Anxious coral keeper need advice/identifying problems

[Leath]

Hello. New to all of this just got into the hobby of keeping marine life, and I've just bought my first coral today, a Hammer Head Euphyllia. Basically I'm a bit concerned for two reasons:
1. I tried to clay my coral to some live rock, it failed. I followed the instructions, she just wouldn't stick. She detached and fell on her side and was left so for an hour until I checked up on my tank I just placed her rested up in the sand as you can see from the pics, this got me a bit concerned as if she might have some damage to her or if she got a tad stressed out because I noticed the side she fell on her branches are a lot darker than the other (red circled is the side she fell on). Is this something to worry about? Also you may see she is missing some arms I've circled the area I'm talking about you can just about see on the outer rim is noticeable, will this heal over? it looks kind of messy.

2. I have an emerald crab, well I think he is. Any ways I've seen him just chilling on the side of the coral just nipping at the moss, not yet nipping at the hammer heads arms. Any ways I got a bit worried because he kind of waved his arms at the coral as if he was hypnotized by it I got a bit anxious so I shooed him away because I worried he might nip at the coral.

So if any advice if I should get rid of him, would be a shame if I haveto because he has done a good job cleaning up the live rock ever since I got him. And if any problems can be identified on my coral I would greatly appreciate it with some solutions or tips!

Much Thanks Newb!

 

[joe3196]

As for the hammer it will heal I would place it in a lower flow area thow and the crab shouldn’t touch the coal but keep an eye it if u think it is being aggressive.

 

[Leath]

Thanks Joe! I've moved her up a bit where she can get more light and less flow. How ever today as I came back from work I noticed she has shrunk her branches a lot in that particular area. I'm not sure if my emerald took nip at her whilst I was gone or if my water might be wrong but my results showed Ammonia is 0ppm and Nitrite is 0ppm but that test was done two weeks ago. I'm due a 20% water change this Sunday, but is there any chemicals/medicine I can get to treat this, I'll link a picture I just took today.

I'm prepared for the worst this is my first coral and my only one, shame I had to go for one of the most expensive ones in the shop.

 

[organism]

Emerald crabs can be iffy sometimes, I'd keep an eye on it just in case, but if the flesh is receding that can sometimes be caused by low alkalinity. As far as gluing it to a rock you want to make a superglue gel / putty / superglue gel sandwich. That way the coral glues onto the putty which glues onto the rock.

Something like

superglue
====putty====
superglue

Then hold it onto the rock for a little bit.

 

[Leath]

Thanks! I will try that method. Right now I'm going to be complete bother, but this is my first LPS and I'm not sure what I'm looking at when she changes, before as you can see from the pictures above her flesh started to shrink and now the heads of those shrunk flesh started to fall off not a lot just two or three. Then she started to swell or expand on one of her mouths as you can see from the picture I took, is this normal behavior a survival technique or is this a healing process?? She has been in my tank for 28 hours now and I'm trying to make her as comfortable as possible by moving her to a survivable position and will need to feed her, if any possible suggestions of what I can feed her preferably something I can get at my local pet store. I will be removing my emerald he seems hang near the coral too much.

Difficult to take a picture to get the right angle, but basically where I circled it, to the left where it looks more healthy is the area where it looks like it has expanded or swollen. Although as I wrote this it has gone down.

 

[terrypercula]

Do a water test. And go from there. If parameters are good watch your crab extra close but I would doubt the crab is the problem.

 

[ca1ore]

My experience with emerald crabs is that they only go after dead or dying tissue - so an emerald picking at a coral is a bad sign.

Difficult to assist without some details about your tank (flow, lighting, etc) and water quality parameters.

 

[jonthany]

