My hammer took off! What should I do?

[anabechara]

So... I went on vacation for 7 days and left my mom in charge of the tank. She did a decent job as the parameters were okay when I got back... however my hammer died. I found the base completely empty.

And then the next day I saw the flesh of the coral on the sand just floating around but open and puffy and reactive to light. So I caught it and placed it in a little container inside the tank.

I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help my hammer? Any experience in this case?

Thank you in advance for your help!!

 

[blaxsun]

You can try to get a small frag base/plug and glue it to that.

 

[anabechara]

You can try to get a small frag base/plug and glue it to that.

I tried gluing it but it didn't take... he kept falling... so after a few tries I just gave up on that idea ‍

 

[blaxsun]

I tried gluing it but it didn't take... he kept falling... so after a few tries I just gave up on that idea ‍

Have you tried one of those flat 1" discs?

 

[Lavey29]

They do full bailout like that as a last ditch effort of survival. You want to check all your parameters including lighting and flow.

 

[anabechara]

They do full bailout like that as a last ditch effort of survival. You want to check all your parameters including lighting and flow.

That is what I have read... but honestly I don't know why... my parameters are as follows:
pH 8.0
KH 8.1-8.4
Ca 450
Mag 1400
PO 0.11
NO 23.5
Sal 1.026
Temp 79.9-80.2

The light and flow have not changed at all for months.

I know my NO and PO are high, but they are coming down slowly. I am already working on it for several weeks so that nobody gets a shock when they come down. Also all the other corals look fine... including my other Euphyllias...

So I really don't know why he would just bailed like that...

 

[Lavey29]

That is what I have read... but honestly I don't know why... my parameters are as follows:
pH 8.0
KH 8.1-8.4
Ca 450
Mag 1400
PO 0.11
NO 23.5
Sal 1.026
Temp 79.9-80.2

The light and flow have not changed at all for months.

I know my NO and PO are high, but they are coming down slowly. I am already working on it for several weeks so that nobody gets a shock when they come down. Also all the other corals look fine... including my other Euphyllias...

So I really don't know why he would just bailed like that...

Strange your numbers are fine. Hammers like low flow and not placed on the sand. Any fish that might be picking?

 

[anabechara]

Strange your numbers are fine. Hammers like low flow and not placed on the sand. Any fish that might be picking?

Unclear. But I have the same 5 fishies that I have always had since the beginning... so unlikely...

 

[sfin52]

Unclear. But I have the same 5 fishies that I have always had since the beginning... so unlikely...

I wouldn't say that. What's your fish list

 

[Auto-pilot]

There isn't really anything to do, I've never seen them recover from a polyp bailout.

 

[anabechara]

I wouldn't say that. What's your fish list

2 ocellaris
1 longnose hawkfish
1 midas blenny
1 banggai cardinal

1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner skunk shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp (certified Lysmata Wurdemanni)
1 green emerald crab

That is the list of the mobile animals in my tank...

Also, the flesh of the coral was floating around for more than one night and nobody ate it... so wouldn't that implied that nobody was trying to eat it before also? ‍

 

[pennied]

It is gonna die no matter what you do at this point. Lps bailout is 99.9% death sentence.

 

[Dburr1014]

Yeah, I don't think you can glue a hammer polyp.
I didn't see where you said how long you have had it.
Damage could have been weeks ago.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So... I went on vacation for 7 days and left my mom in charge of the tank. She did a decent job as the parameters were okay when I got back... however my hammer died. I found the base completely empty.

And then the next day I saw the flesh of the coral on the sand just floating around but open and puffy and reactive to light. So I caught it and placed it in a little container inside the tank.

I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help my hammer? Any experience in this case?

Thank you in advance for your help!!

This is bailout from stress and seldom if ever do they come back. They are imbedded in the skeleton, so gluing will do nothing. Some causes are:
Too much flow
Elevated phosphate
Calcium below 380
Elevated temp and/or salinity
Insufficient light

 

[sfin52]

2 ocellaris
1 longnose hawkfish
1 midas blenny
1 banggai cardinal

1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner skunk shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp (certified Lysmata Wurdemanni)
1 green emerald crab

That is the list of the mobile animals in my tank...

Also, the flesh of the coral was floating around for more than one night and nobody ate it... so wouldn't that implied that nobody was trying to eat it before also? ‍

Peppermint could be the problem along with the emerald

 

[anabechara]

This is bailout from stress and seldom if ever do they come back. They are imbedded in the skeleton, so gluing will do nothing. Some causes are:
Too much flow
Elevated phosphate
Calcium below 380
Elevated temp and/or salinity
Insufficient light

Thank you.
The calcium has never been below 420. And for several months I have been able to keep it pretty steady at 440-450.
The temp and salinity are always the same (I have an ATO and a temp controller).
The light is the same for more than 6 months.
The flow has not changed either and he was in a place where his polyps would move gently.

so maybe the phosphates? The highest they have been was 0.22. And that was about 2 months ago. I am using rowaphos to bring it down slowly and it is coming down from that. Now is 0.1. My goal is 0.03-0.05, but not there yet...
do you think it was the PO fault??

I will keep him in the cup and just hope for the best...

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you.
The calcium has never been below 420. And for several months I have been able to keep it pretty steady at 440-450.
The temp and salinity are always the same (I have an ATO and a temp controller).
The light is the same for more than 6 months.
The flow has not changed either and he was in a place where his polyps would move gently.

so maybe the phosphates? The highest they have been was 0.22. And that was about 2 months ago. I am using rowaphos to bring it down slowly and it is coming down from that. Now is 0.1. My goal is 0.03-0.05, but not there yet...
do you think it was the PO fault??

I will keep him in the cup and just hope for the best...

My phosphates have hit .51 with no hammer issues. Your numbers aren't bad. Some other factor stressed it. You might want to consider an ICP test to thoroughly check everything.

 

[anabechara]

Peppermint could be the problem along with the emerald

I thought about that... I have been reviewing the footage of my camera but so far they have not framed themselves in this crime... (I placed my doggy camera to look at the tank and it saves the footage)

 

[anabechara]

My phosphates have hit .51 with no hammer issues. Your numbers aren't bad. Some other factor stressed it. You might want to consider an ICP test to thoroughly check everything.

Got it... so how long do you think it will take for the hammer withered away??
so far he is looking gorgeous in his little cup...

 

[Lavey29]

Got it... so how long do you think it will take for the hammer withered away??
so far he is looking gorgeous in his little cup...

I've had a few frogspawn and hammer heads bail on me while remaining heads were fine. Some of the polyps found their way to rocks and set themselves in place. I let nature run its course and after couple weeks they disappeared. Now, somehow a few zoas detached into the water column and settled atop Mt powerheads. I have no idea why or how this happened but they have blossomed into a small colony now so it's not impossible for your hammer to survive but I would try to attach it to a small piece of rock rubble or at least position it on top of a rock rubble and see if it attaches by itself.