Death Of A Hammer Coral (1 Viewer)

[Cody]

So I got this true Blue Hammer from someone months ago and the main heads were dying. There were a few little babies on the bottom, but I was watching the main heads melt in my tank. It was a very unsettling experience because I love all things blue, and this was my first encounter with a blue hammer.

I saw about five heads at the base survive so I didn’t chunk it, and look at it now! Dozens of babies coming out! Keep in mind, this pic was taken with a flashlight at night, and my phone camera, yet the heads are looking very nice and blue




So, my question is this: if an LPS starts dying then do you throw it out or let it run its course? I’ve always thrown out frags with dying heads, but in this situation, it paid out well to keep it in the tank.

 

[Reefahholic]

That’s impressive! Gonna be a nice huge colony in the future.

 

[Cody]

That’s impressive! Gonna be a nice huge colony in the future.

Hopefully so! This one has my curiosity.

 

[Cody]

The way that top left head is littered with babies is crazy. I’ve never seen that before.

 

[Reefahholic]

The way that top left head is littered with babies is crazy. I’ve never seen that before.

Yeah I zoomed in. That is nuts!

 

[webster1234]

Yea, that's crazy. I'm always worried about brown jelly infecting my other corals so I chop chop chop. Maybe just siphon the dying tissue out and leave the skeleton in place. Hmmm.

 

[steveb]

I always leave them in but have yet to have one resurrect.

 

[Erin]

Cody, what color cristata is behind the miracle hammer?

 

[Tnconcept]

Wow I should have kept all those purple torches I thew out (BJ)....=( I was too worried that it will spread and infect the whole tank..

 

[ITreefer]

I've away thrown away many euphyllia skeletons, clearly a mistake

 

[sneezebeetle]

I commend you for not tossing it! Personally I would have a hard time leaving a skeleton in my tank, but great eye in spotting those babies!

 

[frankc]

I tend to keep apparently dead LPS corals around for a long time, but I'm still waiting for my cool success story like this. With a few significant exceptions, I tend to suck at keeping LPSs.

 

[mittens]

I had the same thing happen with a dendro that died. Most of the tissue fell off. What remained turned into a bunch of babies.


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[Cody]

Yea, that's crazy. I'm always worried about brown jelly infecting my other corals so I chop chop chop. Maybe just siphon the dying tissue out and leave the skeleton in place. Hmmm.

Ive lost a handful of heads on a couple colonies recently. I don’t remember ever losing any frogspawn or hammer heads in the past, but it is what it is. I think part of it has to do with my auto water changes being off and not knowing it (long story), but after larger manual water changes, things seem to stop losing heads.

I did a good amount of research and I’m pretty convinced the brown jelly is a symptom and not a cause. It’s just the way in which these types of corals discard their flesh. My opinion is just based off of experience. However, I have found that cutting off the dying head is a good thing to do.

If you have ever cut through a frogspawn or hammer stem then you’ll see there are a lot of open channels through them. It’s the reason that you can have a large colony that blocks out the light beneath it, yet babies start popping up in the shadow. They have to be getting energy from somewhere and it’s probably coming from the heads above.

 

[Cody]

Yeah I zoomed in. That is nuts!

They popped up immediately after that head died, within about a week. I though it was flesh that hadn’t flaked off yet.

 

[Cody]

I've away thrown away many euphyllia skeletons, clearly a mistake

At least save them for the calcium reactor!

 

[Cody]

Cody, what color cristata is behind the miracle hammer?

That’s actually a frogspawn. I think you bought some of those heads from me too. Green on green.

 

[Erin]

That’s actually a frogspawn. I think you bought some of those heads from me too. Green on green.

Quite possible.

 

[Reefahholic]

They popped immediately after that head died, within about a week. I though it was flesh that hadn’t flaked off yet.

Well, I sure would like one of those when it grows out. It's a determined little sucker.

We can name it Cody's Blue Superman Hammer. Will not die! Guaranteed to survive any tank crash, election, or apocalypse. $2,500

 

[Cody]

Well, I sure would like one of those when it grows out. It's a determined little sucker.

We can name it Cody's Blue Superman Hammer. Will not die! Guaranteed to survive any tank crash, election, or apocalypse. $2,500

Call it the Blue Phoenix hammer