Hammer corals???

[bpaul_jpaul]

Hello,

I have a hammer corals for about three months now. Everything was find until my tank temp reached 64 degrees. I lost one fish and my plate coral but everything else seemed to hold on. What a ugly site to see the fish almost dead on the bottom but came back to life after i got the tank back up to normal temp.
The hammer is now lifted from its base of the coral and is sitting on the bottom of the crush coral. Extends everyday and still excepts food. What will happen now??

thanks
Brandon

[horge]

Hi, Brandon

Sorry, it was very late here when I replied as below. Groggy as I was, I totally missed the gist of your problem. I've posted anew, with a reply more pertinent to your situation.

Again, sorry.


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That's 64F, right? http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif

That's chilly. Most corals in my neck of the ocean are found in water averaging 82F, with a sharp decline in both densities and diversity below 78F.

{I'm rounding off of rough conversions from degrees Celsius, sorry}

I've personally NEVER seen a decent wild distribution of Euphyllia (ancora?) in water that averaged lower than about 78.
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[This message has been edited by horge (edited 01-06-2001).]

Do you mean that it has seperated from its skeleton? If so, the outlook may not be good, but on the other hand if its still eating and expanding who knows. I'm half tempted to say give it an iodine dip, but then if it looks OK considering its probably best to leave it be. I'm not sure anything can be done for it now, but then I havent had one do this before

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[horge]

If it HAS separated from the skeleton, you can try to stabilize the beast (protect it from dislodging currents and critters), and feed like crazy.

Technically, any detached polyp can form a new skeleton, provided there is appropriate water chemistry (available calcium, etc.) and temp, PLUS the energy reserves to do it: hence the food.

However, like Doug said, it's a rare polyp that survives detachment in a reeftank.

[bpaul_jpaul]

Thanks for the info, That’s what I figured. I will keep you post on the final result.

That’s right it was around 64 F. I have an Open Brian, Xenia, Galaxy, mushrooms of blue green and red in color. Dorsa clam, feather dusters, worms of most sorts. Anchor coral, toadstool which no problems. The fish looked a little beat up for about a week. Lost all the copepod but a few worms survived. A few hermit crab die and the shrimp died. The serpent star was ok, and the to emerald crabs were ok . I was very upset about it but I took measure so hopefully this will never happen again.

The tank is a 65 all glass with an overflow. 60 pounds of Marshall island live rock. 60 pounds of Fiji live rock. A chiller, for the hot summer days. Berlin protein xl skimmer. some pumps for the water flow. 175 10K halide bulb, 2x96 watts power compact lighting and a 25 watt UV light. The tank has a very small bed. Less then a ¼”. A 20 gallon sump with about 20 pounds of live rock. I want to put live sand in there and also the main tank. I am going to a 120 gallon tank in about another year and want to start some live sand in the small tank first.

I like to know also what would be a good clean up crew for the 65. What does a good job on hair algae?

Thanks

Brandon

your skimmer should be adequate for the tank. Are you using RO orRO/DI water to mis SW and replacce evaporation?/ Can you test for nitrate and phosphate.? How long has the tank been setup and at what points did you stock it? How much of what are you feeding. This info gives us a better idea what the problem may be http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[bpaul_jpaul]

I use Ro/Di 50gpd from kent marine. The tank is about two years old. I had to move it four months ago because i moved. I will be moving it in to my very first home in about a month. can't wait.

I use turbo calcium and kent dkh buffer. There is know trace of phosphate. Today for the first time i see that the copepods are back. Thats sweet.

I feed a good amount of marine snow every two days and then i feed the fish also every two days. The are happy.

Good clean up team is what i need. Any ideas. I like hermit crabs but i see the red leg like to pick fights.

[Alice]

How did the tank temp get that low? Heater failure or?

Wow, you've got a lot of rock! You won't need to buy much, if any, when you upgrade especially if you are going to be adding a sand bed.

Why not add a sandbed to the tank when you make the move? Save the 1/4" substrate that's in there now in several containers when you tear it down and spread it over the top of the new sand. Any critters living in the 1/4" should survive the trip. I really don't think it's necessary to buy many #'s of live sand when you can have a live sand bed with a few pounds and a little patience. I feel it's more cost effective to use "dead" sand, some live sand and detrivore and infauna "kits". "Live Sand" is often rubble-y and ugly and I suspect, often from the bottom of rock holding tanks which at $10 a # or more is pretty spendy. Of course, maybe I would feel a little differently if $ was no object http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Reefkeeping is my life; I can't afford a hobby too!

[This message has been edited by Alice (edited 01-07-2001).]

[bmw]

I have noticed my little frags of my frogspawn now and then-I do not know why-it odd places. I have one that seems to have anchored itself well for the last month-we'll see.
I vote for cerith snails for hair algae. They are marketed as "baha" snails at Premium aquatics.
b.

A couple points that may bear mentioning, you said you moved the tank about 4 months ago. I would say that it may still be recovering from the move. MAjor disruptions usually lead to a recycling period, though generally not nearly as intense as the original cycle.
That may be a contributing factor in the increased hair algae, unless that was an ongoing problem before the move.
Given that you have a hair algae bloom don't be lulled into accepting the test kits readings at face value, they aren't lab grade and more useful charting trends. Also keep in mind that in the presence of an algae bloom the nutrients are gonna be present but undetectable because the algae is utilizing them for growth. enough light and an over abundance of nutrients will always lead to an outbreak unless you cut back on lighting intensity and duration, Limit feeding, or have a stabile system with competing organisms and macro algaes to deprive the unwanted varieties the nutrients they need to flourish.
Since your moving in a month, hopefully the tank will have a permanent location, I would add a deeper sand bed and add as much in the way of detrivores as possible. Kalwasser drip may help keep calcium and alkilinity level up once you get them where you want and as a side benefit it tends to bind up phosphate denying it to the unwanted algae

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com