hammer coral now losing complete heads..

t blackwell · May 6, 2019

as i mentoned in another post..Im thinking a coral beauty I have had for a long time has developed a taste for lps....the hammer coral which had large and fluffy heads is now down to one that looks like its barely hangin on..one of them that was waving fairly loose has come loose and has floated to another locale..if my parameters are all good..what causes this..besides poss a fish chomping done tests recently all is in line..nitrate a little high at 30 ish..even had an aquamedic test a month ago..to back recent testing up..I can figure no chemistry issue...the coral beauty is the only fish I have that has a "with caution" warning about him..of course he was one of my first fish two years ago before i ever thought I might be interested in coral...should i banish him to the sump and then rehome ..does anybody know any other causes ...thats two euphyllia...in three weeks..plus one head of duncan that disappeared bone clean

EmdeReef · May 6, 2019

Have you noticed the CB nipping any of the corals? Usually if the damage is that severe you would have witnessed pretty persistent nipping accompanied with some visible damage to the coral - I.e.pieces of polyps hanging or uneven damage etc.

What other fish do you have? How big is the tank? Any other corals?

Nutrients or potential elements deficiency could be another cause. I mostly keep sps but a few of my lps get miserable when nutrients drop too much. I use it instead of a nitrate test kit

t blackwell · May 7, 2019

EmdeReef said:
Have you noticed the CB nipping any of the corals? Usually if the damage is that severe you would have witnessed pretty persistent nipping accompanied with some visible damage to the coral - I.e.pieces of polyps hanging or uneven damage etc.

What other fish do you have? How big is the tank? Any other corals?

Nutrients or potential elements deficiency could be another cause. I mostly keep sps but a few of my lps get miserable when nutrients drop too much. I use it instead of a nitrate test kit

I have not seen him or anyone nipping on a coral..there are pieces of the hammer hanging loose..one came off..one head barely left holding on..the torch went the same way except it didnt "hang"...I dont know what I could be low on..all tests including am aquamedic test..show my only issue is nitrates..they where 50 now they are about 30..not that bad..the duncan polyp was fat and just disappeared over night...keep in mind i wasnt exactly watching the CB as i didnt suspect..I see him pick at rocks but thats normal..here are my list of fish in this 220 gal..naso,regal,solarwrasse/two clowns/gramma/two blennies/clown goby/2chromis/1 damsel/two anthias/small yellow watchman...and the coral beauty..do any of those sound suspect..the regal is a baby..2 inches..there is visible damage to the hammer..one head hanging off..then came off..then next day one last head..hanging loose..im thinking its not elements..per the aquamedic test..but also ..I have added ten lbs miracle mud in addition to once in a while adding trace elements...I have changed about 25 galls of water in the last three weeks..so I doubt its my elements ( I use red sea coral pro) my tests come back good...mag is what i dont test that often..but its come up good ..and I have tested it several times lately...

USMA36 · May 7, 2019

Polyp bailout happens. There isn’t always a known reason other than stress which could be anything. I lost several colonies to polyp bailout last year. Water parameters were fine as tested by triton and no fish eating. Just happened. Nothing I could do to stop it. 1 head at a time just bailed out until they were all gone.