Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hey all,

so i just got a hammer coral and some zoanthids from a local saltwater store the other day. they looked awesome in the store, but after acclimating them and adding them to my 24 gallon nano-cube, they're not opening up like i thought they would. one of my zoanthids is about 70-80% open, the other one's maybe 55-65% open, and the hammer coral's kinda open but the tentacles are super thin and don't have that hammer shape. there's this brown/black stuff now where the branch meets the tentacle, which wasn't there before. i'd love to add some pics but i'm not sure how to do that on here... anyone have any ideas what could be going on? my nano-cube's pretty simple - just one clown, one damsel, two red and two blue legged hermits, and a tiny patch of gsp on my rock that's doing great. it's been 3 days since i added the new stuff, so i'm hoping someone can help me figure out what's going on.

You're gonna get grilled by the veterans here, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. First off, they'll want to know your water parameters, tank age, what other corals you're running, lighting setup, and if you placed them at the bottom for acclimation. Without this info, and maybe a couple pics, it's tough to pinpoint the issue.

purrlo_9 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 10:08 pm Hey all,

so i just got a hammer coral and some zoanthids from a local saltwater store the other day. they looked awesome in the store, but after acclimating them and adding them to my 24 gallon nano-cube, they're not opening up like i thought they would. one of my zoanthids is about 70-80% open, the other one's maybe 55-65% open, and the hammer coral's kinda open but the tentacles are super thin and don't have that hammer shape. there's this brown/black stuff now where the branch meets the tentacle, which wasn't there before. i'd love to add some pics but i'm not sure how to do that on here... anyone have any ideas what could be going on? my nano-cube's pretty simple - just one clown, one damsel, two red and two blue legged hermits, and a tiny patch of gsp on my rock that's doing great. it's been 3 days since i added the new stuff, so i'm hoping someone can help me figure out what's going on.

My hammer coral also took some time to settle in - about a week to start inflating and two weeks to fully open up. Each time I moved it in my display tank, it took a few days to get back to normal. I've learned that LPS corals like my hammer actually need some nitrates to thrive. Running at zero nitrates might be pushing my tank towards a ULNS environment, which isn't ideal for most LPS and soft corals.

I've had a similar issue recently in my 75-gallon tank with a sump. I've got six different species of LPS and soft corals, and I noticed that one of my large zoanthid colonies was receding over the past two months. The system had zero nitrates and probably zero phosphates, and I think that was the problem. I've added another fish and increased feeding over the past two weeks, and I've seen the zoanthid colony start to recover. About 8-10 heads out of the original two dozen or so have started to show activity and open up again. I've got two more fish in quarantine, and I'm hoping that the increased fish load and feeding will help raise the nutrient levels to better suit my corals.

Can you add some pics of your setup?