Pics of Hammer Shedding?

[FloridaGirl]

Does anyone have any pics of their hammerhead shedding its outer skin??

I thought mine was shedding, but now I am concerned that part of it may be dying

First the outer skin shed off, but now the inner lining is shedding red stringy stuff, and their are no heads there any more.

Any suggestions?

 

[chelskisw6]

im sorry to say it, but its toast.

try fragging off the healthy parts of the colony and try and save them.

 

[FloridaGirl]

oh no!!!!

Do I just break off the dying part? It is a very small portion so far .. just on one corner.

I have only had the this for 2-3 weeks. It was doing fine up until a couple days ago.

Should I look into moving it to an area with better lighting, or flow?

My water param are fine. The only thing I havn't checked is Calciu. Do you think too much calcium could cause this damage?

Thankyou for the input.

 

[ek9vboi]

It could be anything from lighting to flow and the list goes on.

What type of lighting do you have? Is the flow directly at it? Where is it placed in the tank?

 

[chelskisw6]

test your water and post your readings. also what lighting do you have?
you could just break off the dying part so it doesnt pollute your water.
i highly doubt too much calcium is the problem...

 

[FloridaGirl]

I am going to go get a full testing of my water at my LFS (they have better test kits than me).

I don't have the best lighting: 48 watts T5 HO with individual reflectors. I originally placed it in very very low flow and about 8 inches from the lights.

I broke off the dying part and moved it to an area with more flow and a couple inches closer to the lights.

I have a feeling that it is either the lighting, or my pH/alkalinity.

I will post my param when i get them.

Thankyou all!

 

[chelskisw6]

you have a total of 48 watts in the tank? you could use a bit more than that... keep us posted on the test results. Make sure they cover everything.

 

[FloridaGirl]

well I had my water checked, but they didn't give me too many details. The only issues they saw was somewhat high nitrates and somewhat low calcium (350). No ammonia or nitrites or anything else. The alkalinity was 8.4.
I also invested in the Kent AB calcium-alkallinity additives to keep my alkalinity and calcium in check.

Ever since I moved the fragged piece to a new location, closer to the lighting and with much more flow, it seems to be doing much much better. I think the problem was that it was not getting enough flow. I didn't realize how little flow that particular area was getting until I put my hand there and felt nothing.

More lighting is essential to my setup and I will be getting more in the near future.

Thankyou for all of your input!

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

as far as i know of hammers they are lower light corals....and relatively low flow ones too...the tentecles should be dancing but not look like they are in a hurricane..

mine is in almost the same size tank with unfortunately the same lighting...(since my MH pendent is smoking like crazy for some reason and wifey wont let me fire it) and my hammer is doing great...flow is moderate and random, making the little fella sway in every direction.

i feed him every three days with a homemade seafood concoction (sp) that he seems to really like, and it sounds as though my water parameters are the same as yours...my trates are only around 10 mg/l

so i am not sure what is happening to yours...a pic might help...i know a couple weeks ao i had this red slimey stuff coming off him wheere i think it may have been hit...i sucked the slime off with a an eyedropper and everything seems to have healed up fine..

here is a pic of what mine looked like.....yours look like this?

 

[PONCHDOG2000]

i had similar questions when i got my hammer. some sites/people said low flow others said high flow, same with the lighting. well, i have pc lights at 2 36 watts lights. i placed it near the top, in almost direct flow, and it has more than quintupled in size in 2 months. i would guess as to what they "like" is just random and luck . i think the best advice would be regular and atleast 10% water changes weekly. just my 2 cents. good luck tho!