Hammer coral issue

[Tyes68gto]

First post here so hoping this is in the correct forum. Have a 3 year old tank Bio Cube 29 that has ran great until 3 months ago. My 50 plus head hammer coral got real puffy when the lights turn on and deflate when they go off. Nothing changed in my tank set up or water chemistry from what I could tell back then. It was almost 7 months into the stock lighting t5 and figured maybe light spectrum issues. Changed bulb and no change. Figured maybe not enough light and upgraded to led lighting. Still no change. Water chemistry is ph 8.33, ca 450, mg 1300, alk at 7.7, phosphate no trace, nitrate 5ppm and temp stays 75-77. No sign of bugs or parasites with lights on or off. Lights ramp up and down for 30 mins and stay on full power for 8 hours. Now it's progressed where I have lost 5 heads. They just fall out of skeleton and I find them in sand bed just laying there. My toad stool and Duncan are still doing great. Very confused at this point and any help would be much appreciated!

 

 

 

Tank info if helps

Biocube 29

Mj1200 return pump, korilla nano wave maker, skimmer, in tanks refugium with chato, chemi pure and purigen in chamber. On a temp controller for heater and cooling fans. Current Tru lumen pro lights x 3. 20 percent water changes are done weekly with same salt Red Sea coral pro salt.

[Clown79]

I know that my hammers close up at night but once you mentioned losing heads, thats a sign something isn't right.

 

Your alk is a bit low. Lps from my experience tend to not like low alk. I would slowly increase it to 8, preferably 9. Using a two part doser is a good option. It will keep the alk a ca balanced.

 

Esv bionic is a good product.

 

Another thing, do you see any brown jelly on the hammer? Anything near it that can sting it?

 

Any change in the water flow?

[burtbollinger]

I had mine do the same thing...never figured out what it was...my best guess is it was a disease brought in by adding more LPS or a brief blast from too much flow from adjusting a PH caused damage which eventually led to ejection.

 

did you add any newer LPS prior to this occuring?

 

there's also this to consider: http://corareef.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-14082.html

 

or this...alk. swings: http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lps-polyp-bail-out-looking-for-best-course-of-action.195177/

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1181614

[Tyes68gto]

No change in flow, no jelly release or melting coral seems health just puffy and then bails out. All live stock peaceful no chance of sting or being eaten. Just one day turned real puffy and now bail out. Guess all I can really do is bring Alk up and wait to see what happens. Can you glue heads that bailout to a rock to start a new colony? Thanks for the ideas!

[Clown79]

I don't know if they can be glued. Most don't survive.

 

I would do some reading on it.

 

I'd work on the alk slowly.

[zooman72]

Some soft corals (leathers and tree corals mostly) have been documented to produce anti-competitive compounds that affect other corals, specifically LPS and SPS corals - I would consider a series of water changes and activated carbon use as an option...

 

Also, my LPS tend to expand better at 80 degrees F then at significantly lower temps such as when I had them at 75 degrees F, but I don't think a couple of degrees would make that much of a difference...