Hammer coral branch withered

[bxz443]

my coral is looking better

Did it get damaged in any way?? You can leave it alone unless you start to see a brown jelly substance on it. If this happens cut it off and remove it from the tank.

WELCOME TO CORAL FORUM!!!

Are there any LPS of any other species nearby that might be hitting it with sweeper tentacles? Have you run any Carbon to see if there are any Aleopathic Chemicals? Have you tried to feed it any small meaty food, like mysid shrimp, etc.?

I don't know your water parameters so I just threw a couple of thoughts out there. I agree with Travis, unless you see Brown Jelly or the thing completely starts sliming away, let sit where it is for a bit and don't move it right away unless it's getting hammered by massive waterflow from a powerhead. I've seen Euphyllia come back from near-death many times.

[MikeS]

Is the tissue decaying at all, or are those polyps just contracted? Were those polyps damaged at all during your moving it about?

Branching hammers are usually pretty hardy, I have one in my tank that went from about 8 polyps to well over 150 right now...damaged polyps often heal and split, giving you two new polyps...it should be ok as long as you are meeting its demands...good light, medium flow, up on the rocks...

Mike

[bxz443]

my coral is thriving

[FishinInTheDark]

The BTA wouldn't have used "coral juice." They are carnivores. In fact, yours looks bleached. If so, it won't live long without very frequent feedings of vitamin-soaked meaty foods.

Can you post a better picture?

BTW, welcome to CF!

[gman0526]

Under what lightning are these critters? Other than that ditto on the reccomendations everybody else gave you...

[bxz443]

i have nice aquatic life.

[FishinInTheDark]

That pic does look better. Sorry for the false alarm!

[gman0526]

What ligtning is there on your tank? The fact that the anemone was all "puffed" doesn't mean that it's healthy or getting better, it might be the opossite. It might be trying to have more surface area to absorb as much light as possible for it's zooanth. or trying to catch food on the water column. And I'm sorry but even on your new picture the anemone still looks bleached, so I would reccomend that you provide supplemental feeding to it. :thumbsup:

[bxz443]

my lights are bright.

[gman0526]

bxz443, I'm sorry but those lights are not enough. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, just trying to give you some good and sound advice up to the best of my knowledge. Even though these light might allow you to keep some lower light corals, like some mushrooms, zoos and some other soft corals in a small tank, they're not suitable for an anemone and maybe not even good enough for a hammer.

The hammer needs to be placed as high in the tank as possible, the anemone will move around, regardless of your efforts to place it closer to the light, to a place where it feels less stressed. If you want your anemone to survive in your tank feed it too. We are here to help each other and I think that it's my duty to point things out even if we disagree. HTH

[FishinInTheDark]

I have to agree with Gman. While power compact lights give much more punch than incandescents, your tank would have to be very, very small to be properly lit with twenty or so watts. I had a 2.5 gallon tank with 39 watts of PC lights, and I wouldn't have risked an anemone. I'm guessing, since there's a clownfish, and by the size of your hood, that you have ten gallons or more. If that's the case, you'll have your best luck with mushrooms and zoanthids, maybe some of the leathers. If you keep the anemone, be sure to feed it three or four times a week. Soak its food in marine vitamins. Keep a very close eye on it, because if it succumbs, it can poison your entire tank.

I honestly wish you the best of luck, and am not trying to brow beat, beliittle, or bully you in any way. It's just that I hear from so many people who are just amazed that the animals they have didn't make it, and don't understand why no one ever told them ahead of time that they may have trouble. We are all here only to help.

[bxz443]

keeping animals in cages is wrong!

[FishinInTheDark]

You cannot compare incandescent watts to fluorescent watts in that way. If you have a five gallon tank, you have four watts per gallon. Any time you see people using the wpg rule in aquarium use, it is not in comparison to incandescents. It is taken at face value of wattage consumption of the lamp. Otherwise, if they could use incandescents as their baseline, people with metal halides would be saying that they have 80 or 90 watts per gallon! :eek2:

[Sugar Magnolia]

bxz, here's a very informative thread for you to read. http://www.coralforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=7226

[bxz443]

People kill anemones. They are not meant to live in an aquarium. That is why they always die. They need the ocean.

[Sugar Magnolia]

We'd love to see it!

[bxz443]

my lights are the same as always.

The coral is still alive and has grown.

I guess this can be closed now.