Heads hanging from hammer

[joeoliver]

I have a hammer coral that has heads hanging/splitting from its heads. Anyone know what this is?

1. Will they drop and start new hammers?
2. Some deformity? Maybe the next big thing.
3. Coral disease?
4. Other

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[Reeferkcp]

Mine eventually form a new head

 

[bluemon]

Do you have a view from the head on?

looks like polyp bailout to me; theoretically they can reattach somewhere else after bailing out but I’ve never seen it being successful in the home aquaria

 

[laverda]

That is not good. Start checking your parameters. I hope you find the issue soon.

 

[Jimbo327]

You tested your parameters? Low nitrates or low mag?

This can be just the head splitting as well.

 

[laverda]

You tested your parameters? Low nitrates or low mag?

This can be just the head splitting as well.

That is not the head splitting. It is the coral beginning to die. Addtional heads will fallow quickly if something is not corrected.

 

[joeoliver]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback.

This growth has been happening with some of my gold hammers for about six months now. Aside from this, they are puffy, look healthy, and continue to produce new branching heads. Parameters have been stable with nitrates (20) and phosphates (.2) a little elevated, but stable for years.

Something I changed about eight months ago was my flow. I added a gyre. I also keep some of my hammers on a magnetic frag rack so they are higher up on the tank with higher flow and light. I have a lot of gold hammer frags, including some on the sandbed, but since I'm always moving them, I haven't noticed whether one or both have this issue. So the higher flow could be causing stress?

I also found a post on humblefish that attributed this issue to reproduction. I'm going to guess this is a stressed response to high flow, but don't know for sure. I've moved all hammers to my sandbed for now. we'll see how it goes.

 

[Jimbo327]

That is not the head splitting. It is the coral beginning to die. Addtional heads will fallow quickly if something is not corrected.

Trying to be positive. Hahaha. I've seen heads gets stressed from reproduction though. But I did ask about the parameters... just to rule out low nitrates/phosphates...or low mag. Those have also been known to cause stress to LPS.

 

[dontavo27]

I had a blasto drop heads like that, it just turned into another frag

 

[mescobar]

I'd be careful with the polyps that bail out, they can still sting whatever they come in contact with in the tank.

I wonder if you put the bailed head/polyps into a mushroom box with a rock if you'd have luck with the head growing a new skeleton.

 

[bluemon]

I'd be careful with the polyps that bail out, they can still sting whatever they come in contact with in the tank.

I wonder if you put the bailed head/polyps into a mushroom box with a rock if you'd have luck with the head growing a new skeleton.

I've tried this a few times, they never seem to attach at all. Just "live" like that for a good while until they somehow find a way through the gaps and get lost somewhere in the tank

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback.

This growth has been happening with some of my gold hammers for about six months now. Aside from this, they are puffy, look healthy, and continue to produce new branching heads. Parameters have been stable with nitrates (20) and phosphates (.2) a little elevated, but stable for years.

Something I changed about eight months ago was my flow. I added a gyre. I also keep some of my hammers on a magnetic frag rack so they are higher up on the tank with higher flow and light. I have a lot of gold hammer frags, including some on the sandbed, but since I'm always moving them, I haven't noticed whether one or both have this issue. So the higher flow could be causing stress?

I also found a post on humblefish that attributed this issue to reproduction. I'm going to guess this is a stressed response to high flow, but don't know for sure. I've moved all hammers to my sandbed for now. we'll see how it goes.

I've had healthy colonies lose a head due to flow issue too. They would slowly recede on their flow band and just "hold on" by a thread on their bailing out polyp, all while the rest of the colony was healthy.