Hammer Coral

[1234-fishy-freind]

My branching hammer coral is expending its tenticles very much.

It used to have days when it would then days when it wouldnt but now they just remain fairly short.

They arent totally closed becuase i can waft my hand near it and its fully goes in.

How can i get it to open again.

It is quite high in my tank so should i move it, somewhere near the bottom maybe?

It has moderate flow but its maybe a bit too strong for it.

All my other corals are fine by the way, as well as my stats.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Well it is the same reasons why a lot of things happen (or don't) in a marine aquarium; namely water chemistry, flow rate and pattern, lighting and interactions with other corals or predation. I am going to assume that it is under the same lighting and flow rate/pattern as it previously was when happy. If you have changed the lighting or bulbs etc then that may upset the hammer. If you have changed the position or added/taken away power heads then then may be responsible. You say water stats are fine but what do you measure and what are the values (plus units). Also is there any LPS corals in reaching distance of the hammer? Any soft corals near or 'up stream' of the hammer that have been moved recently? Have you noticed any thing crawling on the hammer? My blue legged hermits and urchin love to stroll over my hammer and so it will frequently be found extending tentacles half way out when previously (like a minute before) has been fully extended. That is just some points to start with, if you systematically check each one and cross them off the list you may find the cause. However we are talking marine aquaria and some things you never know what is causing them to happen.

Hope this helps

Regards

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Ok, thanks for that.

I will start to check off those things, and whatever else i can think of.

 

[Colin_T]

It is usually poor or incorrect water quality. Euphillias are less tolerant of poor water quality or fluctuating chemistry compared to many corals and they are more responsive as well. And because they have big polyps it is easy to see if they are happy or not because they are either waving about or fully retracted.
If the water is ok you can try feeding it with small bits of fish or prawn a couple of times a week.
They are often retracted first thing in the morning and come out a little while after the lights have been on.

 

[sacramonel]

I noticed that my hammer actually extended more with less direct flow. I moved a powerhead around and it started to extend greatly.

 

[connorsbala]

Agreed, i find that hammers do better in low flow, whereas torches and frogspawn can do well in moderate flow
And they are very intolerable of bad water quality too as Colin said

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Yes I definatly think they prefer less flow as since i have moved mine to a place with less flow it has opend up greatly.

cheers guys