Hammer slowly dying

[mfliin]

OK I have searched all over....I know there is a way to stop the hammer coral from dying completely. Someone refresh my memory please!!

A few months back, while on vacation, my hammer fell over and has since started to die back. The skeleton is showing and currently he is about half gone. There are little branches all around the base that have started to sprout up and at the very least I'll have those to eventually cover over the dead part, however, I would like to stop the die off now.

I have used epoxy to cover the part the died as soon as I came back from vacation, but the die off continues. What else can I do?

Thanks

 

[sj miller guy]

A guy gave me a hammer coral once that was dying and told me to do a dip in Lugols solution. Pretty heavy dosage following the instructions on the bottle.

However it didn't stop the coral from dying.

 

[mfliin]

Yup I've tried the Lugols as well....thanks

 

[ralph atl]

Also, I realize that it happened from the fall, but what are all your parems? Something might be contributing to it's lack of recovery.

 

[rockdog]

I had a couple heads on a Frogspawn start to die. I fragged off the bad heads and the rest recovered. The 2 heads I fragged did end up dieing. I would tell you to frag the dieing ones and hope for the best.

Jason

 

[ralph atl]

do you have a pic? do u see any brown jelly like substance?

if you see growth, let it heel or you can frag it to remove the part that is dying.

 

[mfliin]

dawgdude: Where is the placement in the tank?

It is about 1/3 from the bottom. 175 w metal halides...and VHO's. Lights are pretty new. There are new branches on the bottom growing so I don't think the placement is an issue....if anything maybe too much current, but again the smaller ones are growing fine.

mysterybox: Also, I realize that it happened from the fall, but what are all your parems? Something might be contributing to it's lack of recovery. No brown jelly like substance, just the tentacles.

I just did a 30 gal water change yesterday....
1.021
78 degrees
calcium around 380-400
Nitrates 0
Amm 0

Everything else SPS, caps, zoas, elegance, etc...are all doing great. There must be a way to stop the recession.

The only thing I can come up with is too much current, but this is really stretching as I have had them in the past with more current. I have a Koralia 4 along with the normal Mag 9 or 10 with four outputs.

Trying to upload....but the pics are too big.

 

[ralph atl]

can u frag it with a dremel?

 

[mfliin]

Lets try these.....I could possibly use a dremel maybe even my wet tile cutter...hmmmm

>http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k182/mfliin/IMG_0560.jpg</a>

>http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k182/mfliin/IMG_0562.jpg</a>

 

[ralph atl]

wet tile cutter would work, too.

 

[soarin']

mfliin;236778 wrote:

The only thing I can come up with is too much current, but this is really stretching as I have had them in the past with more current. I have a Koralia 4 along with the normal Mag 9 or 10 with four outputs.

Since your params are good, the current may actually be the culprit. It might have been "okay" in the higher current (surviving but not really thriving) , but with the injury and stress from dealing with bacteria, etc. the current may be too high to let it heal the wound.

Maybe the high current limits the tentacle expansion to really get enough light or food from the water, and the injury was just a "tipping point".

 

[mfliin]

I have moved the hammer down to the sand bed, protected by a rock from the flow. I'll see if the tentacles expand in the next few days and give a report back...There's still plenty of light there....
Thanks for everyones ideas and help