einstein0123 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 I have had my hammer coral for about a month now, and as far as I am aware there haven't been any indicators of the hammer being under any stress until possibly tonight. I found this stringy brown object hanging from the top of the coral and snapped a photo of it. I read that this could possibly be the coral releasing zooxanthellae and could be an indicator of it being under stress/dying. Then I decided to compare the color of the coral to a photo I took when I first put it in the tank. To me it looks like its color is slightly duller than it was previously. Is something wrong with my coral? I read that a change in water parameters can lead to this occurrence. I have a fluval evo 13.5 and recently changed out the carbon filter media that came with it for a bag of Chemipure Elite and also added a skimmer, which I am hoping has reduced the nutrient levels in the tank. I keep the salinity consistent, my ph was a little low tonight (7.7), and test weekly for ammonia, nitrates, and nitrite. Within the past two weeks I have started doing 10% weekly water changes (I went four weeks before doing the first water change of the tank). Could the new water change schedule and filtration upgrades be stressing my coral? I apologize for the long-winded post, thanks in advance for the help. (The picture where the hammer is more receded is when I first got it a month ago) Quote Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 It’s pooping? 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Looks fine to me. Doesn't look bleached or stressed. Agree with pooping. Don't know how new the tank is, but you'll want to start testing calcium and alkalinity at some point. What are your nitrates and phosphate levels? Water changes and chemical media are good, but you also don't want to over do it and strip your water...then your coral will really bleach and be stressed. Quote Link to comment
einstein0123 Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 17 minutes ago, DreC80 said: Looks fine to me. Doesn't look bleached or stressed. Agree with pooping. Don't know how new the tank is, but you'll want to start testing calcium and alkalinity at some point. What are your nitrates and phosphate levels? Water changes and chemical media are good, but you also don't want to over do it and strip your water...then your coral will really bleach and be stressed. nitrates are currently at 7 ppm and I do not have a test kit for phosphates. Do you recommend a particular test kit that measures Calcium, alk and phosphates? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Its pooing Nitrates are fine. You need nitrates and phosphates. Tests kits. For phos and alk - hanna checkers. No guessing, no messing with colour charts. Calcium- salifert 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Agree, I use hanna for alk and phos. Salifert for calcium. If you don't want to drop the cash on the hanna alk checker than I would go with salifert there as well. I have both and the salifert test is always really close if not spot on with the hanna in my experience. 7 nitrates are fine as clown said. You just don't want your nitrates and phosphates to truly be zero or you will starve your corals. 1 Quote Link to comment
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