Need help LPS not doing so good

[Aellery]

Looking for some answer. Currently have a 25 gallon lagoon tank running AI hydra 32 at about 30%. 
I have lost some hammers over the last couple of months, they start off great then next thing you know the skeleton starts to show and boom! Dead a couple of weeks later. No sign of brown jelly. 
water chemistry as of today is 

salt 1.025 

temp 77.6 to 78.0

nitrate 10 to 15 

am 0 

nitrite 0 

phos 0.09 

cal 440 

mag 1410 

alk 9.0

ph 8.0 

 

 nothing looks out of wack here I know my Alk has swung from 8.4 to 9 over the last two weeks not sure if that is the cause. If it is how do I stop that. 
flow in tank is alright not blowing the hammers around to much I dip all corals and no sign of flatworms in sight. I do a 5 gallon water change every week and a 10 gallon water change ever third week to clean sand if needed. 
appreciate the help!! Down below is a picture of the hammer. 

[W1ll]

6 hours ago, Aellery said:

Looking for some answer. Currently have a 25 gallon lagoon tank running AI hydra 32 at about 30%. 
I have lost some hammers over the last couple of months, they start off great then next thing you know the skeleton starts to show and boom! Dead a couple of weeks later. No sign of brown jelly. 
water chemistry as of today is 

salt 1.025 

temp 77.6 to 78.0

nitrate 10 to 15 

am 0 

nitrite 0 

phos 0.09 

cal 440 

mag 1410 

alk 9.0

ph 8.0 

 

 nothing looks out of wack here I know my Alk has swung from 8.4 to 9 over the last two weeks not sure if that is the cause. If it is how do I stop that. 
flow in tank is alright not blowing the hammers around to much I dip all corals and no sign of flatworms in sight. I do a 5 gallon water change every week and a 10 gallon water change ever third week to clean sand if needed. 
appreciate the help!! Down below is a picture of the hammer. 

Do you have any par measurements from  in your tank? A Hydra running at only 30% on a 25 gallon seems quite low. 

[mitten_reef]

full tank shot?

what fish stock?

inverts?

The params look normal, and the tentacles look normal, I'm leaning toward physical disturbance on the corals, whether too much direct flow or livestock-related.

[Aellery]

Just 2 clownfish 

1 fire fish 

1 watchman goby

1 cleaner shrimp 

snails and hermit crabs 

[TheKleinReef]

whatcha got for flow?

cleaner shrimp can sometimes irritate LPS when they're trying to steal food from the coral.

[Aellery]

I have two Nero 3 pumps plus my return pump. Both pumps run on random and pulse throughout the day, max speed is 40% cleaner shrimp never goes near that hammer. 

[TheKleinReef]

my gut reaction says too much flow. try changing placement, or adjusting intensity to start.

it might take some time for it to adjust.

 

biggest advice to reef tank problem solving is: don't change too many things at once.

[jservedio]

On 1/27/2022 at 5:25 AM, W1ll said:

Do you have any par measurements from  in your tank? A Hydra running at only 30% on a 25 gallon seems quite low. 

That's pretty much dead on for an LPS tank - about 30w with standard 80-90 degree lenses over a shallow 25g tank is perfect if using a normal schedule. Definitely not a low lighting issue. If it were a low lighting issue, things would be stretching heavily and it takes a very long time to kill coral from low light. The acans in the FTS shot are a dead giveaway since they are expanded, but flat against their skeleton - they are not shy about reacting to low light and stretching like crazy.

 

OP - it isn't your alk. A 0.6dkh change over a few weeks is great. I'd take @mitten_reef's advice and turn down the flow a bit for a while while checking your Nitrate and Phosphate every few days for a couple of weeks. Swinging nitrate and phosphate is a bigger issue for most LPS than very mild alkalinity fluctuations (0.6dkh in just a day would be perfectly acceptable).