Is my coral dying??

[BreezyBum]

i have a coral, can’t remember the specific type. Half of it is losing its coral tissue, it’ll shrink then just disappear. The other half looks perfectly fine. The ammonia is good, and so is the no2 and no3. Is it dying? Should I take it out?

 

[WWIII]

Welcome to R2R! Yeah those wall hammers can be difficult to keep. If they start to go (die, melt, bailout) usually it's just a matter of time before the whole thing follows suit. Sorry to say. :-(

I know a lot of people just end up staying away from them. You can have "perfect parameters" and still have this occur unfortunately. Maybe some guys here keep them successfully and can give some advice.

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

Welcome to reef2reef

 

[Reefbuds]

Yea sorry to say it is definitely dieing. Good news is if you figure out what's wrong and treat for nutrient spike you may save the other half. Parameters?
I split a half dead goniopora one time and it lived on.

 

[zcedric]

it can happen that a head dies.. with perfect parameter.. i just had a head of one of my hammers go.. takes 1-2 days.. and done... but if it happens it is mostly only one head and the others just keep driving.

 

[BreezyBum]

Yea sorry to say it is definitely dieing. Good news is if you figure out what's wrong and treat for nutrient spike you may save the other half. Parameters?
I split a half dead goniopora one time and it lived on.

How do I cut it?

 

[BreezyBum]

To be honest, I’m not sure how many heads are on it or how to even tell. It’s all just on one skeleton. How do I cut it?

 

[Reef Bazaar]

that looks like a wall hammer and unfortunately yes, it is dying. As someone else mentioned earlier, they do seem to be more finnicky to keep than the branching hammers.

Your best best now, is to cut the good part off (cut of a little bit of good part with the dying part for best chances of preventing the infection from spreading) -- throw away the dying part, dip the good part in iodine, and cross your fingers ... (are you running carbon?)

 

[Reef Bazaar]

How do I cut it?

For a wall hammer, I'd HIGHLY recommend a bandsaw or a dremel. If you do not have access to them, maybe ask in your local reef club and/or some LFS if they can help you out. If you are in Colorado/Denver area, you are more than welcome to bring it here and I can cut it on my bandsaw.

 

[Reefbuds]

How do I cut it?[/QUOTE

How do I cut it?

Well put simply, you take the coral out of the water and as quickly as you can hammer the dead part off. I know it sounds brutal but do it as easily and skillfully as you can. Also as quickly as you can to reduce the stress.

 

[Reefbuds]

To be honest, I’m not sure how many heads are on it or how to even tell. It’s all just on one skeleton. How do I cut it?

With a coral like this distinguishing heads is harder than others but you should see a pattern to the tips.

 

[Reefbuds]

If you happen to have a saw in your garage then I suppose you could fire it up instead of using a hammer..

 

[Reef Bazaar]

With a coral like this distinguishing heads is harder than others but you should see a pattern to the tips.

?? wall hammers are insanely easy to distinguish in that size .... 99.9% I can guarantee that's a wall hammer -- look at how wide the skeleton is where it died off .. branching hammers usually don't get that big. Also on branching, even when the coral is happy and open, you can still tell the heads apart fairly easy ..

 

[BreezyBum]

Do you mean looking at the patterns of the coral tissue to see how many heads? I’ll try cutting some off tomorrow. I was running carbon when I had a boxfish but now anymore. Is iodine bad for the tanke? Where do I get ahold of some?

 

[Reefbuds]

?? wall hammers are insanely easy to distinguish in that size .... 99.9% I can guarantee that's a wall hammer -- look at how wide the skeleton is where it died off .. branching hammers usually don't get that big. Also on branching, even when the coral is happy and open, you can still tell the heads apart fairly easy ..

The heads.. not species my reefing pro. Obviously she does not know how to identify.

 

[Reefbuds]

?? wall hammers are insanely easy to distinguish in that size .... 99.9% I can guarantee that's a wall hammer -- look at how wide the skeleton is where it died off .. branching hammers usually don't get that big. Also on branching, even when the coral is happy and open, you can still tell the heads apart fairly easy ..

Also I'll say again, distinguishing heads... not species.

 

[Coralfuture]

Welcome to R2R sorry its not on better terms. From what I am looking at in the pic it is absolutely a wall hammer and not branching. What Reef Bazaar's suggesting is also what I would do/recommend +1 cut it with a Dremel or band saw and dip in iodine water for some anti bacterial not lethal to your coral action and return it to your system.

 

[Reef Bazaar]

Do you mean looking at the patterns of the coral tissue to see how many heads? I’ll try cutting some off tomorrow. I was running carbon when I had a boxfish but now anymore. Is iodine bad for the tanke? Where do I get ahold of some?

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post pictures found on the internet here (might or might not be against copyrights, if yes, mods please remove) -- but here is the "skeleton" of a wall hammer:

Notice how it's all connected .... vs, skeleton of a branching hammer:

Notice the gap in between the different "heads".

You don't want to put iodine in the tank ... you want to take the coral out, cut off the infected part along with a little bit of the non-infected part, and dip it in a Lugols solution (like Kent lugol). I believe you can use the lugols solution found at pharmacy's but it's different concentration and you need to do the math out on that .. I would play it safe and use something for the hobby like Kent's lugol -- any decent LFS / vendor should have some in stock.

And please ...... I don't mean to sound rude, but do not use a hammer to break it off ... those skeletons are fragile, and you'll literally crack the entire thing, pretty much ensuring it's death ..... try to find someone with a wet bandsaw or a dremel if you can ...

 

[Reefbuds]

Maybe I need to get a saw..

 

[Reef Bazaar]

The heads.. not species my reefing pro. Obviously she does not know how to identify.

Wall hammers (of the size OP posted) only have 1 .... gigantic head ... unless you're talking about mouths ... and if any part of it gets infected, the demise of the entire specimen is almost certain unless the infected part is cut off soon ....

In any case, I honestly didn't comment to debate about classifying species or counting heads; hopefully the posts were helpful to the OP and she can save it .. looks like a beautiful hammer coral.