Wall hammer showing skeleton

[m0nkie]

Hi guys. not sure why my hammer is showing skeleton.. or what to do next. leave it as is or take it out for a dip?

Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 80
Alk: 9.4
Calc: 440
Mag: 1350

I lost a brain coral about 2-3 weeks ago. everything else looks good. added some zoas, but nothing else. Hammer has been at the same spot for 2 months now. Had a major temp jump last week from 80 - 84... but went back down to 80 within a few hours..

picture 1 shows hammer with skeleton.

picture 2 shows its placement on the bottom left. there's other torch and hammers in the picture. all doing great and growing new heads. The one showing skeleton is getting a little less light and less flow than the other hammer.

thanks

 

[Docdiggy]

I've heard of people saying a jump in temp can be harmful. I had many spikes like that over the summer with no problems. I did lose a small torch head though. I blamed it from being too shadowed.

On a side note, I have never owned a wall type euphyllia. I've heard they can be a tough one to keep.

 

[m0nkie]

I heard they are tougher because in situations like this, you can't just cut a head to save the colony.

Is there a dip or something I can try?

 

[Tweaked]

Ah, classic for the wall hammer. In talking with many suppliers, the walls have a very high mortality rate, something like 80%. I have lost many walls just to get one to stick, and fingers are crossed on my current one. GL

 

[Fish Biscuit]

Wall hammers just don't last. I consider myself lucky that I had one last just over a year. It started the same way yours is, slowly showing skeleton & then just kept going downhill. I won't try another one, I'm sticking with branching from now on.

 

[m0nkie]

bah... I guess no more wall hammers for me. thanks all

 

[Stevenliu9]

General questions on the Euphyllia family- once any head(s) begins to show tissue separation, is that a one way journey out? Has anyone been able to save any of their detaching head and make them grow back?

 

[Turbo4toy]

General questions on the Euphyllia family- once any head(s) begins to show tissue separation, is that a one way journey out? Has anyone been able to save any of their detaching head and make them grow back?

After mine separated it was done and there was no going back. I never really knew what happened to it to cause it though

 

[m0nkie]

General questions on the Euphyllia family- once any head(s) begins to show tissue separation, is that a one way journey out? Has anyone been able to save any of their detaching head and make them grow back?

I've read it's easier for braching ones. You can cut the sick head off and the colony will survive. walls are goners. mine is getting worse

 

[BlindZide]

Love the look of wall hammers. I wanted one sooo bad but after reading this...not so much. Sorry for your loss man.

 

[Dartolution]

Your Hammer (from the picture) looks salvageable, just that it need not be in so much direct flow. Also, trim off the dying tissue and dip in an iodine rich solution.
I have found that if they do not receive good lighting the overlapping membrane will recede.

Wall hammers, any "wall" euphyllia just need more TLC when receiving.

Shipping bangs these guys up pretty bad and people blast them with too much light/flow to start with.

Make sure your PO4 level is not high, and your nitrates are in check as well.

When receiving one that has been recently shipped in from overseas, watch out for brown jelly or white jelly. Dip in an iodine rich solution twice daily and baste off any dying tissue/necrotic tissue that you see.
After, put in medium lighting (250PAR) and keep water movement active but low velocity.

Here is mine I got a few months ago:

Maricultured/Aquacultured specimens are best.
This is not my first "wall" euphyllia either. 15 years worth of keeping these guys.

After a month or so, the tentacles will become "sticky" again indicating good health. Start feeding bits of mysid shrimp at this point to give it even more of a boost!

 

[Azar]

Like others have said walls can be more difficult when this happens vs. Branching.
Try using some peroxide while dipping also. 50/50 mix with water. 10-15 seconds then rinse and set back in the tank to rest

 

[kurt_n]

General questions on the Euphyllia family- once any head(s) begins to show tissue separation, is that a one way journey out? Has anyone been able to save any of their detaching head and make them grow back?

I've found it to be a one-way trip. Once you've compromised the "boundary layer" between the tissue and the skeleton, it just seems to zipper off. It's really no different than an open wound for us... it's an opening for pathogens and other opportunisitic critters to get in and start attacking from the inside out.

 

[Stevenliu9]

Thanks for all the responses to my Q, my personal experience were also one way trips- that's why I posted the Q. I think I'll stay away from walls and stick with branching ones (not to mention non-wild) from now on.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

I have wild branching hammers with no issues, one Indo & two Aussies. What was odd is that yesterday I worked late & noticed the Indo hammer going after one of the Aussie hammers so I moved it a little farther over & out of reach.

 

[kurt_n]

Thanks for all the responses to my Q, my personal experience were also one way trips- that's why I posted the Q. I think I'll stay away from walls and stick with branching ones (not to mention non-wild) from now on.

I don't think it's necessarily that walls are more prone to damage than branching. It's just that with branching, if one gets damaged/injured, you have more left that are not connected to that tissue. With a wall, it's all one big coral.

I agree with Dartolution... Euphyllias just get damaged really easy in shipping, especially if they aren't protected well. And unfortunately, it takes a while for that damage to become obvious... normally not until you get it home! In addition, these corals are usually the type you buy when you're just starting out and don't really know what to look for in a healthy coral. Until you lose a couple, you don't realize to look at how much the tissue extends down the skeleton. Or if everything is inflating equally. Once you become more picky on what you buy, I think your odds of it surviving also increase!