Wall Hammer Polyp Bailout

[sghera64]

And dip after? I believe I have a Seachem Idodine dip.

Thanks for your help

Yes. Then dip. You can try to keep both frags, but the one with the bare skeleton would be very slow to recover if at all.

 

[niQo]

Yes. Then dip. You can try to keep both frags, but the one with the bare skeleton would be very slow to recover if at all.

I did it, now it's just a waiting game I guess...

 

[sghera64]

I did it, now it's just a waiting game I guess...

Looks good. Keep us posted on how both frags do. You can re-dip them again in a couple of days if you feel that they are not recovering from their cuts. I have not ever had to do that myself.

How is the larger colony doing?

 

[niQo]

Looks good. Keep us posted on how both frags do. You can re-dip them again in a couple of days if you feel that they are not recovering from their cuts. I have not ever had to do that myself.

How is the larger colony doing?

The larger colony still inflates a bit. Other than that I'm not sure how to tell how it is doing...

The few polyps left in the skeleton have withdrawn quite substantially and have not shown any extension yet.

 

[sghera64]

Patience. Good things happen slowly. Bad things happen quick. No change is a good sign. Keep params as steady as possible now.

 

[niQo]

Patience. Good things happen slowly. Bad things happen quick. No change is a good sign. Keep params as steady as possible now.

Thanks again for you help.
Tested my water yesterday and everything is looking good!

 

[Malkbone]

I've had a few hammers with similar experinces, they never made it. intereseted to see how fragging it helps.

 

[niQo]

I've had a few hammers with similar experinces, they never made it. intereseted to see how fragging it helps.

I'll try to keep this updated. So far both are alive, but have not shown an improvement

 

[niQo]

Update: It's been almost 4 weeks since I fragged it. What was left of the coral inside the skeleton never recovered and it's officially a goner. Yesterday the skeleton was tipped over somehow and I saw that there was nothing left in there.

Interestingly enough, the part that was bailing from the skeleton I still have and at times shows inflation. The problem is keeping it secure. I have it in a very small container right now, with a fragplug and some rubble. Is there any way of attaching it to something? I had it escape once and it did appear again after a while but I'm worried it would kill my other corals if this happens again.

 

[moulton1853]

Following! Had a frogspawn bail from it's skeleton yesterday. The fleshy part was rolling around the sandbed so I put it in a container. Seems to stay inflated and responding to light. Thought for sure it was a gonner but not yet.

 

[niQo]

Following! Had a frogspawn bail from it's skeleton yesterday. The fleshy part was rolling around the sandbed so I put it in a container. Seems to stay inflated and responding to light. Thought for sure it was a gonner but not yet.

Let me know if you figure out something helpful. I'd like to save this coral, but I have no idea what I'm doing!

 

[moulton1853]

Just wanted to give you an update. I have talked to a few people and many say the coral is a gonner. It is possible for the polyp to regrow its skeleton but not likely. I still have mine in a container and it is still doing well.

 

[niQo]

Just wanted to give you an update. I have talked to a few people and many say the coral is a gonner. It is possible for the polyp to regrow its skeleton but not likely. I still have mine in a container and it is still doing well.

My update is less positive. I checked yesterday and my polyps have shrunk to only a fraction of what it was... It is still in the container, but I am not expecting it to survive.

 

[sghera64]

My update is less positive. I checked yesterday and my polyps have shrunk to only a fraction of what it was... It is still in the container, but I am not expecting it to survive.

Well, sorry to hear the not-so-good news. THANK YOU for keeping the discipline to come back to this thread and posting the process. You don't know how many of us are silently watching (and those yet to find this some day).

In the mean time, I might suggest directly feeding the polyp with 1 small brine shrimp, blood worm, or some other small meaty food. My hammers love blood worms and brine shrimp. My thinking is that some food energy might increase its chance of surviving. The fact that you've kept this skeletonless polyp alive this long may mean it does not have to die. But, I'll admit, I've never heard of one growing a skeleton out of nothing (except in their initial days when they are free swimming larvae).

