Something wrong with my hammer coral

Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#1
#1
I feel like I'm always asking for help, but my hammer has been fine for the last two weeks, and there was a bubble like piece in the middle. Kinda looks like an over inflated hammer polyp. Anyways I had to move it and the skeleton felt super slimy and it's all closed up. There's some dust looking stuff coming out of it, kinda smoke looking and white stringy mucus stuff on it as well

What's happening?
 
CRW Reef

CRW Reef

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
#2
Sounds perfectly normal to me. Many lps corals will slime over when irritated or moved or something. I would just leave it be and im sure it will again be fine, so long is the onky thing that changed was you moving it.
 
tomtom2245

tomtom2245

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
#3
Probably just stressed from moving and you touching it. Some LPS can be sensitive to certain oils and what not that are on your skin. Just let it be for awhile. I always try to avoid touching the flesh of any euphylias and if I have to, try wearing gloves.
 
fonduecat

fonduecat

Cleaner Shrimp
#4
#4
I'll agree it sounds stressed. Mine did the same thing with the large bubble. It eventually (took a few weeks) went back to normal.
 
2

240addiction

Turbo Snail
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
#6
I had this happen to a couple of our first corals and it looked fine for a few days then it shrank up little by little everyday. They never had a bubble, but other than that it looks similar. Have you tested your calcium and magnesium levels?
My levels were 320 calcium and 1150 Magnesium or lower on both. Once I got mine back up to better levels we have had no issues keeping a large six headed one and two headed one for the last month. It took me water changes and dosing for quite a few weeks in order to get the levels back up to recommended levels 420 and 1300 ish.
Unfortunately we lost both of the first hammers that we had.
 
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fonduecat

fonduecat

Cleaner Shrimp
#7
#7
It's possible it is dying :frown:. Mine receded a lot when it got a bubble, but still opened a little.

I had moved mine in my tank and I think I damage it because some little pieces fell off. When I put it on the new rock it started to get the bubble. It had the bubble for a while and never fully opened. Due to moving I had to take down that tank. I put it in a different tank. I'm not sure if it was acting up because I damaged it when I moved it the first time or something else. Once I put it in the different tank it opened up fully and seemed happier, the bubble went away in less than a week.

I agree with 240addiction, check your calcium. I've noticed my duncans always close when levels are low.
 
Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#8
#8
Wow so calcium is beyond high. It's at 640 based on my api test. It was past the chart it gave me. I guess another water change is in order? I got a protein skimmer for the biocube so is that why it's so high?
 
Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#9
#9
I've also never tested for alk or magnesium, since it's recent that I've tried to keep corals, my fish have always been happy, so I'll get a test kit soon and test for that
 
Matt_Arian

Matt_Arian

For Stuffing!
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
Tried supplementing a lugols solution? The iodine will help bind any excess toxins and relieve some of the buildup from high stress levels. Seems to have helped with a stressing trumpet pretty well in less than 72 hours.
 
Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#12
#12
I haven't. I have been meaning to update, my mag was at 720, so I did do some dosing and I'm now making my own water using Kent. The coral sadly died
 
Matt_Arian

Matt_Arian

For Stuffing!
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
#14
Ouch... Shame your coral took a turn for the worst. If I had one, I'd give you one or six.

It would make sense though, as breaking the rock open would expose unoxidized minerals. Put that into an electrolyte solution and BAM! All hell breaks loose. Makes me wonder what types of bacteria consume those toxic level elements and what kind of environment is needed for them... Maybe a project for some avid science minded aquarist?
 
Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#15
#15
If I had all the right tools and more knowledge of chemistry then I'd give it a go. But yeah it definitely wasn't the thought that crossed my mind. Haha thanks for wanting to give me some (;
I'm going to try to get everything under control before I introduce any corals. My 75 gal has all the right params but my t5s are going out. Thankfully I'm almost done with my led build for the 125 setup
 
Sophie1213

Sophie1213

Blenny
#16
#16
Alright I'll list my params, I'm really excited because for the time ever my nitrates are at 0!! It's not a low end test kit sure but I'm still happy. I've been vodka dosing and I'm pretty amazed. I do still have a tiny little bit of brown algae on my rocks but not much. My params currently are
Kh 10.9
Calcium 380 just shy
Mag 1230 also just shy
Ph 8.2
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Salinity/specific grav 0.021/24 a little low.

How soon can I add at least one coral since I know it'll start using up mag and calcium?
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
#18
Big difference between 1.021 and 1.024. NSW (natural sea water) level salinity is a must for LPS and most corals. Do you have a calibrated refractometer?

Be careful that you don't strip your water of all nutrients by dosing vodka. This can sound good by reducing nitrates and stuff, but what most people with new tanks do is suspend the end of the cycle by not allowing the anoix bacteria to grow. I can think of next to no good reason to run vodka/vinegar/sugar/ethanol/whatever in a reef tank unless you are plagued by phosphates from using dead/dry rock. The tank will, on it's own, be able to process nitrate if you have aragonite sand and patience.

Kent is not a very good reef salt, IMO... calcium levels are too high, among many other things, so be sure and keep your parameters in check.

I would not add any coral until you are sure that your salinity is 1.026 and the other levels are good too.
 
Matt_Arian

Matt_Arian

For Stuffing!
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
#19
jda123;334526 said:
Big difference between 1.021 and 1.024. NSW (natural sea water) level salinity is a must for LPS and most corals. Do you have a calibrated refractometer?

Be careful that you don't strip your water of all nutrients by dosing vodka. This can sound good by reducing nitrates and stuff, but what most people with new tanks do is suspend the end of the cycle by not allowing the anoix bacteria to grow. I can think of next to no good reason to run vodka/vinegar/sugar/ethanol/whatever in a reef tank unless you are plagued by phosphates from using dead/dry rock. The tank will, on it's own, be able to process nitrate if you have aragonite sand and patience.

Kent is not a very good reef salt, IMO... calcium levels are too high, among many other things, so be sure and keep your parameters in check.

I would not add any coral until you are sure that your salinity is 1.026 and the other levels are good too.
Click to expand...
I agree with not stripping the water column of all of your nutrients. There are a lot of sessile inverts that will consume the floating organics, not to mention live rock and a deep sand bed make all the difference for supporting an efficient toxin/toxicant filter.

What's your opinion on iodine supplementation, Doug? I know there's a lot of debate about iodine/iodide supplementing, but I find that if the levels are low or corals are showing signs of stress, why not dose?
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
#20
Use a high quality reef salt and do your regular, standard, water changes. Most good reef-quality salts are good on iodine and potassium.
 
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