Euphyllia peeling off tissue after wavemaker fell off

KonradTO · Dec 23, 2021

Hi all!
Tonight my wavemaker fell off the magnet and blew some sand around (not that much). Until yesterday my hammer was ok, I had it for a week in my tank and was always inflated and nice. I just came back home and found it like its peeling off and all deflated. Should I test for nitrate spikes? Or dip it? I am not sure how the flow direction changed after I re attached the wavemaker... The torch seems fine and leptastrea as well.

KonradTO · Dec 23, 2021

KonradTO · Dec 23, 2021

Now it's inflated again but still you can see it has the skin coming off? Is this normal?

Shirak · Dec 23, 2021

no it's not normal. Major tissue receding. What are your water parameters? The damage on the coral isn't from some sand blowing around or change in flow for a little bit from a displaced wave maker IMO.

Zoa_Fanatic · Dec 23, 2021

KonradTO said:
Now it's inflated again but still you can see it has the skin coming off? Is this normal?

I can’t see anything for the blues

aggrofish · Dec 23, 2021

I don't see that hammer receding at all. In the first image it's not happy, but that is n no way shape or form receding IMO.

OrchidMiss · Dec 23, 2021

totally normal!
These types of LPS are sensitive to physical irritation. Just give them a little time and they should bounce right back!

Shirak · Dec 23, 2021

Yeah.... I dunno what picture you guys are looking at but this one is clearly in bad shape and showing major recession and flesh separation. The flesh is lifted away from the skeleton and stretched between two heads! The rest is halfway up the skeleton from where it was just recently. The large area of very white newly exposed skeleton shows it has lost a lot of flesh in a short amount of time. Sorry not normal and not the result of some recent irritation.

aggrofish · Dec 23, 2021

Shirak said:
Yeah.... I dunno what picture you guys are looking at but this one is clearly in bad shape and showing major recession and flesh separation. The flesh is lifted away from the skeleton and stretched between two heads! The rest is halfway up the skeleton from where it was just recently. The large area of very white newly exposed skeleton shows it has lost a lot of flesh in a short amount of time. Sorry not normal and not the result of some recent irritation.

Apparently you dont know what receding is

Shirak · Dec 24, 2021

aggrofish said:
Apparently you dont know what receding is

So what would you call it? The flesh on the skeleton is not where it was recently. If it was, there wouldn't be a huge white patch. So what is it then?

aggrofish · Dec 24, 2021

Shirak said:
So what would you call it? The flesh on the skeleton is not where it was recently. If it was, there wouldn't be a huge white patch. So what is it then?

It’s just the skeleton showing because it’s closed up. When the polyps go inside the skeleton then you have issues. I’ve had a couple recede over the years and once they start, mine have never come back. i May not be using proper terms and I’m far from an expert but I have a lot of euphoria in my tank. As long as I don’t have anymore heater failures it’s basically something that grows really well for me.

KonradTO · Dec 24, 2021

Yeah I looked when its open and the skin is still like that. It does close at night but during the day it seems quite happy. I also found another thread about this from someone with the same identical problem and it seems that in that case the hammer recovered quickly..someone suggested its because of growth

Shirak · Dec 24, 2021

KonradTO said:
Yeah I looked when its open and the skin is still like that. It does close at night but during the day it seems quite happy. I also found another thread about this from someone with the same identical problem and it seems that in that case the hammer recovered quickly..someone suggested its because of growth

Sorry but I disagree it's from growth for a coral that you have had for 1 week in your tank. 1 week and it has only just started to acclimate to your tank much less grown significantly. Yes as the heads grow apart the flesh between them will get narrower and eventually separate but not after one week and with so much loss of tissue from around the lower part of the skeleton all around the rest of the coral. Good news is there is still lots of flesh still remaining on the outside of the skeleton. I have a couple dozen Euphyllia and they all have a small white line around where the flesh is slowly traveling up the skeleton as the head grows taller. But the distance the flesh extends down the outside of the skeleton remains fairly constant.

I have had many Euphyllia with very little to no flesh around the outside of the skeleton do just fine. They often come in from overseas like this. Over time they will grow and the flesh will stretch out over the outside like it should as the heads get taller. The important thing is to monitor and determine the tissue is not retracting further up the skeleton towards the head. If it is then it needs to be halted or they will not survive long term and will eventually just wither away or bailout.

