Help! Dissolving hammers

[bsfmaximus]

My tank has been doing really well recently despite the fact I haven't done a water change in about a month. Good polyp extension good water parameters etc.
I came home this evening to notice retracted toadstools Greenstar polyps and most upsetting my hammer corals which were growing pretty well. To make matters worse the hammers seem to be dissolving. Pics attached. Any help is appreciated.

 

[domination2580]

Parameters of the tank, temp, salinity, livestock, would be an awesome list to be able to help you! It helps us understand exactly what is going on. How long have you had them, any change in lights or intensity?

 

[bsfmaximus]

Sorry, I was in such a panic to do a water change I just wanted to get the question out here in case there was a common issue with a potentially easy fix.

I haven't had a change in lighting, flow, or placement. The tests that I have showed little to no change in parameters any time recently, although I know they aren't the best/most specific tests (API). Numbers below.

Nitrate/Nitrite - 0
Phosphate - nearly 0
Salinity - 1.025
Calcium - 300
pH - 7.7
Kh - 9

I haven't done a water change in a month, maybe 6 weeks. My only livestock are two perculas, a damsel, and hawkfish. Basic cuc, and I've got some invertebrates including brittle star, pencil urchin, and a couple gorilla (huge emerald looking) crabs. I have never witnessed any coral being picked on, even after lights out.

Unfortunately, I think the hammers might be done for. The "sliming" got thicker and heavier and I noticed pieces of the tentacles in the slime. I did a 20% water change. I guess we will see what they look like today. Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

 

[gashunk]

I know like for me if I dont do a water change after two weeks my coral start to look bad and all my parameters are all inline so that's probably it

 

[domination2580]

Your calcium is way low. It might be that.

 

[bsfmaximus]

Ugh.... That would make sense. I usually keep it around 400, nothing fancy but I dose purple tech daily or every couple days. That being said, it has been around 300 before. Maybe it has been there too long or something. I put my tank on autopilot recently (not completely but we just had our first kid a few months ago).

 

[domination2580]

Ugh.... That would make sense. I usually keep it around 400, nothing fancy but I dose purple tech daily or every couple days. That being said, it has been around 300 before. Maybe it has been there too long or something. I put my tank on autopilot recently (not completely but we just had our first kid a few months ago).

I keep my calcium at 470. Or somewhere very close. I dont have this problem so im willing to say that its the calcium. I would most certainly raise the calcium and hope for the best.

 

[bsfmaximus]

I keep my calcium at 470. Or somewhere very close. I dont have this problem so im willing to say that its the calcium. I would most certainly raise the calcium and hope for the best.

So that makes sense but what about my leathers? I was under the impression that they are a lot more forgiving with calcium? Here are a couple pics of what is left. Zoas and palys are all fine by the way although my mushrooms are all shrunken though they still have good color. I don't have a clue what to do other than to sit tight and not add anything.

 

[bsfmaximus]

Oh and my gsp is still entirely retracted.

 

[domination2580]

Could it be light? Have you added any media to clean the water? Carbon? Did you turn the lights up at all?

 

[bsfmaximus]

Light hasn't been adjusted in 6 months, LEDs about a year old. I run chemipure elite in my canister and changed out the bag when I cleaned my canister and did my water change.
I've read about leathers giving off poison to kill nearby coral - any thoughts on that? Are frogspawn more susceptible to the toxin than zoas? Would that coincide with some pitiful looking leathers afterward?

 

[domination2580]

Light hasn't been adjusted in 6 months, LEDs about a year old. I run chemipure elite in my canister and changed out the bag when I cleaned my canister and did my water change.
I've read about leathers giving off poison to kill nearby coral - any thoughts on that? Are frogspawn more susceptible to the toxin than zoas? Would that coincide with some pitiful looking leathers afterward?

No it shouldn't make the leathers look like that. How long have you had the canister on the tank?

 

[domination2580]

Usually in my experience zoas are more temperamental than frogspawn and hammer

 

[reeferfoxx]

Do you have any algae growing? Calcium of 300 is bad, pH of 7.7 is kind of low also, but not a huge deal.

I never had luck with chemipure elite. I tried it once and I believed it to be stripping out too much. You want a little no3 and po4.

I run a 20 gallon mixed w/SPS without a filter or a skimmer. no3 is 3 and po4 is 0.04. Other than keeping up with alkalinity dosing, growth is way out of control at the moment. If you feel like you have exhausted all probable causes, start removing things that remove things.

 

[domination2580]

Do you have any algae growing? Calcium of 300 is bad, pH of 7.7 is kind of low also, but not a huge deal.

I never had luck with chemipure elite. I tried it once and I believed it to be stripping out too much. You want a little no3 and po4.

I run a 20 gallon mixed w/SPS without a filter or a skimmer. no3 is 3 and po4 is 0.04. Other than keeping up with alkalinity dosing, growth is way out of control at the moment. If you feel like you have exhausted all probable causes, start removing things that remove things.

I think its a combo of stripping the water to fast, causing more light to penetrate the water causing the frogspawn to bleach. To add to the demise i think the calcium was way to low to suport the calcium structure.

 

[bsfmaximus]

I've had the canister filter on there for two years. I'm pretty religious with cleaning it every couple of weeks.
The chemipure was in there for a few months. My point being nothing changed overnight except the demise of the coral. Yes I have algae, I am also battling Vermetids (and losing). I was trying to keep nutrients low to try to starve them out.

 

[domination2580]

I've had the canister filter on there for two years. I'm pretty religious with cleaning it every couple of weeks.
The chemipure was in there for a few months. My point being nothing changed overnight except the demise of the coral. Yes I have algae, I am also battling Vermetids (and losing). I was trying to keep nutrients low to try to starve them out.

It can take a few months for chemipure to actually strip everything out of the water. Im gonna go with the previous statement of stripped water to fast and now to much light is penetrating the water column and bleaching coral. Leather and euphyllia are easy to bleach zoas arent easy to bleach. That and the calcium i think its a combo of both.

 

[bsfmaximus]

Thanks. Ugh. Even with that, they looked fine a day ago. Bleaching would happen that abruptly? Should I pull both the hammers and the leathers?

 

[domination2580]

How long did you have the hammers? Leathers? It was probably a downhill slide towards the end. They were hit with not enough calcium, so they got stunted growth. Them finally all nutrient were taken from tank amd they couldn't handle the amount of sudden light that came through the water so then they bleached but was so much so fast that they stayed melting.

 

[bsfmaximus]

That makes sense. And it sucks. I had them all for a year plus. The original two and a baby from both of them. Thanks for your insight.