Whats wrong with my Hammer????

[mike31154]

Hammers definitely have a 'mouth'. Most of the time the fully inflated soft tissue does a good job of hiding it. They can do some other funky things like blowing bubbles from time to time. I've had this happen on a number of occasions. The bubble phenom seems to be associated with a branching event where the affected head will split into two at some point after.



I've never seen mine with an open mouth like yours for an extended period though. You also mention soft tissue is deflated. Somewhat reminiscent of an anemone that's either expelling waste, or not doing too well. Only been in your system for a relatively short time, so may still be acclimating. Keep an eye on it & if the mouth remains that way & tissue remains deflated, check your water parameters to see if something's off.

[hfp75]

Let me start by saying thanks for the replies!

I will now agree that a hammer has a mouth & that my hammers mouth is wide open - I have no idea what its doing... maybe regurgitating out the old food. In which case this is a good thing. I'll give it a day or two.

I do have one more question. I have my hammer sitting in the sand. As seen in the first posts pic. I usually see hammer corals mounted in LR and not in the sand. Is it ok to have it out in the sand or is that an error and I should find a spot on the LR for it?

THX

[wickedfrags]

interesting title for the thread

[Kevotron]

Originally Posted by wickedfrags

interesting title for the thread

LMAO i totally just realized that now lol

[reefwars]

a hammer can be in the sand just fine as can a frogspawn. your hammer is deflated showing its mouth could be a number of things from too much light to too much flow.

would move said hammer frag to a better location....since its on the sand and they dont demand high light im leaning toward flow it should be in indirect flow cheers and gl

[hfp75]

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/IMG_0441.jpg

There is a new link. The hammer is more deflated and the mouth is more open.

It currently sits in the open on the sand. In a 12G Nano with the White & Blue toob lights above. There is a 340gph pump with a directional flow spinner that slowly rotates the current. The Hammer gets a fairly good exposure to light and to current. What should be my priority? Less flow or less light or both? Ill move it in the morning....

THX

[hfp75]

Well thanks for the help.

Good advise with either lighting or flow. I recently increased the flow in the tank - believing this was the primary cause of the problem (thanks to the GF!!) I returned to the old flow. Over the last 12 Hrs the hammers arms have all filled back up and the mouth is closing. Its scalp or what here has been called a mouth opened on the side that was subjected to the increased flow.

I did realize during this procedure that there are 2 heads to this - while it was negatively reacting to the increased flow the one side (head) became very limp over a 2 day period while the other side stayed quite healthy looking. It must be a double or close to splitting up.

I have to say thanks for the info - I appreciate the support and so does my Hammer.

PS - Its hard to ask for help...... especially when you have a problem with your Hammer!!

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by reefwars

a hammer can be in the sand just fine as can a frogspawn. your hammer is deflated showing its mouth could be a number of things from too much light to too much flow.

would move said hammer frag to a better location....since its on the sand and they dont demand high light im leaning toward flow it should be in indirect flow cheers and gl

+1

[tim the toolman]

In a 12g tank are you topping up evap frequently? I had a 48g with a similar problem and I found that by topping up all the time to ensure less salinity swings it really helped quickly. I should say though that this was with a frogspawn

[paddyob]

100% thats a mouth.

Sand bed or rock. Both are fine. Euphyllia prefer lower flow areas of the tank.

My Orange torch is currently on the sand bed and is has split 5 times since I bought it. I would say its doing fine.


Do you feed? Maybe its hungry.