Hammer Coral Help

[sese]

Hi,

My Hammer coral has not been looking well. Her tentacles do not extend nearly as much as they used to . She is green with pink tips. Other inhabitants of the tank include Montipora, Acropora, GSP, Xenia, Green Mushrooms, 2 tomato clowns, hermits and snails.

They all reside in a 29g tank with a 10g sump. The main has a 5" Southdown DSB and 300W VHO(2 aquasuns/2 actinics). Ca-425, Alk-2.74Meq, Nitrates~0. I run a skimmer 24/7 and have a maxijet mp1200 for circulation.

The mushrooms and the GSP are not growing well, either.
The Xenia is growing like mad. The montipora and acropora have noticable weekly growth.

I've done 10g water changes with no reactions.
I've emplaced large amounts of carbon with no results.
I've replaced all of the light bulbs with no results.

What should I try next?
Is there chemical warfare going on in my tank?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[LFS42]

I've read that branching corals like Hammer do not like Leathers like xenia. The Leathers release a toxin that the branching corals do not like.
I have also read that the protien skimmer one may run has a direct effect on the ability to grow and raise certain corals.
I've read that really efficient skimmers are better for SPS and LPS corals, where the less efficient skimmer do better for leathers and other soft corals.

Now with that said, I would do a lugol's dip on the Hammer and see if that helps. I had a frogspwan and a hammer that infected each other with a brown jelly infection, I used Kent's Tech-D for a couple days and they both seam to be coming back.

As for the mushrooms, I would be patient with them, I had a colony that had no growth for 2 years, then it decided to take off.

I hope this helps a little.

 

[sese]

I've read that branching corals like Hammer do not like Leathers like xenia. The Leathers release a toxin that the branching corals do not like.

Has anyone else had a problem growing Hammers and xenia in the same tank. Are Hammers really considered branching corals? My acropora and montipora are doing fine.

My mushrooms looked great and were propagating until about 3 months ago. This was around the time the GSP started to recede and the hammer was not extending. This was shortly after I moved the tank. I drained the tank but left the DSB in place for the move. Could the disruption of the DSB be a cause?

The only other thing I can think of is stray voltages in the tank. How can one measure this. Are grounding probes worth the investment?

Eric

 

[sese]

^^^bump^^^