Hi, I just bought a wall hammer a few days ago and he isn't looking so good. He's all scrunched up in there and doesn't extend. Is this what you call receding? I checked my parameters and it's very good, and all of my other corals are doing fine. Do you have a suggestion for me? I moved him to a low flow area but he is the same as he was before. Is it better for him to be in a high flow area? When I turn on the halide he gets even more squished in there, but when the VHO's are on he looks better but still squished. Is this normal? I have had him about five days so far. Thank you for the help.
Wall Hammer needs help!!!
- Thread starter lpsreefer
- Start date
Here are my parameters and thank you for your help!
Alk 8
Ca 400
PH 8.3
Temp 82 (All of my corals are perfectly fine at this temp, two frogspawns, fox, brain, xenia, zoos, clam, etc.)
ammonia 0
nitrates 0
phosphates 0
halide 175w 14k a little over two feet above it
VHO's one aquasun and one actinic
Bump the alk up just a shade. 8.3-9.3 is a good range. Everything else seems spot on. Try that and see if it helps.
Next question: what's immediately upwind of it? Anything that could possibly annoy it, like a leather, hydnophora, nem, etc?
And is flow gentle enough for it where it is? It will like chaotic moderate flow, just enough to toss the tentacles. Anything beating directly on it will keep it from opening.
You might also try loosing some cyclopeeze in the tank.
Next question: what's immediately upwind of it? Anything that could possibly annoy it, like a leather, hydnophora, nem, etc?
And is flow gentle enough for it where it is? It will like chaotic moderate flow, just enough to toss the tentacles. Anything beating directly on it will keep it from opening.
You might also try loosing some cyclopeeze in the tank.
Thanks Sk8r! I just added a half teaspoon of unbaked baking soda and I’ll be watching it. There’s a toadstool upwind from him, but he’s about a foot away. The current is from a sea swirl, and it is in a gentle area. I don’t have cyclopeeze, are you supposed to feed them? I was told they could get by on my lighting alone. I never feed any of my corals and they all seem fine. Thanks for your help!
The cyclopeeze was more of an inducement, not necessary...Sea Swirl is excellent.
But toadstools and sinularia are the 2 most cranky leathers there are: they exude a chemical intending to discourage feeding and growth of nearby stony corals. Other leathers can tolerate and fire back at this chemical warfare, but stonies just close up and fail to thrive. This may be the missing piece of our puzzle. Your next step may be to move that fellow. Running carbon may help, too. If the leather has detected the stony near him due to the back-and-forth flow of the Sea Swirl, he may have started something that in the ocean would just flow away harmlessly: in your tank, it's cycling back at him, in a flywheel effect. Running carbon will take it out of the waterstream, and may calm everything down.
But toadstools and sinularia are the 2 most cranky leathers there are: they exude a chemical intending to discourage feeding and growth of nearby stony corals. Other leathers can tolerate and fire back at this chemical warfare, but stonies just close up and fail to thrive. This may be the missing piece of our puzzle. Your next step may be to move that fellow. Running carbon may help, too. If the leather has detected the stony near him due to the back-and-forth flow of the Sea Swirl, he may have started something that in the ocean would just flow away harmlessly: in your tank, it's cycling back at him, in a flywheel effect. Running carbon will take it out of the waterstream, and may calm everything down.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