You haven't posted any water parameters? It could be it's just unhappy and trying to adjust to your tank from wherever it was before. But after 1 week that is a lot of tissue to lose from the outside of the skeleton.

KonradTO · Dec 24, 2021

Shirak said:
Sorry but I disagree it's from growth for a coral that you have had for 1 week in your tank. 1 week and it has only just started to acclimate to your tank much less grown significantly. Yes as the heads grow apart the flesh between them will get narrower and eventually separate but not after one week and with so much loss of tissue from around the lower part of the skeleton all around the rest of the coral. Good news is there is still lots of flesh still remaining on the outside of the skeleton. I have a couple dozen Euphyllia and they all have a small white line around where the flesh is slowly traveling up the skeleton as the head grows taller. But the distance the flesh extends down the outside of the skeleton remains fairly constant.

I have had many Euphyllia with very little to no flesh around the outside of the skeleton do just fine. They often come in from overseas like this. Over time they will grow and the flesh will stretch out over the outside like it should as the heads get taller. The important thing is to monitor and determine the tissue is not retracting further up the skeleton towards the head. If it is then it needs to be halted or they will not survive long term and will eventually just wither away or bailout.

You haven't posted any water parameters? It could be it's just unhappy and trying to adjust to your tank from wherever it was before. But after 1 week that is a lot of tissue to lose from the outside of the skeleton.

Yeah what I meant is growth from the previous tank.. I will post water parameters tomorrow, it has been a week since I checked last time apart from kH which is around 9 as usual. I also have another euphyllia (torch) and its doing great. If it was a problem of water parameters shouldn't also not inflate? Aside from the skin it looks happy. I will check nitrates and po4 asap. Mg and Ca are always within the optimal range without doing much (actually Mg was a bit over the top with the salifert test, I think 1550 ppm). Now I tried to move it in another point more similar to where I have my torch. Unfortunately while I was trying to glue it to the rock it fell from the plug

newby errors I guess..hopefully he will survive the additional stress..

vetteguy53081 · Dec 24, 2021

Should be fine. As long as CA levels are in norm, will maintain its structure and slime over

KonradTO · Dec 24, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Should be fine. As long as CA levels are in norm, will maintain its structure and slime over

I really hope so. Always feel responsible for the wellbeing of the animals and plant in the tank but I really started few months ago from scratch

KonradTO · Dec 25, 2021

Today I tested NO3 PO4 and kH again.
Kh is between 8 and 9. PO4 between 0.1 and 0.2 ppm I guess (I need a better test, on mine is almost impossible to tell if its zero, 0.1 or 0.2). I am having some green hair algae growth so its likely above 0.1 ppm.
NO3 is around 10 mg/l.
The skin is definitely getting worse, now the skeleton is almost all white. But the hammer has been all inflated nicely today, so I am not entirely sure what is happening.

Supa · Dec 25, 2021

KonradTO said:
Today I tested NO3 PO4 and kH again.
Kh is between 8 and 9. PO4 between 0.1 and 0.2 ppm I guess (I need a better test, on mine is almost impossible to tell if its zero, 0.1 or 0.2). I am having some green hair algae growth so its likely above 0.1 ppm.
NO3 is around 10 mg/l.
The skin is definitely getting worse, now the skeleton is almost all white. But the hammer has been all inflated nicely today, so I am not entirely sure what is happening.

Got a recent picture?

KonradTO · Dec 25, 2021

Supa said:
Got a recent picture?

This is now. The heads are closed a bit cause lights are off.

Shirak · Dec 25, 2021

Without a doubt a good kit for PO4 is very important IMO since most are trying to keep low levels in their tank. I have used a number of kits and they either take forever to run or it's really hard to tell one shade from the next on the color chart. Personally I use the Hanna ULR phosphate checker.

If you have a lot of algae growing it's quite possible the P04 in your water is 0 or close to it. Algae is really good at sucking it up fast. Your other parameters seem good. Ca and Mg? Could be playing a role. Could be something like light or flow too. Especially for a coral that you haven't had very long.

Have you tried target feeding a little since you added it? If it is a nutrient issue from the hair algae then some supplemental target feeding might help.