Hammer splitting or do I have a problem?

[BifrostReefer]

Not sure if something is wrong with these two hammers or if they are splitting. Blue hammer and a gold rainbow hammer both look like they could be splitting, but it's been about a week looking like this. No big parameter swings, other hammers, torches, frogspawn look fine. They have looked great for a 6 mo to a year now. Hope I'm just being paranoid!

 

[TexanCanuck]

Hi there ...

I am far from an expert on this subject, but recently went through a similar issue with my own hammer corals.

In the end, I narrowed it down to two possible issues:

A) Toxicity released from leather coral [I had recently added some Sinularia]
B) Brown Jelly Disease (BJD)

Have you by any chance recently added any leather corals to your tank? Alternatively, if you've had leather corals in the tank for a while now, are you changing your carbon frequently enough to remove the toxins they release?

In my case, I started by removing the Sinularia, replaced my carbon, and did a series of 25% water changes over several days to eliminate toxicity. Unfortunately, it didn't help ... my hammers kept going downhill. In fact (and again, I am no expert so don't take this as gospel), a couple of my hammers looked very similar to the last close-up photo you posted (polyp retraction and a brown substance around their base)

I then moved on to treat it as BJD.

Unfortunately, BJD is much harder to eradicate. According to my research, all Euphyllia species (hammers, torches, frogspawn) are particularly susceptible to BJD. The best guidance I found for treating BJD is a two-step dip (freshwater followed by Lugol's solution). BJD is highly communicable - and can rapidly spread between colonies. So I moved anything that looked less than perfect to a QT and began a series of dips. I started dipping them once each ... and they kept getting worse ... so I dipped them again ... and they kept getting worse ... so I went to daily dips. At the end of the process, I had lost 6 of my 7 colonies of Euphyllia.

Luckily, it does not appear to have spread to other corals (knock on wood).

So - either I am really crappy at doctoring my corals, or BJD is no joke.

My advice to you - do some research on BJD and if you think this may be a case, MOVE QUICKLY ... it can spread so the faster you begin treatment the more likely you are to be successful.

Here again I want to remind you that I am not an expert and could be totally out in left field here.

Would love to hear what you end up doing!

 

[BifrostReefer]

I'll look into bjd and see what I find out. I have never had any leather coral. I had a small hammer I got a few months ago start looking bad and getting a white fuzz on it. I dipped it but that didn't seem to help much so I tossed it. This doesn't look the same, but maybe it is?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Hi there ...

I am far from an expert on this subject, but recently went through a similar issue with my own hammer corals.

In the end, I narrowed it down to two possible issues:

A) Toxicity released from leather coral [I had recently added some Sinularia]
B) Brown Jelly Disease (BJD)

Have you by any chance recently added any leather corals to your tank? Alternatively, if you've had leather corals in the tank for a while now, are you changing your carbon frequently enough to remove the toxins they release?

In my case, I started by removing the Sinularia, replaced my carbon, and did a series of 25% water changes over several days to eliminate toxicity. Unfortunately, it didn't help ... my hammers kept going downhill. In fact (and again, I am no expert so don't take this as gospel), a couple of my hammers looked very similar to the last close-up photo you posted (polyp retraction and a brown substance around their base)

I then moved on to treat it as BJD.

Unfortunately, BJD is much harder to eradicate. According to my research, all Euphyllia species (hammers, torches, frogspawn) are particularly susceptible to BJD. The best guidance I found for treating BJD is a two-step dip (freshwater followed by Lugol's solution). BJD is highly communicable - and can rapidly spread between colonies. So I moved anything that looked less than perfect to a QT and began a series of dips. I started dipping them once each ... and they kept getting worse ... so I dipped them again ... and they kept getting worse ... so I went to daily dips. At the end of the process, I had lost 6 of my 7 colonies of Euphyllia.

Luckily, it does not appear to have spread to other corals (knock on wood).

So - either I am really crappy at doctoring my corals, or BJD is no joke.

My advice to you - do some research on BJD and if you think this may be a case, MOVE QUICKLY ... it can spread so the faster you begin treatment the more likely you are to be successful.

Here again I want to remind you that I am not an expert and could be totally out in left field here.

Would love to hear what you end up doing!

Shouldn’t have been your leathers that got your hammers. I have a decent sized toadstool in my tank and it’s not bothered anything. I only have one hammer and a torch but it’s been in there as long as they have with no negative effects. I dont run carbon but I do have a protein skimmer

Edit: Didn’t see the sinulara reference but still shouldn’t be an issue. I have a friend who has one that’s bigger than some of the trees in my yard and it’s not bothering his hammers or torches at all. I have a little bitty one but I put it down stream from everything but my toadstool.

 

[BifrostReefer]

So I dipped in 3% peroxide for 4 minutes and then seachem reef dip....wait (checks bottle as I'm writing this), that was a bottle of reef plus (amino acids), not reef dip. Surprisingly has a similar tint as the reef dip. Ooops, that's what happens with a toddler running around. O well they got the peroxide anyway, and I didn't notice any brown jelly on either hammer frag. So I'm not sure it's BJD that I have. Plus most people say BJD kills fast, and it's been over a week since my 2 hammers started to look weird.

Any other ideas?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

So I dipped in 3% peroxide for 4 minutes and then seachem reef dip....wait (checks bottle as I'm writing this), that was a bottle of reef plus (amino acids), not reef dip. Surprisingly has a similar tint as the reef dip. Ooops, that's what happens with a toddler running around. O well they got the peroxide anyway, and I didn't notice any brown jelly on either hammer frag. So I'm not sure it's BJD that I have. Plus most people say BJD kills fast, and it's been over a week since my 2 hammers started to look weird.

Any other ideas?

It just looks mad not like it’s dying really. How much flow is it in?

 

[BifrostReefer]

The flow is fairly light, the 3 other hammers were happy in the same area. The hammers get decent movement, but nothing strong.

 

[BifrostReefer]

It just looks mad not like it’s dying really. How much flow is it in?

The flow is fairly light, the 3 other hammers were happy in the same area. The hammers get decent movement, but nothing strong.

 

[BifrostReefer]

Here's the full tank shot.