Anything Wrong with this Picture?

[schlemazl]

Brand new to the hobby. Got 2 LPS frags from my LFS 2 weeks ago. The coral in the picture was sold as a hammer hybrid but looks more like a torch to me, but I'm new, I don't know. I want to know if the base of this coral looks normal/healthy or if there are obvious issues/infections/parasites. Let me know what you see and what, if anything I should do or keep an eye on. Thanks in advance.

 

[blaxsun]

Really hard to tell much. Did you dip the coral?

 

[schlemazl]

I did not. I'm new and I was relying on my LFS people to tell me what I needed to know. Then I started reading forums like this one and realized I should always dip/quarantine. This and another hammer frag are the first 2 corals in my tank. So they're not gonna infect anybody else at this point. But part of the motivation for my post was to see if anybody thought it was worth traumatizing these little guys again by pulling them off the rock, dipping them and re-gluing them.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

You arent going to hurt anything by pulling and dipping, people do it all the time for certain situations. I would say if concerned or even for peace of mind by a dip and dip em. How new is your tank?

 

[Salt Creep]

Can you get a brighter pic under white light?

you could just dip the base and not the head of the coral. The base is just calcium carbonate and you aren’t going to hurt it at all by taking it off and dipping.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Brand new to the hobby. Got 2 LPS frags from my LFS 2 weeks ago. The coral in the picture was sold as a hammer hybrid but looks more like a torch to me, but I'm new, I don't know. I want to know if the base of this coral looks normal/healthy or if there are obvious issues/infections/parasites. Let me know what you see and what, if anything I should do or keep an eye on. Thanks in advance.

Looks like a frogspawn which would be a euphyllia but need some light for a clearer pic

 

[schlemazl]

Below find a couple better pics of the coral in question and one of his tank mate, clearly the 2nd is a hammer. But I'm also concerned about the holes in the base and the red things poking out of them. I tried to mitigate the problem by covering the holes and the protruding red things with superglue.

My tank is very new. 36G Finished initial nitrogen cycle maybe a month to 6 weeks ago. Only residents are 6 turbo snails (currently feasting on a bloom of diatoms) 2 very small clowns, and these two corals.

 

[Stephen8169301]

What type of lighting are you running on your tank?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I did not. I'm new and I was relying on my LFS people to tell me what I needed to know. Then I started reading forums like this one and realized I should always dip/quarantine. This and another hammer frag are the first 2 corals in my tank. So they're not gonna infect anybody else at this point. But part of the motivation for my post was to see if anybody thought it was worth traumatizing these little guys again by pulling them off the rock, dipping them and re-gluing them.

Hammers aren't the best beginner/new tank corals

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also, frogspawn and hammers are fimbriaphyllia. Torches are euphyllia.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Below find a couple better pics of the coral in question and one of his tank mate, clearly the 2nd is a hammer. But I'm also concerned about the holes in the base and the red things poking out of them. I tried to mitigate the problem by covering the holes and the protruding red things with superglue.

My tank is very new. 36G Finished initial nitrogen cycle maybe a month to 6 weeks ago. Only residents are 6 turbo snails (currently feasting on a bloom of diatoms) 2 very small clowns, and these two corals.

Looks more like a Hybrid known as Frammer (hammer/frogspawn). Light is a little bright and there is light bleaching. With this type of coral, you want to avoid the extremes. . . Exreme flow and extreme lighting. Too much flow and you stress coral and risk tearing the polyps off skeleton. Too much light and they expel zooxanthellae which is their energy source and lose color . Also assure calcium is no less than 400 for skeletal health.
Feed at least 2x per week and I recommend brine or mysis shrimp
Moderate light and water flow suits these guys . Here are just a couple of mine under moderate light and notice coloration:

 

[ScubaFish802]

The red things look similar to foraminifera. Likely nothing to worry about

 

[schlemazl]

@Stephen8169301 Re: lighting, I have an AI Prime 16HD running at 50% intensity during daylight hours positioned about 10 inches above the surface. The corals are down within an inch or two of the sand bed.

Thanks @ScubaFish802 for the analysis of the red things. That eases my worries.

@EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal since hammers aren't the best, maybe I'll just kill them and start over, what should I get that won't be way too tricky for a beginner like me?

 

[Stephen8169301]

@Stephen8169301 Re: lighting, I have an AI Prime 16HD running at 50% intensity during daylight hours positioned about 10 inches above the surface. The corals are down within an inch or two of the sand bed.

Thanks @ScubaFish802 for the analysis of the red things. That eases my worries.

@EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal since hammers aren't the best, maybe I'll just kill them and start over, what should I get that won't be way too tricky for a beginner like me?

Nice! That should be fine just target feed like vetteguy said growth will be slow if In a newer tank once you start getting a more mature tank it’ll start to take off enjoy your corals happy reefing

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

@Stephen8169301 Re: lighting, I have an AI Prime 16HD running at 50% intensity during daylight hours positioned about 10 inches above the surface. The corals are down within an inch or two of the sand bed.

Thanks @ScubaFish802 for the analysis of the red things. That eases my worries.

@EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal since hammers aren't the best, maybe I'll just kill them and start over, what should I get that won't be way too tricky for a beginner like me?

I never suggested you kill them.
Fimbriaphyllia (and euphyllia) often do better in more established tanks, particularly frags that have recently been shipped since there might be unseen stress or damage that won't show signs until several weeks later. Unstable parameters can also stress them, so putting those 2 things together can often result in failure.

Again, I never said you should give up on them, my point was actually to let you know that if they don't do well, it may not be anything that you did or didn't do.