Fickle hammer.

For the past two days my hammer coral has been opening up then closing repeatedly and i don't know why. Is this normal? What is causing it?

 

Welcome to 3reef.

What have you changed or added to the tank recently?

Do you have any current parameters: Ammonia/Nitrates/Calcium/Mag/Alk/SG?

Have you done a water change?

How long have you had the coral?

 

Thank you for the welcome.

I haven't added any coral recently although my toadstool has been shedding a bit.

nitrates: 20 ppm
PH: 8.3
nitrite: 0 ppm
ammonia: 0ppm

i don't have a calcium, mag, alk test kits because my lfs is out of stock.

I'm going to do a water change tomorrow

about a week

 

Could the waxy film from the leather landed on the hammer?

Is the leather right next to the hammer?

Yes I would do the water change, and prehaps runs some new carbon.

Post an image if it continues to stay retracted.

The title to your thread is the an excellent description of hammers, they are fickle.

 

I believe I may have seen a bit on it.

Will do.

I will if my camera is compliant.

lol, thank you for the help

 

My pleasure.

 

Well now that a day has passed my hammer is looking worse than before. It's slightly more open than it was yesterday but I fear that it may be rotting away. The fleshy skeleton beneath the heads on my hammer was originally all connected between the three heads about 2" below each. around 4 days ago I noticed that the fleshy part of the skeleton didn't go down as far but i thought it was a sign of new growth so I was happy but today I now see that it's not new growth but the fleshy stuff on the skeleton receding to the heads and each head is about to not be connected by the fleshy stuff and I'm very worried. Also my hammer has never ate anything no matter what i gave him was that a sign of disease cause I thought it was just not settled in. Is there any hope? In addition I will try to get a picture up soon.

 

Also the reason I'm so confused is because this is my first LPS so I'm a noob even though I researched a lot.

 

Do not be hard yourself, Euphyllias can be very temperamental. Just the waxy coating from the leather contacting the tissue of the Euphyllia is enough to cause this. Euphyllia can fall victim to bacterial infections quickly, they do not tolerate swings in water chemistry such as ALK well.

To really keep LPS you need the Ca/alk and magnesium test kit.

It's disappointing for sure. I have had them thrive and I have lost them.

Sometimes you can try different placement and flow and that helps.

There are easy LPS out there such as Ducans, Acan, Favids...... perhaps give one of them a try next time if you have not already.

 

Oh, I never knew Euphyllia was so sensitive.

I'll try to find a test kit today.

Alright I'll try.

Yeah I got a war coral the day after the hammer and have been planning on a duncan.

Once again, thanks for the help