Hammer coral not opening and losing tissue...

[twychopen]

Again, I am new to this so I am reading up as much as possible. I have a hammer coral that didn't open up today. It also seems to be giving off clear/white tissue or slime. I checked the water late last night and everything seemed to be normal.
Temp 78.9
Salinity 1.022
pH 8.2
Alk 2.72
KH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate >20
Phos 0
Calcium 340

I don't have many corals in there at all, in fact these were some testers after my zoas quit opening a few weeks ago. The fish, crabs, snails are all doing fine. Any suggestions?

P.S. I did add some pre-cured live rock (15lbs) on Saturday, but they were fine saturday after and on sunday. I already have 50+lbs of live rock and the system has been up for about 2 months. I checked the water yesterday and everything was fine. No spikes or anything since I added the rock Saturday.

[corruption]

Why are you still running your salinity so low? Corals don't like salinity this low, and fish only tolerate it for so long... get this up to the 1.025-1.026 range :) You'll see a marked improvement in everything.

-Corruption

[twychopen]

ok, I have 55 gallons total volume. How do I find out how much salt to add?

[corruption]

You need to do it gradually -- do water changes with water at a proper salinity, in small, frequent intervals -- 5-10% every couple days.. After a couple weeks, you should have more or less cycled out the majority of the old water, in place for the salinity you're aiming for..

-Corruption

[Bill S]

What corruption said.

Also, torch/hammer/frogspawn and bubble corals seem to "like" an iodine dip when feeling bad. They will sometimes get overrun with pests (usually planaria), and not open. As I recall, 4 or 5 drops of Lugols in a liter of tank water for 10-15 minutes. With this weather, try and keep the water the same temp. Do NOT further damage the heads.

[firecoral3msd]

Your KH needs to be between 9 and 12. Your calcium is also too low for hard corals. You can also raise the salinity by topping off with salt water with the salinity level of 1.025 or 1.026. KH and calcium can be raised with weekly 10% (5.2g of 55g) water changes. If that doesn't work then I would dose with calcium to raise it to at least 400.

[justahobby]

If you have evaporation you may top off with SW instead of the usual fresh to boost salinity.


You need to do it gradually -- do water changes with water at a proper salinity, in small, frequent intervals -- 5-10% every couple days.. After a couple weeks, you should have more or less cycled out the majority of the old water, in place for the salinity you're aiming for..

-Corruption

[twychopen]

Ok, I will do this. Also, what is the slime stuff coming off of them?

Where can I get lugols or can I use any iodine?

[Bill S]

Got a real fish store near you? Lugols is the recommended product (by Kent Marine). Call around and see what they have. The slime is what is commonly called "brown jelly", which is the tissue sloughing.

[justahobby]

Lugol's is at most LFS's. I think iodine isn't concentrated so the dosing amount would differ.

I suspect your KH is low due to low salinity. Before dosing, Retest after your salinity has reached 1.026

Edit: Man, I keep echoing what others have already posted *sigh* I give up lol.

[twychopen]

actually I live in Mcallen and no local fish stores carry it! We don't really have any good fish stores :/ anyone from the valley on the forum know of where to get it quick?

How much time do I have to cure the brown jelley before it kills the hammers?

[Bill S]

Aquarium Masters is in Edinburg - one of our sponsors. If he doesn't have it at the Edinburg store, he can get it down there from Corpus Christi.

[corruption]

If you have evaporation you may top off with SW instead of the usual fresh to boost salinity.

Good point, I was in my post-work half asleep stupor at that point :) Topping off works great too, just make sure you're not adding back too much -- you don't want to jump more than a point or so per day... any more than that is very hard on your fish and corals, and will likely cause more damage than help..

-Corruption

[Bill S]

Oh, one more question: What are you using to test salinity? Please don't tell me it's a swing-arm hyrometer.

[twychopen]

yep, I am presently looking for an inexpensive refractometer :/

[Bill S]

Ugh... Take a sample up to Aquarium Masters and have them test it. It's probable that your hydrometer is not working correctly. They should have a plain old torpedo hydrometer that is WAY more accurate. THROW AWAY YOUR SWING ARM. If you are keeping corals, please don't use these.

