Wall hammer sos!!!

[Laxgirl]

I got a wall hammer for my 35 gal tank and it hasnt been doing so well. Wont hardlyopen when the light is on. (I have tryed the blue lights and the regular light both turned down) but still no change. The hammer ends of the coral have never opened. Things took a turn for the worst the other night. (Ill attach a pic). Im worried its going to die! Help would be much apeciated.

 

[gashunk]

try moving it i have mine rite underneath my powerhead in the corner of the tank not to much flow
have you checked your parameters see if theres anything out of line?

 

[Laxgirl]

I dont have a test kit right now so i cant check. But i will post those later today. Its already in a pretty low flow spot. I have a frog spawn and a torch that are doing very well. I just dont know what to do about the hammer :/ theflesh has been receding over the past month since i got it too. Would it be better to just put back in the tank i got it from?

 

[gashunk]

when was the last time you did a water change and how much and how often?

 

[gashunk]

you can also try dipping it to see if something is bothering it

 

[Laxgirl]

Since i got the new coral i moved it to every 2 weeks at 10%so maybe like 3-4 gallons. I just did one this last friday.

 

[Laxgirl]

What would i dip it in?

 

[gashunk]

people here swear by bayer ive never used it its the pesticide you find in like home depot or lowes

 

[mcarroll]

As long as the dip isn't very expensive I would try it, but that coral sort of looks like a goner to me.

Wall type Euphillias are notoriously like this in my experience. This may not be completely your fault.

Though I would get some test kits for alkalinity and calcium immediately so you can be sure! (Or take a sample to your local fish store.)

 

[reefwiser]

With the level of algae in the tank as evidenced in your photo. The tank water parameters are not idea for Euphillias.

 

[Laxgirl]

Would moving the coral back to original tank be good for or make things worse? Some of the options may not be possible right now because of location and time difference.

 

[gashunk]

Would moving the coral back to original tank be good for or make things worse? Some of the options may not be possible right now because of location and time difference.

Yes I would try that

 

[erinmegan85]

Moving the coral back at this point wouldn't hurt. I had a wall hammer once, and it didn't do so hot in my tank. I don't know that I'll try having one again. I think mine was damaged on the ride home. They seem to be a pretty delicate coral because of their skeleton.

 

[djreef]

My guess would be high phosphates. Looking at the denuded skeleton there is the presence of boring algae which would indicate high phospates/nitrates.

 

[wkscott]

Although hammers do not need extremely high light levels, they DO need more light than mushrooms need. The purple / blue mushrooms in your pic, higher in the tank, look very healthy and fully expanded. This leads me to believe that this is a relatively low light area of your tank and that there may not be sufficient or strong enough light to encourage the hammer to open.

 

[Laxgirl]

I actually turned the light down because it would only open when the light was off. The mushrooms and other things seem to do well in whatever light. I moved the hammer back to the tank i got it from so we will see how it does! Im really new to the hobby so im kind of just figuring things out as i go! Thanks for all the help!