Injured Hammer

[Asuran]

I recently did an upgrade and had my corals in my old sump till my new tank was set up.

i did something stupid and put my open brain coral and hammer (non branching) next to each other and the next morning when i went to move the corals i found that half of my hammer was wiped out.

i have since cleaned out most of the dead parts of the coral and the skeleton is exposed the other half is still expanding like it use to but will it ever regenerate back to the way it was? I will post pics once i get home from work

 

[Sk8r]

I have a similar issue with a fox, which arrived in damaged condition. It has now stabilized, but the best I hope for is that the scrap of fox remaining on the ends will lay down new skeleton and build on the old: at least it has an anchor-point.

Fragging a 'wall' coral is not as easy as fragging branch: they're not guaranteed to break where you wish they would, and I'd be inclined after my last experience to use a dremel, not pressure.

Fragging problems are why I tend to avoid walls if I have a choice: in the fox, this wasn't a choice.

My advice would be to let it be, now, until it has stabilized, and then thinking about fragging off the bad end. But ask in the coral propagation forum about dealing with damaged 'wall' and see what their recommendation might be.

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7678885#post7678885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
I have a similar issue with a fox, which arrived in damaged condition. It has now stabilized, but the best I hope for is that the scrap of fox remaining on the ends will lay down new skeleton and build on the old: at least it has an anchor-point.

Fragging a 'wall' coral is not as easy as fragging branch: they're not guaranteed to break where you wish they would, and I'd be inclined after my last experience to use a dremel, not pressure.

Fragging problems are why I tend to avoid walls if I have a choice: in the fox, this wasn't a choice.

My advice would be to let it be, now, until it has stabilized, and then thinking about fragging off the bad end. But ask in the coral propagation forum about dealing with damaged 'wall' and see what their recommendation might be.

I guess I got lucky when I fragged a frogspwan. All I used was pressure and broke right where I wanted it too. Now it looks great.

 

[SVXH6]

there are wall hammers, and then there are branching hammers.. for the branching all you need is a little pressure to snap a branch off, the wall types are completely different.. i would kkep an eye on the hammer be sure you have no more tissue loss, if so try a dip to stop possible infection..good luck..

 

[55semireef]

I have a wall hammer. I would have absolutely no idea how to frag that.

 

[Asuran]

i am having a bit more tissue loss...

what do i dip it in?

and here are some pics... i really hope i can save it... its one of my favourite pieces...

same pics just one with flash one without

 

[55semireef]

RO/DI freshwater is what you would dip it in. See what others have to say.

 

[SVXH6]

NO do not dip it in freshwater that will probably quickly kill it.. dip it in a lugols solution, or TMPCC.. it just looks like the affected tissue is continuing to die off, how quickly is more tissue dying off?? i would try to keep it kind of shaded, lower flow but with flow so that any dead tissue will come off.. also try to keep any dead or dying tissue off of the coral with minimal annoyance to the rest of the healthy hammer..

fragging a wall hammer is quite a chore, you cant just frag it, it has to take a while.. some have done the "rubberband method" where a rubberband is wrapped around it the tissue slowly seperates as it grows then after awhile it can be fragged(dremel)(there is probably more to this method as well).. i know someone in my local club who did this to a bubble coral, and a wall hammer both sectioned off pieces looked great and grew well after fragging.. i wouldnt do it though..

 

[Asuran]

unfortunately i dont have any lugols solution at home

the tissue stopped dying at that rock like thing in the skeleton sunday... all was well yesterday and it starting dying again

as for fragging it... i have no idea how to do so... but this hammer has two seperate sections to it... the top is a round head kinda looks like:

0
w

so the 'w' section what is dying the o part is still fine....

in the mean time i have cleaned off as much of the dead tissue as possible... its getting moderate flow and is midway under pc 4x65w use to be MH and will be again once i get the unit in.

 

[55semireef]

Oh, I learn something everyday

 

[SVXH6]

if they are seperated as you say, then i wouldnt worry about the other half dying off.. if they are completely seperat grab a dremel and frag it, if they are not COMPLETELY seperate dont do it.. i would like to see a pic when it is retracted at night to see the skeletal structure.. lets try to get this hammer back in shape!!

 

[Asuran]

thanks for the advice so far! i looked at it again this morning before coming into work and there doesnt seem to be any more tissue loss *keeps fingers crossed

after blowing off the dead tissue last night i did pull it out of the water for a quick smell test and i was surprised that it didnt smell bad at all. i will post a retracted pic when i get home tonight

 

[55semireef]

Usually when it smells bad thats not a good sign. lol.

Good thing your didn't.

 

[Asuran]

here is a pic of it when not fully opened



i lost about another 2 ribs worth of tissue today

 

[55semireef]

Take a sponge and rub off al the dead parts good but don't rub off anything live.

 

[SVXH6]

id just let it go, try to dip it if you can find lugols or TMPCC.. if not the other half as you stated seems unaffected and will be fine.. the only way i would worry bout the other half is if it gets brown jelly infection..but other that that, keep blowing off alldead tissue, i wouldnt rub it off, just use a baster gently..good luck..

 

[Asuran]

just trying to do what i can right now.. cant find any lugols up here in canada...

 

[Sk8r]

When it died back more, it was probably dying back regarding a 'mouth', and possibly will reorganize itself around the next-back mouth. That has to be the structural determinant: the endmost mouth has to have whole tissue to support it.

 

[Asuran]

well just an update... the rest of the tissue died off... i was doing lugos dips and it was looking better over the weekend then slowly more tissue die off on monday and by today its all gone. the upper part of the coral is still going strong

 

[55semireef]

Thats good.