Hammer Dying or Eaten??

[Kingkold020]

I’ve had this hammer for about 6 months and it’s been doing fantastic. I’m not sure what just happened but one of the heads look demolished. I recently added 2 peppermint shrimp so I’m not sure if it’s them. Any ideas on what happened?

I have another hammer and it’s doing fantastic. All of my other corals are looking good as well, with the exception being my zoanthids.

Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.0
Mg: 1400
Calcium: 485
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

just realize if I forgot the photos lol

 

[anemoneanatomy]

Post a picture, please. As well, did you notice it receding at all in the last few weeks, or just not fully extending during lights on?

Also, post a picture of the shrimp if you can (they can be hard to photograph, so if you can't, no worries).

 

[Kingkold020]

Post a picture, please. As well, did you notice it receding at all in the last few weeks, or just not fully extending during lights on?

Also, post a picture of the shrimp if you can (they can be hard to photograph, so if you can't, no worries).

Just realize so forgot to add them. There up now.

 

[Kingkold020]

Photos of the shrimp

the last photo is a piece of the hammer near their hangout spot. I’m thinking it was the shrimp

 

[anemoneanatomy]

If they are really peppermint shrimps, the kind that people usually buy to control aiptasia populations, I don't think they should be going after hammer coral. They prefer dead and decaying tissue organic tissue, dropped food, and small live invertebrates (pods, etc) to corals that would be capable of stinging them. It may be worth trying to identify the specific species, however (check here), because different species ID'd as peppermint shrimp have different dietary and foraging preferences.

If the current in your tank would conceivably carry detritus from the location of your hammers to where your shrimps hang out, you may be experiencing hammer tissue loss. This can look like a hammer "scattering" its polyps, such that they end up distributed by the current, and is indicative that your hammer is diseased. If this doesn't sound likely, it could indeed be that the shrimp had a midnight snack.

In either case, I'd recommend doing a dip. If it's tissue loss, you need to get the bacteria that is causing it under control. If it was munched on, that's a vector for bacteria to enter, so you need to disinfect the wound.