hammer coral (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

i have a hammer that has not opened up since i put my vho lighting and it puts out some brown stuff from its mouths. i was aksed once if it did this but didnt ask what it is and why it does this. so what is it a why does it do that?



for my lil: :inlove:

 

[Cakepro]

It is my understanding that when corals spit up brown stuff, they're expelling zooxanthellae. Did you ramp up the wattage over your tank with your new lights?

~ Sherri

 

[Guest]

I thought they were just getting rid of waste when they did that.

 

[Guest]

When it is stringy brown it is waste when it is a thick brown jelly it usually means its dead. The only time I have seen it is when I bought my first coral and I told the guy I had 175w MHs and he told me to put the Frog Spawn near the top of the tank. After being under NOs at the store the next day it melted and was thowing out that brown jelly.

 

[Guest]

Hammer can be a fairly aggressive coral. Is this brown stuff like a long brown string? If so it is probably "sweepers" and will sting other critters. You need to keep it away from other corals.

 

[Guest]

When upgrading any coral, whether it be in your or from the stores, you should always acclimate it to the lighting. Usually you can acclimate it by placing it on the bottom of the tank and slowy moving it upwards over several days or weeks depending on the light intensity and depth. Or some will put screens over the coral and remove a layer at a time over a course of time. Basically, throwing them under higher wattage when they are used to something else will "fry" them. The more sensitive ones will die, while the others will bleach out and may never recover any of the zooanthellae

 

[Guest]

when i up graded lighting i went from a 96w pc and 30w actinic to 2 95w vhos. and it was about half way up in the tank. the stuff coming out of it is long slimmy brown looking. it hasnt died off any but it just hasnt came out. just enough to tell its a hammer. about 1/4 to 1/2 in.

 

[Guest]

Your hammer is still adjusting to the lighting, and if the stringy thing is coming out of its mouth it should be fine. Just give it a little time and it should recover.