Hammer being wierd?

Hud

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I bought a gold hammer from world wide corals in April and it has done great in my tank until a week ago. It has not fully opened up most of the time all the polyps are around the mouth and you can see the mouth but the mouth isn’t open. Or it’s just really deflated. Could it be dying?

2C5059F3-1569-4134-A060-2CA5939CE9D0.jpeg 4F697362-C661-4269-BE98-861E3EE74255.jpeg 23F87CC2-E4E2-498C-A7F3-C30A5A2696A2.jpeg
 
How are your water parameters, flow and lighting? (ie: have you checked your PAR levels)
Nitrate-10 ppm
Alkalinity-10 dkh
Calcium-400
Magnesium-1290
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0
Flow is normal
I don’t know the par but I know it’s fine because I have another hammer in the tank
 
the thing to watch for is a gaping mouth. If it’s mouth is gaping open it’s usually a bad sign.

have you moved it? Has it thrown out any elongated tentacles? Done ANYTHING different in the last week or so? It looks like you moved it to the sand bed?

do you ever feed it?
 
The location is an issue to begin with as it will get minimal light and flow at that location plus risk of sand on it.
Parameters- What test kits are you using ?
Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right. With yours at 470, check alk as the two work together and have to balance.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
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.
 
The location is an issue to begin with as it will get minimal light and flow at that location plus risk of sand on it.
Parameters- What test kits are you using ?
Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right. With yours at 470, check alk as the two work together and have to balance.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
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.
The reason it’s on the sand is because I put it there after it didn’t open up for days
 
The location is an issue to begin with as it will get minimal light and flow at that location plus risk of sand on it.
Parameters- What test kits are you using ?
Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right. With yours at 470, check alk as the two work together and have to balance.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
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.
All you said is good to know thank you
 
the thing to watch for is a gaping mouth. If it’s mouth is gaping open it’s usually a bad sign.

have you moved it? Has it thrown out any elongated tentacles? Done ANYTHING different in the last week or so? It looks like you moved it to the sand bed?

do you ever feed it?
I moved it and I have fed it
 
The reason it’s on the sand is because I put it there after it didn’t open up for days
I understand
Probably fine there as hammer not picky where it’s placed as long as not too much light and flow which causes them stress and either results in polyp bailout or jelly disease (BJD)
 
I understand
Probably fine there as hammer not picky where it’s placed as long as not too much light and flow which causes them stress and either results in polyp bailout or jelly disease (BJD)
That’s great to here thank you
 
What are the phosphates and temp?
Temp is 77-78 I don’t know phosphate but phosphate should be fine because my other hammer is doing great and so are my other corals including sps
 
This is what it looked like for about a week , kinda easy to tell it’s growing another head maybe yours is growing another mouth first
 

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Beautiful tank, I see mine kind of looks more whole though but maybe your right thanks I think it’s splitting too
 
Beautiful tank, I see mine kind of looks more whole though but maybe your right thanks I think it’s splitting too
Sometimes it would sulk for a couple days for no reason as well lol , would always come back bigger though
 

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