Really pissed off Hammer - Help would be appreciated

[W1ll]

Hi all,

 

I am fairly new to this hobby and have had my reef tank up and running for just short of 2 months. About a month in I began adding my first corals to the tank. One of the corals I recently added was a purple hammer coral - this is not my first hammer, I already have a green one thriving in my tank. I positioned this hammer not too far away from the existing green one, and from day one it just never opened up the same way my green one does. It would open up a fair bit, but looking at it today, it really doesn't look too healthy at all. My parameters are the following:

 

Salinity: 1.026

PH: 8.1

Nitrate: 5ppm

 

 

Any advice on what I could do to fix this issue would be much appreciated. Considering that my green hammer is doing so well I suspect it may be a placement issue rather than a parameters issue but any advice would be great. 🙂 

 

I have attached some pics below of both the thriving green hammer and the struggling purple one. 

 

Thanks,

Will

[Murphs_Reef]

It doesn't look to bad to be honest. It seems to have decent polyp extension, but not full yet. Could be settling in just. I wouldn't move it unless there are any signs of damage or it contracts further. I can't see any damage by the way. 

 

It doesn't look like it was fragged as well as the green one, but maybe that's just they way it's grown in .

[Ratvan]

I'd wager that it is just settling in to the tank, i'd give it a week or so before you start to worry. Also note that not all Hammers will have the same amount of Polyp Extension.77How long has it been in the tank?

[W1ll]

16 hours ago, Ratvan said:

I'd wager that it is just settling in to the tank, i'd give it a week or so before you start to worry. Also note that not all Hammers will have the same amount of Polyp Extension.77How long has it been in the tank?

Thanks for the response, The purple hammer has been in the tank just under 2 weeks. I also probably should have mentioned that it had a fairly rough transit getting here (I ordered it online). Due to a abruptly announced covid lockdown and a courier stuff up, the hammer was in transit for almost a week. I was honestly surprised it survived. Even though it has been in the tank almost 2 weeks, could this be a contributing factor to its reluctance to open? 

[Murphs_Reef]

Yeah let it settle.. will be fine mate 👍🏼

[NanoJakarta]

Please keep your hands away from those beautiful thing. Don't worry, its settling down. It takes times tho, i'm sure that it's in good conditions. I don't see anything wrong with it

[Ratvan]

7 hours ago, W1ll said:

Thanks for the response, The purple hammer has been in the tank just under 2 weeks. I also probably should have mentioned that it had a fairly rough transit getting here (I ordered it online). Due to a abruptly announced covid lockdown and a courier stuff up, the hammer was in transit for almost a week. I was honestly surprised it survived. Even though it has been in the tank almost 2 weeks, could this be a contributing factor to its reluctance to open? 

Looks in good shape then all things considered, i had one lost in transit for 2 days and took the best part of a month for it to settle down and fully open

[gena]

Pretty hammers!!!  My first impression is that it's acclimating to the lighting situation.  Did you place it right at the top from the beginning?  I've had corals look like that from being shocked by higher lighting, or getting used to new lighting.  

[Seadragon]

My initial reaction was similar to the other posters — “wow, that looks pretty!  Looks like it’s just settling in”.

 

Here’s a photo I found on the net when they’re not happy so you can see the contrast:

 

[fishkeepersaltnfresh]

Those look pretty good. I sort of lost my hammer after I changed lights. the above pic is similar to how my hammer is currently 😞

[Tired]

That is, at worst, a mildly annoyed hammer.