Hammer Rot?

[The Saltwater Kid]

I was just looking at my tank tonight and i noticed a disturbing site...the branch from which my Hammers are growing appears to be rotting. If you follow the pic up from each of the heads along the branch portion you will notice two spots where it look like a tree out in the woulds would look after falling and being left there to rot (especially on the branch with the smaller head there's a large hole. What is the cause of this? It doesn't look fresh and I can't see any type of growth on the branch that could be eating away at it. The heads appear healthy. I honestly can't tell you how long it's been like this, I glued it to that rock quite a while ago. Any ideas? Should I be worried?

 

[KAKLANGLEY]

IMO frag off the rotten looking peice as to contain the disorder if one is present.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

Anybody else care to offer their opinion/advice? Fragging off the rotten part won't be easy as it's glued to the rock...I guess I could always just reach in and break it off with my hands if I had to.

 

[taillonjohn]

In my opinion, I'd wait a day or two before fragging. I had a similar issue (the head stayed shrunken and black for a day), but it cleared up over the next 3-4 days. I still don't know what it was, but I wouldn't frag it immediately

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

It's not the head I'm looking at as being rotten though...it's the base or branch if you will that the head is attached to. If you look at my pics you can see on the smaller heads branch it looks like a bite was taken out.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

bump

 

[GreyHawk1968]

My hammer,frogsapawn and torch do the same thing when they are splitting. If you notice the flesh starting to rot I would then frag ,but until then see what happens. The bite mark , or what looks like one, probably a small piece that got broken off when it was glued to the rock maybe. Those skeletons are quite delicate when subjected to the force of our fingers.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10136436#post10136436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GreyHawk1968
My hammer,frogsapawn and torch do the same thing when they are splitting.

What do you mean Greyhawk? The bases/branch/trunk etc. of your Hammer and Frogspawn look like chunks have rotted out?

 

[GreyHawk1968]

If you cracked or fractured the base of the coral while moving it it may have caused the area to drop off. As long as your water quality stays good the affected area should heal up. Is the "bite mark" about the size of one of your fingers?
Keep a good eye on it and hopefully it will heal itself .

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

The bite mark is about as wide as my thumb. The other rotten spots on the opposite branch are more line like crevasses. Like i said and you can tell from the pics these spots don't look new/recent, they look like they've been there a while.

 

[RichConley]

Generally, when you start seeing old skeleton dissolving, it means your alk is low. The froggy is fine.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

If I test the Alk and it's okay what else could it be?