Hammer Coral / Brown Jelly Questions/Treatment in Progress...

[beebeelb]

Hello there everyone... I got a green hammer coral as a gift - It was doing good for about a day, then I noticed that one end was shriveling up and being covered by a white film. I syphoned it off and saw the brown stringy stuff and started doing searches. It appears to be Brown Jelly disease. I did a fresh water dip with Lugols Iodine. for about 5 minutes and sucked off as much of the damaged area as I could. I returned it to the tank and has been about 2 hours since and it has opened back up with the exception of some still ailing areas. My question is two fold. How long should I wait to see improvement before I decide to take further measures? And also since it did seem to spread to the other two heads if I decide to have my husband break out the dremel is there any good pics or instructions on fragging a hammer coral? I read some people say in the case of an infection to just cut right through the flesh to remove the diseased portions and then iodine dip them. I would really hate to lose the rest of this coral as it would be the last. I did make a concentrated iodine solution and use the turkey baster to shoot it right at the coral which I thought might help without the stress of the dip.

I just want to react quickly enough without being hasty and over reacting...

My specs are
12g Nano
temp: steady 77
my ph was 8.0 yesterday and I dosed Super KH Buffer
Nitrites and Amm. 0
and Nitrates <10 ppm
Sal 1.022
Some pics taken with my phone was the best I could do... I hope it helps!
Hammer Coral Dying - a set on Flickr

I think that covers it. I have read many threads but it seemed necessary to get more specific as it seems I can still save this beauty.

 

[Innovator]

Professional aquarists are reporting much better non-toxic results using ReVive instead of iodine for coral treatments. You mention "other heads" so I assume this is a branching Hammer? You can cut the skeleton anywhere below the tissue margins with sharp shears or a dremel (most of the time they are brittle enough to snap off). Give yourself some length so the coral can be remounted easily. If only a couple heads retain brown jelly then they can be separated and dipped. Expect at least 48hrs. before seeing any polyp extension once returned to the main display.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with James. If this is a branching hammer than just snap the bad heads off. I`m not familar with the product he`s talking about but he should know.

 

[thincat]

Her picture shows an Euphyllia Ancora Hammer. I believe the branching Hammer is the Euphyllia Parancora Hammer

 

[Innovator]

Ha, I forgot to look at the picture. Nice call

 

[beebeelb]

Yes this is not branching... i think they call it a wall type but when I got it - was already at the three separate ends of the skeleton that you see in the picture but appeared to be healthy. It's been over 24hrs scince I did the Lugols dip and the polyps are plump but I still see a small amount of goo but nothing like before. I will go to the LFS and look for ReVive but I think they pretty much only carry Kent products... I'm hoping that maybe the one dip killed off all the pathogens and the coral is on it's way back... but I am watching it closely and really appreciate the feedback... I hate to have to frag it because it's not the branching kind and it would probably do more harm than good....

 

[melosu58]

Yes Good call. I didnt see it either.

 

[thincat]

One more thing I caught, you said "I did make a concentrated iodine solution and use the turkey baster to shoot it right at the coral which I thought might help without the stress of the dip."
Please don't just shoot iodine directly into your tank without testing how high a concentration is already in your tank. You could end up killing everything in your tank.

 

[Innovator]

For those unfamiliar with the product: http://www.twolittlefishies.com/documents/1187368847.pdf

 

[melosu58]

Thanks James. I was wondering about it as I`ve never seen it before.