Hammer went from perfect to sad

[Gatling]

Alk is high imo is that what your salt mixes at?

I use the red Sea coral pro mix and that's what it advertises to. I also did 1 test on it.

Hello,

I have the same blue a green hammer (well one like it), and I can say it certainly would not like an alkalinity of 11. My alk is close to 7 calcium is 420 and nitrates are 2-4. When nutrients are low it’s better to run alk and calcium lower.

Running carbon all the time is not wise. It’s okay to put in for maybe two weeks then remove it for about a month. It’s been shown to cause hlle in fish, it can affect them in different time frames. Some fish it’s due to long exposure, others (aka tangs), 2 weeks is enough to start it. Yes there is still a lot unknown about hlle but most consider it from carbon dust particles. If you run this in your tank you may experience fish problems also.

My hammer was mad for a good 8 months and I still don’t know why. I changed light, flow, target feeding (pick and option). I then moved it literally an inch and now it’s back to normal. Sometimes we don’t know why they are mad etc, but unless your certain you know the cause, doing this extra stuff will just make it more mad. I’d try lowering the alk (SLOWLY) first. Do not let that swing to much in a 24 hour period. Try and drop it over 3-4 weeks time frame.

That's interesting, I don't plan on using carbon all the time though as my other tank has never used it and everything is happy.
I'll also try to give it a mysis too, I didn't realize they like that!

Im currently in Florida and I'll check out a lot of cool fish stores but I'll update you all next week. My parents said the tank looks good and my hammer seemed to be happier. I'll look into lowering alk slowly.

 

[Gatling]

Update:

Wow what difference does a week make. I turned off my power head and look!

I definitely need to watch for too high flow. Unfortunately since I had very little flow for a week (plus my dad definitely over feeding the tank), there's a ton of undecomposed food that I need to siphon out. Gonna do a water change tonight.

Thank you for all your input guys ) <3

 

[evolved]

Update:

Wow what difference does a week make. I turned off my power head and look!

I definitely need to watch for too high flow. Unfortunately since I had very little flow for a week (plus my dad definitely over feeding the tank), there's a ton of undecomposed food that I need to siphon out. Gonna do a water change tonight.

Thank you for all your input guys ) <3

I wouldn't decrease the flow in the whole tank for the sake of one coral. Consider moving it to an area of less flow, or change up how your powerhead is positioned.