Euphyllia help ASAP!!

[Reefing Mama]

This morning, my tank was doing great. One of the hammers was a little ticked off but I thought it just got mad from a hermit being close by. Now, 3 of my hammers are bailing out. I don't know what happened! Please help. Stats in pictures

 

[Reefing Mama]

I have since moved them into small cups and put them at the bottom of the tank to help capture any bailing polyps that I may be able to save. Please help!! Idk what to do

 

[DnA-Aquatics LLC]

They look a little irritated. They are not bailing out. There is flesh around the skeleton. Maybe try a coral dip for any infection to ease your worrying.

 

[DnA-Aquatics LLC]

Do you have any fish that may have nipped at them all?

 

[Reefing Mama]

They look a little irritated. They are not bailing out. There is flesh around the skeleton. Maybe try a coral dip for any infection to ease your worrying.

It's losing polyps by the minute and a large area is already OFF the skeleton on 1 of them just hanging by flesh

 

[Reefing Mama]

Do you have any fish that may have nipped at them all?

No I watched as the 3rd one that is now doing this was fluffy and happy start shrinking uo and polyps coming off within a half hr. Right before my eyes

 

[DnA-Aquatics LLC]

It's losing polyps by the minute and a large area is already OFF the skeleton on 1 of them just hanging by flesh

Hard to see that in the pictures. They just look deflated and shriveled up. What are your tank parameters?

 

[Reefing Mama]

Nitrate 5
Po4 0.50
The rest is on the apex

 

[DnA-Aquatics LLC]

Nitrate 5
Po4 0.50
The rest is on the apex

Mag, calc, and alk? Wondering if that orp dip was caused by an alk spike/dip

 

[Reefing Mama]

Sorry uploaded wrong pic

 

[Reefing Mama]

In this one you can see where in the original picture, it was just ticked and now its hanging off

 

[Hydrored]

What is the salinity at? Can you do a secondary check on alk? Was anything dosed at the time the ORP dropped? I only see my ORP drop like that after a water change. Trident can drift over time and need a cleaning

 

[DnA-Aquatics LLC]

Sorry uploaded wrong pic

In this one you can see where in the original picture, it was just ticked and now its hanging off

I would remove them from the cups and lower your flow, In my opinion the cups might completely deprive them of flow. And that could make thinks worse.

To me, it does not look like the heads are bailing out.

Did you feed anything recently that the hammers may have eaten?

Do you know what it looks like when a euphyllia coral spawns? Could it be possibly spawning?

 

[Reefing Mama]

I did do a waterchange after it started to see if lowering phosphates may help since it was at .5 which is a little higher than usual for my tank

 

[Reefing Mama]

I would remove them from the cups and lower your flow, In my opinion the cups might completely deprive them of flow. And that could make thinks worse.

To me, it does not look like the heads are bailing out.

Did you feed anything recently that the hammers may have eaten?

Do you know what it looks like when a euphyllia coral spawns? Could it be possibly spawning?

I put them in the cups just now to help them not lose more polyps. This is what my lfs said to do so I can possibly save the fleshy part if it loses it completely

 

[Tamberav]

I don't see heads bailing, just mad. They can look like bare skeleton when angry.

I don't know if anyone has ever saved a bailed polyp without a skeleton. It seems to just sit around but never grow a new skeleton.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Euphyllia require stable reef water conditions and are intolerant to major swings in water quality which may have occurred. This coral will start to get irritated or even die if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. They are sensitive in this respect and i always recommend moderate light and water flow and placement around the lower third of tank. The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.
Hammer corals are more subdued eaters who would benefit from the occasional feeding of meaty marine foodsuch as mysis shrimp, rather than powdered foods like reef roids.
So what are the other things that irritate them? STRESS is the answer. What causes stress:
- too much water flow
-too much light
- red or black bugs
- salinity too high or low
-ph too low
-Alk too high
-Ca low or too high
-High nitrates

A few things to check and monitor

 

[Reefing Mama]

That just looks mad?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I don't see heads bailing, just mad. They can look like bare skeleton when angry.

I don't know if anyone has ever saved a bailed polyp without a skeleton. It seems to just sit around but never grow a new skeleton.

I ve seen dozens of polyps that have bailed out over the decades and maybe one or two that actually attched to skeleton but did not make it long term.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Just wondering... have you seen any polyps actually floating away? Or are they just disappearing from the skeleton?