Hammer Coral Help

[ericgreg]

Attached are some pictures of my hammer coral. I have had it for approx 3 weeks. The smaller head, as you can see, is peeling away from its base. I'm starting with pics hoping someone out there can tell me what's going on.

[crvz]

Well now that we have the pics, can you share some about the tank age, parameters, and husbandry? That one part doesnt look great to be sure, but hard to narrow down reasoning without a good description of the tank.

[ericgreg]

I have a 24-gal Aquapod, approx 2yrs old, with Current 150watt, 14k MH light on for approx 6hrs per day. I have had a bit of a problem with hairy algae for approx 1 month, so recently (3 weeks) have been doing 25% water changes. I use r/o-d/i for top off. I just added an emerald crab, several turbo snails, and one Mexican turbo snail to help with the hairy algae. I have a poly filter and a bag of Pura Complete in one of the compartments. I feed the tank 2x per week with pellets (have 2 fish: a clown and a guttata goby), and on Sundays with cyclops or rotifers. I need to step up the feeding a bit, because I also just added a coral banded shrimp.

Specific Gravity: 1.025 - 1.026
kH: 160
calcium: off the charts at 500+, but working on bringing it down w/the water changes.

Discounting the piece of rock with the hammer, I had taken some of the LR out weekly and scrubbed it to get rid of the algae. I stopped - this did nothing. But, I am slowly but surely getting the algae under control. Now, I am concerned with the hammer.

One last thing.. the hammer sits just under half-way down the tank. It is approx 1' from the light.

I think that's all I have going on right now. So, what do you think is wrong?

[reeffanatic247]

Your calcium levels are of the chart ! Also id like to qoute that I believe your salt may be a bit to high .I keep mine ranging from 1.021 to around 1.024 what bout ur nitrite nitrate tests. Everything links together..

[luvmylo]

Originally Posted by reeffanatic247

Your calcium levels are of the chart ! Also id like to qoute that I believe your salt may be a bit to high .I keep mine ranging from 1.021 to around 1.024 what bout ur nitrite nitrate tests. Everything links together..

I believe the specific gravity is just fine as in most natural coral reefs the sg runs right around 1.025 to 1.026. this keeps the minerals up for the corals to use. I do think that your ca is a bit high and may be the culprit. Also, how about flow. If it is getting a direct blast from a powerhead it may be really unhappy. try moving it to a different spot like in the sand. Mine seems to like high flow but not direct if that makes any sense to you.

[luvmylo]

oh and don't step up the feeding because that can add to your algae issues

[ericgreg]

That head finally popped off, and the other one is shrinking. I think I am going to try to trade it or give it away to someone who is better capable of taking care it. I haven't dosed the calcium in a couple of weeks, and actually haven't tested it in that long. I know it's high, and am slowly trying to bring it and the salinity down with ro/di. Everything else I have is fine, but a month or so back, I also lost a frogspawn in the same way so I think maybe I have bad ju-ju.

[crvz]

Originally Posted by ericgreg

I know it's high, and am slowly trying to bring it and the salinity down with ro/di.

Your salinity seems fine, why are you trying to bring it down?

[reeffanatic247]

you guys think his gravity is fine this old Chinese woman keeps yakin at me that it has to be at 1.021 to 1.023 i told her to show me her specific gravity hers was at 1.018 . she told me that if its low its ok but if its high ur screwed......

[reeffanatic247]

Also i wanted to ask you guys a question in my tank my pH is always low about 7.8 i keep adding reef buffer,it changes to bout 8.3 and then slowly goes back down...in my other thread i was asking bout my xenias because they don't open fully or pulse is that most likely one of the reasons my othercorals are fine I guess.If i try to make the pH higher i have to add kalkwasser or sumthing?

[crvz]

Natural sea level has an average value of about 1.026. I would leave yours alone, and I wouldnt listen to whoever is telling you otherwise in a tank with corals. You can let it go higher than that even, as long as its a gradual slide you wont hurt anything, but targeting the 1.026 is what you want.

Regarding pH, how are you testing it? Most ways of measuring it are rather inaccurate (such as a test kit), and I wouldnt ever try to manage pH in a tank. It's hopeless. First, 7.8 is fine, but you're going to have a diurnal swing in any case. If you're worried about tank chemistry, forget about pH and start measuring for calcium and alkalinity, as that buffer your using is very likely to shoot your alkalinity measure up well before helping with any long-term pH issue.

[ericgreg]

My lfs suggests 1.024, but says that 1.026 is fine, also. So, I'll keep it there after all. But, I gotta get the calcium level down. Maybe that's what's hurting my lps'?

[luvmylo]

could be but I don't know. LPS can be weird sometimes

[reeffanatic247]

thnx yea ill probably just let it be, but what about my xenias they wont open up fully and i got them bout 4 days ago are they more fragile and expert care or whats goin on...

[thincat]

My only question to you is when was the last time you replaced your lights. Sometimes a coral like Zenias won't open due to not enough light intensity!