Hammer Coral Dead?

[Bored_shrimp]

I got my first hammer coral yesterday and it's also my first Euphilyia. It looked like it was doing fine, but this morning I woke up and the polyp fleshy parts were off of the skeleton. It was my second coral and I have one in there already that's doing great, it's a leather coral. I had the Hammer in an area of moderate flow I think and I did a water change before I got it so my parameters should have been fine. I found the flesh top part and it's still fully coloured and all and I'm wondering if there's a way I might be able to save it, or is it gone? I took the skeleton out and I guess was holding a bit too hard or something because the top of the skeleton crumbled. So could I have done something wrong, or did I buy a bad coral? This is my first one of these so I'm a bit confused. I did drip acclimate like I do with my fish when I get those for a good 1-2 hours.

 

[Dquad18]

I got my first hammer coral yesterday and it's also my first Euphilyia. It looked like it was doing fine, but this morning I woke up and the polyp fleshy parts were off of the skeleton. It was my second coral and I have one in there already that's doing great, it's a leather coral. I had the Hammer in an area of moderate flow I think and I did a water change before I got it so my parameters should have been fine. I found the flesh top part and it's still fully coloured and all and I'm wondering if there's a way I might be able to save it, or is it gone? I took the skeleton out and I guess was holding a bit too hard or something because the top of the skeleton crumbled. So could I have done something wrong, or did I buy a bad coral? This is my first one of these so I'm a bit confused. I did drip acclimate like I do with my fish when I get those for a good 1-2 hours.

Could we see a picture?

 

[Bored_shrimp]

I also did test my calcium when I got it and it read 500.

 

[Bored_shrimp]

Could we see a picture?

I don't really have a way to get pictures on here sorry.

 

[Dquad18]

I don't really have a way to get pictures on here sorry.

Does the skeleton have any flesh left at all? if so it might recover

 

[Bored_shrimp]

Does the skeleton have any flesh left at all? if so it might recover

I took the skeleton out to look at it and see if there ans anything and it crumbled, I don't think they're supposed to do that too easily are they?

 

[Bored_shrimp]

Is there anyway I might be able to take the fleshy part and put it on something like glue it to a rock and it grow like that, all the polyps are still intact and together.

 

[Bored_shrimp]

I also remember that my alkalinity would have probably been up a bit from the water change, it goes down after a day or three, but could that have been a problem?

 

[Shirak]

Is there anyway I might be able to take the fleshy part and put it on something like glue it to a rock and it grow like that, all the polyps are still intact and together.

Sounds like it did a polyp bailout. I would search the forums for info on that.

 

[Bored_shrimp]

Sounds like it did a polyp bailout. I would search the forums for info on that.

Yeah, I'd been searching for whats happening and I think that's what it is. I'm pretty sure it's still alive, but do you know any ways to save it or that could increase my chances of doing so? I'm planning on just gluing the bottom of it that would have been attached to the skeleton to the rock work and seeing where it goes from there, should I maybe do something else? My parameters should be fine though, the only one that probably wasn't the best was alk but now it's doing better. I also wouldn't think it would do that in 2 and a half days, especially if that parameter was getting better over time and continuously improving. Thanks for your help though.

 

[Shirak]

You could try but I don't know if glue will stick. I am guessing it won't. I have not experienced polyp bailout like that where they just up and go all intact. From my understanding it wasn't happy about something and decided to find a better home. Water parameters, water flow, light levels etc can all cause it or a combination of the above. I have heard it can happen rapidly.. overnight. I think there are some that have managed to keep the polyp alive long term in the crook of a rock but have never heard of it regrowing a new skeleton.

 

[Bored_shrimp]

I think super glue should stick. It probably did this

You could try but I don't know if glue will stick. I am guessing it won't. I have not experienced polyp bailout like that where they just up and go all intact. From my understanding it wasn't happy about something and decided to find a better home. Water parameters, water flow, light levels etc can all cause it or a combination of the above. I have heard it can happen rapidly.. overnight. I think there are some that have managed to keep the polyp alive long term in the crook of a rock but have never heard of it regrowing a new skeleton.

Yeah, superglue didn't work in sticking the coral to a rock, it just fell off again, I decided to just put it in a crack in the rocks and I'm gonna just let it be there and see how it does. Right now from what I can tell it has opened up though. I guess I'll just wait and see what it does. I'll probably set up a refugium just to keep phosphate down so I don't have to do as many water changes and so I don't stress it out anymore. Oh well, thanks for the help.