Hammer Coral has the blues

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regal

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May 24, 2004
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I purchased a Hammer Coral (brown tubes with neon green tips) from my LFS a few weeks ago. It seemed to do well initially, but now it's looking rather wilted, and doesn't open up fully during the day. I have it placed on a rock fairly high up in the tank so it gets good light, with a medium water flow (gentle sway). I don't see any disease or change otherwise. My mushrooms and green star polyps all seem to be happy and growing fine and no issues with any other critters in my tank. Any suggestions on what to check for or to do to perk it up? I'd hate to lose it, it's beautiful.
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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Maybe somebody's bothering it. Some bristleworm species will attack the polyps, and some fish may also find them tempting.

Although your water conditions may be great, it's useful to measure them when things aren't going well. I find pH, specific gravity, alkalinity, nitrate and calcium to be good indicators of tank health, and can often help give clues when you post.

Some kits I like:
pH: any high range (7.8-8.8)
alkalinity: Aquarium Systems FasTest (easy, cheap, fast)
nitrate: Salifert (easy, fast)
Ca: SeaChem (sharp cutoff)

When was the last time you did a partial water change, by the way?
 
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RothChyld

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Feb 16, 2003
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Did you feed it? When I used to feed my hammer sometimes it would satiate itself enough to not need to open fully for almost 3 weeks. After that I quit feeding it and let it feed off of the light. He lived 3.5 years until the "big crash" when I went on vacation. :mad: Also doublecheck water quality as Dave states.

Mike
 
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