Leath, Im not an expert but I do have about 6 months experiance with my branching hammer. When I first got mine, it fell off the rock I had it on into the sand. Im not sure how long it was there maybe a few hours. It receded quite a bit but after a few weeks was back to normal. However, the skeleton showing on your I dont think is a good sign and I dont have any suggestions for it. As far as the emerald, I have a pretty large one in my tank that started out as just a dime size crab and now hes about an inch across. Anayway, my LPS pretty much keep him in line. Hammers can pack a pretty good sting and the crab learned the hardway. He wont even go near it now. As for the lighting. I see that you now have it all the way at the top. I really think that it is way to much light for it, they generally like low to med lighting with med flow. You should also only try and move it once a week at most and never more then an inch or two up and down to give it time to acclimate. From what I can see in the pic, the heads are bright green which normally is good but the tentecle extension isnt there which tells me its getting too much light or too much flow. I know your worried about it but moving it around so much might be stressing it even more. I would suggest that you put it low and leave it be and give it time to recover.
I took a couple pics of mine just for reference.
Placement wise, the hammer is all the way down on the lowest rock on the left.
<a href="http://s113.photobucket.com/user/jonthany/media/IMG_0540_zpsbc84cd85.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/jonthany/IMG_0540_zpsbc84cd85.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0540_zpsbc84cd85.jpg"/></a>
It started out as 3 small heads that have gotten pretty big and it does well where it is.
<a href="http://s113.photobucket.com/user/jonthany/media/IMG_05411_zps08a82642.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/jonthany/IMG_05411_zps08a82642.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_05411_zps08a82642.jpg"/></a>

 

[organism]

The flesh peeling back like that is not good, how is your alkalinity?

 

[Leath]

Thanks for your response, the pictures have helped I will move her to a lower level. She has low flow I placed her high so my emerald wouldn't get near her, but as you mentioned that the hammer gives quite a sting and my crab hasn't gone near it, so I'm no longer concerned about my emerald.

I did have my water tested at my local pet store today, the results showed everything was fine. I asked if I needed calcium, I was told that I might need it but that I should leave it for a few more days. I have included an update pic, she looked happy this morning her tentacles were out allot further, the dead flesh fell off over night and her tentacles aren't receding any more I hope! However her skeleton is very obvious as you can see.

My tanks specs are:
Kent Marine Bio reef LED Aquarium 94lt
Interpet Daylight, Compact, 36 watts
Interpet Marine Blue, Compact, 36 watts
Marine White LED's 1.0 watt x 6
Marine Blue LED's 0.5 watt x 4
Nano Skimmer still breaking in.

 

[MondoBongo]

What is "fine"?

What is your alkalinity at? I know when my alk drops my euphyllia is the first thing in the tank to get mad about it.

Have you tried feeding it?

 

[Leath]

Thank you Jonthany! Since I've moved my Euphyllia onto the sand bed she has since been very happy, tentacles has extended out allot more. I bought her some coral feed, fed her appropriately as people have suggested except I didn't have a syringe so I just poured the feed into the water(Melted the ice cube using tank water just encase some one asks). Also did a water change today so I hope it helps her recover. However where it has died some of her tentacles are rather small is this still a sign of it still receding?

MondoBongo unfortunately I did not have my water tested for alkalinity only had it tested for ammonia, nitrate, and pH, I wasn't told the results, I was just told everything looks ok. I think I will be buying my own test kit soon as I plan on putting in a Button Polyp as their better suited for beginners, guess I went to big too fast on the Euphyllia.

Also I'd like to know if it was right of me to buy a supplement for my coral, I bought Strontium & Molybdenum Supplement which I was told provides the proper elements to help a coral grow and keep healthy. Was that a good buy? Was only £4.99.

 

[Leath]

Also is it good if I see what looks like 2 tiny shrimp like critters crawling in between the corals skeleton? I cant find any info about this.

 

[Leath]

Bit of an emergency update, I switched off my Daylight and Marine Blue lights and switched to the blue and white LED's to emulate day light going down. Any ways my Hammer Head started to retract (Not Fully) and I noticed what may be brown jelly?

If you've read my previous posts on this thread you will know that my Euphyllia took a fall after it got detached after I tried to clay it to rock and it took a nasty fall onto the sand bed and since then one of it's three mouths have died off. I fear this injury may have led to a serious infection and might mean I may have to terminate her But I must add all day she seemed so happy, she was out gently waving her tentacles and didn't retract once until I switched lights.

I need help identifying this mystery substance on the skeleton of this coral, it's hard to tell if it's an orange like stain on the skeleton or if it's a brown jelly oozing from the dead skeleton? Please help.

I am prepared for the worst, but I'd like people to know that I am NOT a reckless coral keeper this is my very first coral. I admit I went to big to fast. But here is a picture of her what might be the only picture I will remember her by

 

[organism]

MondoBongo unfortunately I did not have my water tested for alkalinity only had it tested for ammonia, nitrate, and pH, I wasn't told the results, I was just told everything looks ok.

You need to know your exact alkalinity, test kits for alkalinity and calcium are essential if you're going to be keeping stony corals. From how this one's receding it's most likely your alkalinity that's off.

