hammer... sick?

[Brad.Sedore]

one side of my branching hammer has turned light green and im worried its dying... i called big als and the guy said it could just be starting new branchs.... but i figure you guys know best heres some pictures.

there is a hole that you can see in the center of the 3 things... any ideas? anything i should do?

o yeah my levels all check out. Calcium is 420 trates are 5ppm 0s for ammonia and trites.

-Brad

 

[melosu58]

Keep a close eye on it and make sure you dont see a brown jelly like substance. If so you`ll need to break off the bad heads to save the good ones.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

any reference pictures to brown jelly... other than being sucked in and light green it seems healthy. the rest of it at least

-Brad

 

[melosu58]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/brown-jelly-disease-102352.html

This thread has a pic from when I had mine.

 

[Tank2379]

HHMMM... Thats the second time I've heard of a Hammer coral dieing and there is an Urchin right around it.... I am not genus when it comes to Marine life but i would have to say your Urchin might have stab your Hammer coral with it's sharp spines.... Urchins are known in some Marine Habitats to kill off Corals if there is not enough Algae to graze on.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

the side has reinflated... i dosed some iodine earlier in the day seems to have helped.. i was thinking the pink tip anemone that i added might have brushed it on the way by.. ive seen the urchin make contact with the hammer... it seems to really like being at the base of it. everything seems okay.... is it possible that the hammer coral is crowding itself.. i noticed that when the side reinflated the heads right next to it deflated a little bit... should i frag the head off to create some space? how would you do this?

-Brad

 

[GhostKnife]

The longspine could have knocked into it. However from what Ive heard they dont do much harm therefore it would not have done that. To a human hand however different story. The spines are filled with venom and backwards barbs. Ouch ouch for weeks weeks!!!

 

[Brad.Sedore]

i picked up a pencil urchin too... aparently they have a pretty ignorent sting

-Brad

 

[Tank2379]

You might what to start reading on some Sea Urchins....

Overfishing Implicated in Sea Urchin Epidemics | Conservation Magazine

or
http://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/presents/focuson/Urchin/Page4.htm

 

[Brad.Sedore]

mine seem healthy enough... not too worried about it

-Brad