Hammer coral issues: what's your experience?

[waterworlds]

Picked up a couple hammerheads recently, and I'm having some issues with one of 'em. The head on this one's retracted, and I'm pretty sure it's toast, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My parameters are: pH 8.2, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 20ppm, and calcium 440. Don't have an all-in-one test kit yet, but I'll grab one soon.

[fleeton]

You could give the hammer a day or two, see if it bounces back, or cut the infected head off to prevent it from spreading to the healthy one.

[talonix]

I had a similar issue with a recent frag, took it down to the sand bed and gave it some time - seems to have bounced back. Could be it just needs some acclimation time to the lighting.

[rider7]

Had a similar experience with one in QT. Two heads on one side were fully open, while the other was closed. Initially had it on the bottom egg crate, but then created a small shelf to move it closer to the lights, roughly in the upper 1/3 of the tank. Since then, all three heads have been thriving. Try relocating it to different areas with varying flow and lighting every few days until you find the sweet spot.

[luremaster]

Hammers typically aren't fans of strong flow. I'm wondering if this particular one's sitting directly in the path of your current, or if the water's just circulating around it a lot.

[luremaster]

Hammers typically aren't fans of strong flow. I'm wondering if this particular one's sitting directly in the path of your current, or if the water's just circulating around it a lot.

In my opinion, I think it's worth trying to move it to a spot with less flow, see if that helps it perk back up.

[waterworlds]

It's not in a high flow area, just a gentle sway from the current. I've had it for about a month now, and it seemed to be doing fine until this issue popped up - it's positioned about halfway up the tank.