Also I'd like to know if it was right of me to buy a supplement for my coral, I bought Strontium & Molybdenum Supplement which I was told provides the proper elements to help a coral grow and keep healthy. Was that a good buy? Was only £4.99.

You really shouldn't be adding anything to your tank that you can't test for, that stuff is beyond unnecessary for your tank, and if your LFS is pushing these products on you then you need to stop listening to them. Right now you need to be worrying about essentials, like dosing kalk with your top-off water that's dosed by your auto-top off.

Also is it good if I see what looks like 2 tiny shrimp like critters crawling in between the corals skeleton? I cant find any info about this.

Probably amphipods.

 

[Leath]

Yep their Amphipods, nice to know I've got them as I'm reading up they like to clean up dead stuff. Since I have the Monday off, I will be picking up an Alk test kit first thing! any suggestions what I should add if the alkalinity is low or too high?

Also can you identify if my coral may be dying? Or if my picture I took is too low quality I will try to get a better quality picture.

 

[organism]

any suggestions what I should add if the alkalinity is low or too high?

Baking soda as per the BRS online calculator, and then get an auto top-off and dose kalkwasser as your top-off water. How are you topping off your tank now?

Also can you identify if my coral may be dying? Or if my picture I took is too low quality I will try to get a better quality picture.

It doesn't look good, make sure it's getting some moderate flow to kind of make it sway in the breeze.

 

[jonthany]

Your getting out of the realm of my knowledge with the tissue recession. The tissue recession I think would be a sign of it dying and the exposed skeleton would be dead parts of the coral. I'm not sure if maybe fragging the dead section off to stop the recession would help or not.
You mentioned brown jelly looking stuff, it would be brown jelly disease which happens when a coral takes a large amount of damage(from what I have read).
You can take a look at this link, it may help.
http://reefdreams.de/lang_eng/info_13_eng.html

 

[Duna_]

If the damaged part extends, you should act quickly. That is the first sign of brown jelly: one part starts "melting" while the rest of polips are perfect and extended (until the disease gets them).
It's different from a normal damage or something that is in the water and doesn't like, in this case it's widely affected.

I was to lose three hammer corals and I saved them "in extremis".
The brown jelly disease gets over quickly in damaged tissue (maybe because of the crab), you should cut that dead part but with a small part of good tissue to get rid of everything. You can use a good big knife, saw ... and then treat it.

I cut the affected parts and bought Seachem Neoplex (neomicin sulfate) and Reef Dip (iodine), took some water out of the tank and dip the corals for 5 minutes, using twice the dose recommended for Neoplex. I repeated daily for three days, and no more tissue was lost. Now they are recovering slowly.


Good luck and keep an eye on the tissue!

 

[Leath]

Baking soda as per the BRS online calculator, and then get an auto top-off and dose kalkwasser as your top-off water. How are you topping off your tank now?

I top off by removing 10lt and I use the hose method to slowly pour 11lt back into the tank once every week, I get my saltwater from my LFS supplier who uses crystallized salt mix.

You mentioned brown jelly looking stuff, it would be brown jelly disease which happens when a coral takes a large amount of damage(from what I have read).
You can take a look at this link, it may help.
http://reefdreams.de/lang_eng/info_13_eng.html

The link you provided has helped and I think I might be getting a bit to worried and calling things for what they might not be.

If the damaged part extends, you should act quickly. That is the first sign of brown jelly: one part starts "melting" while the rest of polips are perfect and extended (until the disease gets them).
It's different from a normal damage or something that is in the water and doesn't like, in this case it's widely affected.

I was to lose three hammer corals and I saved them "in extremis".
The brown jelly disease gets over quickly in damaged tissue (maybe because of the crab), you should cut that dead part but with a small part of good tissue to get rid of everything. You can use a good big knife, saw ... and then treat it.

I cut the affected parts and bought Seachem Neoplex (neomicin sulfate) and Reef Dip (iodine), took some water out of the tank and dip the corals for 5 minutes, using twice the dose recommended for Neoplex. I repeated daily for three days, and no more tissue was lost. Now they are recovering slowly.


Good luck and keep an eye on the tissue!

I'll be ringing up few of our LFS and see if they have the service to do the job because I don't have the equipment nor would I know where to cut, but since you are the second person to suggest I frag the dead skeleton I will go my way to see that this is done, the other two mouths look healthy on the Euphyllia and it would be a right shame to lose them.