is the flow issue, I added a hydorflow thing to my power head and the heads have seem to close up more often. Normal waste is brown color, so describe it a bit better.

Attreui · #3 08/21/2007, 10:02 PM

If I didn't know better I would say he expelled something like internal organs or something. It is a black mass and is still attached to the outside of the mouth. I have since tried less and more flow. It seems with a little higher flow some of the tentacles come out and try but most stay almost completely retracted. Would really suck to loose such a large coral.

jrobison · #4 08/22/2007, 11:44 AM

I am having the same issue, but mine hasn't expelled anything that I have seen. Please post if you find out anything, Good Luck.

capn_hylinur · #5 08/22/2007, 12:51 PM

can you post a picture?

reefer888 · #6 08/23/2007, 04:05 PM

I'v found that hammers can be very picky when it comes to flow.
In my experience they tend to like low to medium indirect flow.

I would try to replicate the original flow before you lost the pump.

Good luck!

FOREIGNER · #7 08/24/2007, 01:23 PM

I have a hammer that I recently moved, one of the heads started to rot and not extend polyps, I noticed that little heads started springing up around the skeleton. I then realized that one of my powerheads was hitting that particular head and causing it to retract and wither away. I simply moved it to an area where there is just indirect flow and after a couple of weeks the head started to come back and now is the same size as the other 2. The regenerative power under optimal conditions of these corals is fantastic. Here is a pic of how it looks now. Mind you-my camera does not do it justice because the polyps are a mixture of green, rose and blue color.

shootist · #8 08/26/2007, 08:35 PM

You said 2 years,made me wonder if maybe your bulbs are getti ng worn?