Another Question From The Cf Camp!

[Crazy fishes]

Hammer coral is the branching type with four heads a the moment. Lost some Zooxanthellae coupe of days ago but seems quite healthy still; it has retained its colour but is a little fainter. Three heads are fully extanded but the fourth is closed up tight. Incidently this head is in reasonably close approximation with my GSP (about 2 inches between them). GSP is healthy and fully extended. Is this possible competition?? Also for about 15-30 minutes today one of the other heads, which is fully extended, pulled in it's tentacles and the 'central mouth' enlarged some what, Is this par for the course or something to worry about???

Water chemistry is fine and I did a water change 10% today as well as a little clean up of the Caulerpa ( I have all three varieties now).

Temp 26 C
S.G. 1.025
pH 8.2
dKh 10
NO3 1ppm
PO4 0.015ppm
Ca 500ppm (a little on the high side 400-450ppm for home aquaria is the range. Normal sea water is 400-425ppm)

Just out of interest that Calcium level is measured with a Salifert Ca kit and the only Ca added is that from the salt. I use Seachem reef salt. Has anyone else experienced this?

Ski, I think I may have some little insect-looking things (there is loads of them) swarming over the Zoa. I looked at pictures of amphipods on google and they are very similar. Also yesterday morning put the lights on and there was a orange coloured 'slug-looking' duberry on the rocks in the corner. Recently there was that thread of the slug-like duberry that eats Zoa and you said 'be careful they concentrate the palytoxin' and some other guy said 'stick it in the microwave'. Ring any bells; do you think this might be causing that Zoa patch to remain closed???

Emmm, the trials and tribulations of reef keeping eh? but its worth it!!!!


Regards

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Is the suspected nudibranch the color of the zoos? If they are it likely is a predator.

 

[Crazy fishes]

It certainly is... well the central portion at least? I was looking on Wikipedia and it really does not look as distinctive as any shown on there but it has a bright orange colouration.
Were you the guy who suggested to microwave it?

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

I have been looking at that head in more detail and it looks like it is on the way out i.e it's dying. The tentacles are pulled right in and the top of the branch has gone mostly white although at present the tentacles have kept their colour largely. How would you know more definitively? Is this more a watch and wait thing? If that head does die what should I do? should I remove it from the others or just leave it?

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Ok, some answers... Hammer corals are perhaps the top-dog when it comes to coral aggression. They will out-sting probably any other coral except perhaps an elegance or a short-tentacled anemone. GSP are no match for a healthy hammer coral.

Hammer corals can however be damaged during shipping/transport, so loosing a couple heads early on is not unheard of. Usually the skeleton gets damaged and sometimes the head does not survive. Your chemistry and lighting are good, so assuming the flow is fine, your best bet is to wait and see.

As for the zoanthids, google Zoanthid eating nudibranchs, and zoanthid eating spiders. See if either of those match what you're seeing.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Hammer corals being the 'top dog' and outstinging almost anything else is exactly what I thought but is my hammer in good condition? That head that does open has some brown spots and is trailing some jelly-like strands. I heard that they are susceptible to ??brown jelly disease??. Anyway if it is dying should I remove it or leave it in situ??

Regards

I have just taken a picture of the closed head; it is posted in nano tanks under 'my hammer coral has new appendages'