Hammers disappearing..pls help

[kominato]

I bought 2 hammers, one green tip the other brown tip, within a week 50% botak already. My water parameters are, 29C, nitrates below 10ppm, PH at 8.5, ammonia undetectable, tank has a couple of wrasses, scopias tang, clowns, mandarins, goby, fox faces. My white bubble with me for 6 months is ok. My brown gonipora 2 weeks old ok so far only thing extend half length only as compared to the shop when I bought, for lighting I use blue n white arcadia 40 Fl tubes ( 3 of them)....

[chucky]

did u jst pour it inside the reef??? maybe u jst bought tht time the water temp inside the bag is diff to the water inside yur tank... so the hammer get temo shock...

[kominato]

no lah Im aware I need to adjust the temp first, it actually showed all the tips for 2 days not full length though...

[nicholas_yeo]

U need to provide more info.

Where did u put it? Hammer likes med flow rate with good lighting....

also your nitrate seems high. As many corals, it will be sensitve to water quality.

What kinda of wrasses u keep? Heard some peck at corals too.

[kominato]

I placed them at a medium flow area as I could see the heads waving, the wrasses are 2 moon wrasse, green wrasse and one black n grey striped fellow ( dunno the name) as for lites I have the 3 tubes, total 120W Fl tubes on. I used to have 2 to 3 camel shrimps a few months ago, but havent seen them for a month now...

[livebait]

Changed to stronger lights & the temp is too high.

[eques]

I bought 2 hammers, one green tip the other brown tip, within a week 50% botak already. My water parameters are, 29C, nitrates below 10ppm, PH at 8.5, ammonia undetectable, tank has a couple of wrasses, scopias tang, clowns, mandarins, goby, fox faces. My white bubble with me for 6 months is ok. My brown gonipora 2 weeks old ok so far  only thing extend half length only as compared to the shop when I bought, for lighting I use blue n white arcadia 40 Fl tubes ( 3 of them)....      

your temp too high too dangerous . how about your calcium level ? should mantain at 450 . as for your goniopora you should shift house or else it will die in few month time . just for your info that hammer coral are much more easy then goniopora coral. as for your ph is very good .

hammer - current flow moderate

- high calcium 420-480

- ph 8.3 - 8.6

- kh 10-12

- lighting moderate.

goniopora - current low to moderate

- calcium 420-450

- ph 8.3-8.6

- kh 10-12

- lighting low to moderate

[kominato]

oh ..tks bros ..so my water temp of 29 is high, as I hav no chiller, I guess I have to give up keeping hammer then, will check on my Calcium...tks a lot

[dandelion76]

oh ..tks bros ..so my water temp of 29 is high, as I hav no chiller, I guess I have to give up keeping hammer then, will check on my Calcium...tks a lot

I don't think 29C is a problem as I have kept hammer with success for many months even my tank temp. always hover around that region (I don't have chiller untill recently).

Check if it's brown jelly dieases (u will see brown jelly like mucus in the polyps). To confirm, smell it, it STINK. If so, most of the time the hammer will die. I lost two hammers to brown jelly. Some reefers manage to safe them by dipping it in Lugols solution (should be by Kent Marine if I remember correctly). Some also have limited success with Fresh Water dip. Do a search and you should be able to find some info here.

Also, try to provide low to medium flow, and no direct flow towards ur hammer. U should only see the polyps wave a little bit with the current to allow it to extend fully and well.

Your lights is insufficient. Hammer need atleast PL if not T5 or MH to do well. FL is normally not recommended for LPS. And oh yes don't measure you lights by wattage.. it's the spectrum and intensity (PAR value) that matters, not wattages. i.e. a 150W of FL is in no way comparable to the intensity of 150W T5 or 150W of MH.. got the idea?

Happy reefing..

[kominato]

Tks bro Dandelion, well no jelly like substance appears just complete "botak" I can see the white coral, I wonder if My 2 common red banded shrimps are the culprit, have had them for 6 months now, molted a dozen times active only at nite, do they eat hammers? ...

[Ekia]

Its the LIGHTS! Temperature is still tolerable... your lights too weak! Nobody supposed to keep LPS with FL unless the depth is 6inch

[FuEl]

Possibly pH. Get it down to 8.2. Ammonia exists more in toxic form (unionised) at higher pH. Check your kH. Ideally should be above 8 to prevent pH swings.