help with damage on green hammer...please

[NMReefer]

I've had a very nice green hammer for several months now...up until a few days ago it was the best coral in my system...then it started to recede a bit at one end...damage is now approximately 1/5 of the coral...tissue is slimmy and receded...moved it to a better current location and sort of cleaned the bad part off a little...not sure what is causeing the problem but I would hate to loose this coral...folder has pics of it when healthy...any help or suggestions would be appreciated
system is stable..no other corals are showing signs of problems...calcium stable @ 450ppm...alkalinity stable 3.5 meg/l...all other parimeters are stable....

http://photos.yahoo.com/bdwalley_jr

[jimhobbs]

How often and what do you feed it?:)

[noodle]

I had a mushroom lay up against my hammer for a night and it killed a portion. What I did was clean as much of the dying tissue as possible and took some underwater epoxy and covered all dead and some good tissue. It stopped any spreading of the damaged tissue and it has recovered nicely.

good luck,
Mike

[Bruce]

I have a similar situation. Unfortunately for me, I can see the little bugger that is slowly picking away at my hammer. It is a little worm-like critter that lives in the skeleton of the hammer. It darts in and out really fast looking for scraps of food (or hammer coral). I may have to ditch the whole coral before these critters move to other corals and start pester them.

[Reef Junkie]

NMreefer,
I had a similar situation with a beautiful green hammer once. Thought I was going to lose the whole coral to RTN. Here's what I did. I cracked the skeleton off just behind the healthy line of tissue. Dipped the coral in a Lugols/ tank water soloution. Then epoxied the open end, with just a little epoxy.
If the coral is too big to break, then just try to remove most of the brown slime off in a separate container. Then dip with Lugols. If you have any? Otherwise, there are other commercial dip remedies at your LFS, or should be. Then seal the open wound with epoxy.
Depending on how much water you use for the dip, I use 5mls of Lugols in a 1 gallon container. Does the job.
Be sure if you do use Lugols to add bleach to the dipping water before you dump it down the toilet. That is just the enviromentally sane thing to do. heh, also make sure you take the coral out first...:rolleye1: ]
Good luck,
Billy

[NMReefer]

Thanks very much for the replys.
As for feeding all my corals are fed a regular diet of dt's and pearls...plus about every 5 days they are direct fed a combination of mysis/silversides...and occassionally fresh seafood(shrimp/scallops)

There does not appear to be any sort of parasite causeing the damage

I will try the lugals dip if the tissue continues to recede any futher...after moving it and removing as much damaged tissue as possible it seems margainally better...

there was a frogspawn maybe close enough to extend a sweeper...could the frogspawn have caused this damage???

Still have hope to recover this coral....again thank each of you for the info

[Auberon]

Noodle,


I had the exact same thing happen. Mushroom stung it. lost 2/3 of it before it stopped :(.

There is empty skeleton now. If I'm reading these posts right....remove the skeleton, epoxy and let it regrow??

[Frick-n-Frags]

If the coral is receding, you have to get rid of the bad part, so cut the dead skeleton/dying line of hammer off (cut in the good stuff) and put a "second skin" of something over the fresh break to keep bacteria out. Put the patient in lower light to lower stress and decent flow for lots of oxygen and waste removal.

Personally I use thin superglue for instant bandages when Euphyllias don't break like you want them to.
Euphyllias also don't recover old skeleton, they grow up and away from wherever they are at, so dead skeleton is just an algae/funk growing surface.

[NMReefer]

Thanks fricnfrag.....Looks like I may be attempting my first coral surgury ...for the removal of the dead part should I remove the coral from the tank? Will a clean new hack saw work? Please continue to help here "cause I do not want this coral to continue to deteriorate......If its needed I will cut away the damaged area as suggested...but I wanna make sure I'm doing it correct

[bluereefs]

I have same problem with my catalaphilia and goniopora,first I make dip with hydroplex then few minutes in freshwater dip,then clean sick place with toothbrush and finaly with strong powerhead remove all trace of disease.My catalaphilia is still alive 3 years later ,well with goniopora I will see but disease stop.Sometime high level of phosphate cause that disease.Hope that help and sorry for my english.

[Lutefisk]

Removing excess dead coral skeleton - one word

Dremel

My Dremel tool with a cut off disk never saw as much work until I started reefing. Cuts fast and smoothly - just watch out where the damp coral dust goes flying (your face, all over the wife's kitchen, etc :0)) No more guessing where large skeletons might fracture like you do with wire cutters.

Paul

[NMReefer]

Just wanted to post and let ya'all know that so far surgury was a success...cut away slightly over 1/2 of the origional skeleton...covered exposed cut with epoxy...quick dip in iodine solution ...placed the patient back in the reef in a mild current and will hope for the best......man this was my favorite coral and the center piece of my reef.

Thanks to all that helped...I'll post daily to let those interested know how it does.....:(

[Frick-n-Frags]

I agree with lutefisk, Dremel moto-tool with a cutoff disc rocks.

[NMReefer]

surgury seems to have been a success...at least its stable and apparently doing well...but only half its pervious size....thanks again to all that responded

[Auberon]

Question:

my hammer is branched (2 extensions). One branch is 2/3 gone. I want to frag and make this into 2. At the same time I'd like to remove the 2/3 that is not growing anymore. Both branches are stable now past 1.5 months.


how do you go about fragging a hammer?


Reefer.....Hope my surgery skills goes as well as yours...

[Lutefisk]

Fragging branched euphyllia (hammer, anchor, torch, etc.) is relatively easy if you have "stony" material after both sides of the branch. Here is what I do

1. Annoy the coral enough that it retacts before removing it from the aquarium to a bucket or large bowl containing some aquarium water (not freshly mixed).

2. Examine the coral closely to determine the best place to frag.

3. Using a Dremel with a cut-off disk, hack saw with a fine tooth blade, etc cut the stony material as far back from the soft living tissue as possible.

4. I then blot the cut dry and use gel super glue to glue it to some rubble for a sturdy base. You don't want your coral falling over all the time. Euphyillia can be easily damaged by falls. Also, use a little super glue to seal the cut area to prevent boring critters from entering.

5. Gently rinse the coral and the cut area with some more aquarium water and then return to your tank.

Good luck!
Paul