Hammer coral won't open, need help

[InvertsBestVerts]

About two months ago I bought a lime yellow hammer coral to my 10g reef. After a day in the tank it looked better than it did at the LFS, but around two weeksago it stopped opening up.

At first it just wasn't quite fully opening, but for the last several days it hasn't opened at all. At first I thought my parameters might be a bit off, maybe slightly high phosphate, but I've gone through almost 20 gallons of water in the last week doing big water changes +vacuuming and there's been 0 improvement.

All my other corals (including acans, a lepto, and even my other hammer coral) are all doing amazing right now, so I'm really starting to doubt it's my water.

The only thing I can see are these small dandelion puff looking things on the base of the skeleton, after yesterday's 75% WC I'm starting to wonder if these things are irritating the hammer.

I'm really at a loss here guys. I'll be going by the lfs later today to get a full test of my water, but at this point I'm really doubting it's the water. Should I try dipping the coral, and if so what should I use?

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

Bump

 

[Rickybobby]

Do you have a ton of flow on it?

 

[Rickybobby]

I had to move mine around a few times to find it a spot it liked.

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

Could be some sort of pest, so maybe try a dip.

 

[InvertsBestVerts]

Do you have a ton of flow on it?

There's a good amount of flow, but it's not super high (the polyps didn't blow around or anything).

The thing that has me stumped with flow/positioning is that it's essentially in an identical spot to my other hammer. I put them pretty close to each other on either side of my filter, so flow and light match up well.

Plus it seemed happy in that spot for over a month before going downhill in just a couple of days. I could try moving it around, but I'm not too hopeful that's my issue.

 

[InvertsBestVerts]

Could be some sort of pest, so maybe try a dip.

I've kind of played fast and loose with corals up to this point and I've yet to dip anything, any suggestions on how to do it right?

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

I've kind of played fast and loose with corals up to this point and I've yet to dip anything, any suggestions on how to do it right?

A common dip product I've seen used is Coral RX. Heres a link to watch

 

[InvertsBestVerts]

A common dip product I've seen used is Coral RX. Heres a link to watch

Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to check it out before I go to the LFS.

 

[BrightReef]

I'd move it out of the high flow for now and dip it.

 

[kzitzman1]

About two months ago I bought a lime yellow hammer coral to my 10g reef. After a day in the tank it looked better than it did at the LFS, but around two weeksago it stopped opening up.

At first it just wasn't quite fully opening, but for the last several days it hasn't opened at all. At first I thought my parameters might be a bit off, maybe slightly high phosphate, but I've gone through almost 20 gallons of water in the last week doing big water changes +vacuuming and there's been 0 improvement.

All my other corals (including acans, a lepto, and even my other hammer coral) are all doing amazing right now, so I'm really starting to doubt it's my water.

The only thing I can see are these small dandelion puff looking things on the base of the skeleton, after yesterday's 75% WC I'm starting to wonder if these things are irritating the hammer.

I'm really at a loss here guys. I'll be going by the lfs later today to get a full test of my water, but at this point I'm really doubting it's the water. Should I try dipping the coral, and if so what should I use?

One thing I’ve always heard and found true is that if your tank has several coral doing great but one that is struggling it’s likely not your water. It could be it wants more/less light or that the water flow isn’t ideal or that a fish or something else is picking on it.

 

[ReefDude716]

Did you acclimate it ? And do you know the water chem levels from where it came from. Also invaded where coral you bought is expensive you could test the water that it came in to make sure there isn’t a huge difference than your own tank so that you don’t shock the thing.

 

[DSEKULA]

Small dandylion looking things sounds like hydroids, could be stinging it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Moderate light and water flow
Feed 2-3x week and assure parameters are in range
Salinity- 1.024-1.026
Temp- 77-79
Ph- 8.1-8.3
Alk- 9
Ca- 450
Mag - 1300-1400