My minimal understanding of the skeleton creation process is kind of a bio-crystallization process. The animal brings together calcium and some form of carbonate (bicarb, CO2, something). When Calcium and Carbonate get together, they form an insoluble product. With an existing calcium carbonate surface to grow upon, the animal can simply build on an existing foundation. Kind of like having a seed crystal. When we grow crystals in the lab, with products that are very insoluble (like CaCO3), and don't provide a seed surface, the product is an amorphous mess - - it just crashes out of solution if very small particles that have may not have enough structure to form a larger surface to build upon. I write all this to say, you might need to "pin-down" that polyp onto a CaCO3 surface. I'm thinking using crazy glue on the bottom of the polyp to a dead coral skeleton, oyster shell or something. One concern is the impact of cyanoacrylate on the polyps tissue - - will it recover from that contact.

 

[niQo]

Well, sorry to hear the not-so-good news. THANK YOU for keeping the discipline to come back to this thread and posting the process. You don't know how many of us are silently watching (and those yet to find this some day).

In the mean time, I might suggest directly feeding the polyp with 1 small brine shrimp, blood worm, or some other small meaty food. My hammers love blood worms and brine shrimp. My thinking is that some food energy might increase its chance of surviving. The fact that you've kept this skeletonless polyp alive this long may mean it does not have to die. But, I'll admit, I've never heard of one growing a skeleton out of nothing (except in their initial days when they are free swimming larvae).

My minimal understanding of the skeleton creation process is kind of a bio-crystallization process. The animal brings together calcium and some form of carbonate (bicarb, CO2, something). When Calcium and Carbonate get together, they form an insoluble product. With an existing calcium carbonate surface to grow upon, the animal can simply build on an existing foundation. Kind of like having a seed crystal. When we grow crystals in the lab, with products that are very insoluble (like CaCO3), and don't provide a seed surface, the product is an amorphous mess - - it just crashes out of solution if very small particles that have may not have enough structure to form a larger surface to build upon. I write all this to say, you might need to "pin-down" that polyp onto a CaCO3 surface. I'm thinking using crazy glue on the bottom of the polyp to a dead coral skeleton, oyster shell or something. One concern is the impact of cyanoacrylate on the polyps tissue - - will it recover from that contact.

In my searching I did not find many threads that deal with the issue all the way till the end, so as you are saying: I'm hoping that someday this will be helpful to someone.

UPDATE: Its officially a goner I think it just melted away in the container.

Now I did try to feed it a few times, but this was made difficult by my cleaner shrimp... But I do think I was successful at times. I probably should have glued it down shortly after fragging it. By my last update it was only a few mm (maybe 5 mm) and I'm not sure how I would have handled that. I did have it in a container with some sand and rubble, I was hoping it would attach to that, but unfortunately that did not happen. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking on my part.

Now we will just have to cheer on @moulton1853

 

[sghera64]

In my searching I did not find many threads that deal with the issue all the way till the end, so as you are saying: I'm hoping that someday this will be helpful to someone.

UPDATE: Its officially a goner I think it just melted away in the container.

Now we will just have to cheer on @moulton1853

Sorry to hear the bad news. Do you have any other Hammers in the tank? Do you plan to get one?

 

[niQo]

Sorry to hear the bad news. Do you have any other Hammers in the tank? Do you plan to get one?

That was my only Hammer. I had it for three years.
Yes, I'm planning to buy some hopefully soon-ish. I've got some pretty nasty Cyano I'm trying to get rid of first.

 

[sghera64]

I have a young hammer that was doing just fine until he got stung by a Goniopora. I relocated it. You can see that part of the single polyp is gone and the skeleton is showing. Now, it it surrounded by cyano. I'll keep posting progress as it happens. First picture shows the extent of the cyano. The second clearly shows the bare skeleton.

 

[niQo]

I have a young hammer that was doing just fine until he got stung by a Goniopora. I relocated it. You can see that part of the single polyp is gone and the skeleton is showing. Now, it it surrounded by cyano. I'll keep posting progress as it happens. First picture shows the extent of the cyano. The second clearly shows the bare skeleton.

Did you dip it?
It will be interesting to see how it develops.

 

[sghera64]

Did you dip it?
It will be interesting to see how it develops.

I did not. I want to see if it will recover organically. So far it has stabilized, but the Cyanobacteria is not helping things.

I’ve increased flow, but that seems to be spreading it.