[stoneroller]

Hammer corals (and other LPS) don't like a lot of flow. Tell us about the placement of the hammer...

[corruption]

http://www.marinedepot.com/Vertex_ATC_Aquarium_Refractometer_Refractometers_f or_Saltwater_Aquariums-Vertex_Aquaristik-VX3311-FITEOPRF-vi.html

You won't get much cheaper than that :)

-Corruption

[twychopen]

I just finished changing 5 gallons of water. I also took a picture to show you the coral and placement.

[corruption]

Looks like the return flow is pointed right at the hammer -- I'd either move the coral, or redirect the flow from the return another direction..

-Corruption

[Bill S]

What he said. These guys will put up with quite a bit of flow when healthy - but it's easy to tear tissue with flow.

[twychopen]

[QUOTE=bstreep;717460]What corruption said.

Also, torch/hammer/frogspawn and bubble corals seem to "like" an iodine dip when feeling bad. They will sometimes get overrun with pests (usually planaria), and not open. As I recall, 4 or 5 drops of Lugols in a liter of tank water for 10-15 minutes. QUOTE]

The back of the lugols bottle says to add 40 drops of lugols for a gallon...That is double of 5 drops a liter. Which should I do?

Also is it ok to do the zoas and hammers together?

Thanks!

[Bill S]

[QUOTE=bstreep;717460]What corruption said.

Also, torch/hammer/frogspawn and bubble corals seem to "like" an iodine dip when feeling bad. They will sometimes get overrun with pests (usually planaria), and not open. As I recall, 4 or 5 drops of Lugols in a liter of tank water for 10-15 minutes. QUOTE]

The back of the lugols bottle says to add 40 drops of lugols for a gallon...That is double of 5 drops a liter. Which should I do?

Also is it ok to do the zoas and hammers together?

Thanks!

10 drops per liter should be fine. Be sure and limit the time.

Do not dip corals together, and discard the water between them. Zoas, especially, may put out toxins that could have an adverse effect on whatever goes in after them. Wear gloves when handling zoas.

[twychopen]

Good news: Zoas are doing even better after iodine dip
Bad news: No change with the hammer corals.

I will test my water after lunch and post. I was at aquarium masters yesterday and the guy said that 2.5 months is too short of a time to have lps corals in the tank. Does anyone agree/disagree? Also, I ordered a refractometer from Drsfosterandsmith.com, should be here by the end of the week. I have gotten the salinity up to 1.026ish. Yesterday when I checked the KH and alk and Calcium they were respectively: 8.3 2.97 300ppm. I am wondering if I should begin dosing calcium but want to wait to see if the 5 gallon water change has helped. I have the bulk 2 part system from bulkreefsupply.com

[corruption]

I wouldn't start dosing anything yet -- and I'd agree with Aquarium Masters' assessment -- 2.5 months is a bit too early for LPS... I'm sure many will disagree here, but I'm a firm believer in a healthy fallow period on new tanks, before stocking them with life... let that live rock become REALLY live! :)

Good to hear on the refractometer, you won't regret it -- its so much quicker/easier/more accurate, you'll begin to wonder why they even sell the swing arms :D

-Corruption

[stoneroller]

I agree also that it's too young of a tank.

[twychopen]

Well just an update, both the hammers and zoas are opened! I dipped the corals in Lugol's last week and I increased the ph to about 1.0265 and this seems to have been helping. Also, I tested the water and the nitrates are less than 10ppm for the first time. The only negative is that the calcium is still about 320ppm and the magnesium is at about 1100. I am not dosing anything, I am just hoping the water changes will fix it. Thanks for everyone's help, I will keep you updated!

[Mr Cob]

looks good. Glad they opened. Frequent small water changes with a good salt will keep your calcium levels up and stable.

[stoneroller]

And if you do need to dose... check this out first.

http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html (http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html)