Hammer coral showing skeleton

[flame9x]

Hey guys, I'm stumped - my hammer's showing some skeleton and I'm not sure what to do. Leave it or take it out for a dip?

My parameters are:
- Salinity: 1.026
- Temp: 80
- Alk: 9.4
- Calc: 440
- Mag: 1350

I lost a brain coral a few weeks back, but everything else seems fine. Added some new zoas, no other changes. This hammer's been in the same spot for two months now. Had a temp spike last week - jumped from 80 to 84, but dropped back to 80 within a few hours.

Picture 1 shows the hammer with the skeleton.

Picture 2 shows its placement - bottom left, near other torches and hammers that are all doing great. This one's getting less light and flow than the others.

It's been doing fine until now, so I'm not sure what's going on.

[axonify]

I've experienced those temp spikes myself, no issues so far. Had a small torch head drop off, but I figured it was just due to being too shaded. Never had a wall type euphyllia, heard they can be a handful to care for.

[flame9x]

I've also heard wall hammers can be a bit more finicky, particularly when it comes to recovery. I think the issue is, in cases like this, you can't just trim off a head to save the rest of the colony. So, I'm wondering if there's something you can try to revive it - maybe a dip or some other treatment?

[felinxo]

I've heard suppliers say wall hammers have a crazy high mortality rate - we're talking around 80%. I've lost count of how many I've gone through, just to get one to thrive. Fingers crossed for my current one, and I wish you the best of luck with yours.

[ravenoak]

I've had my share of struggles with wall hammers. I was pretty fortunate to have one that actually thrived for over a year, but it started showing skeleton just like yours and went downhill from there. I've decided to stick with branching hammers from now on, they seem to be more reliable for me.

[flame9x]

Guess that's it for me and wall hammers. Appreciate the input, guys.

[nixora]

General questions on Euphyllia - once any head begins to show tissue separation, is that the beginning of the end? I've had my share of struggles with these corals and I'm curious if anyone's been able to save a detaching head and nurse it back to health.

[lanky_bark]

General questions on Euphyllia - once any head begins to show tissue separation, is that the beginning of the end? I've had my share of struggles with these corals and I'm curious if anyone's been able to save a detaching head and nurse it back to health.

After mine separated, it was a lost cause - I couldn't recover it. I'm still unsure what triggered the separation, but once it started, there was no turning back.

[flame9x]

General questions on Euphyllia - once any head begins to show tissue separation, is that the beginning of the end? I've had my share of struggles with these corals and I'm curious if anyone's been able to save a detaching head and nurse it back to health.

I've read that branching ones have an advantage - you can cut off the affected head and the rest of the colony can recover, whereas walls are often a lost cause. Mine's unfortunately going downhill fast.

[fruitblast]

Wall hammers do look awesome, but now I'm kinda glad I never got one. Sorry to see yours go, flame9x.