HELP! Hammer coral dying?!

Hi I’m very new to this site. not exactly a beginner in reefing but just getting back into it and decided to set up my old nano cube.

And recently had some trouble with my hammer coral it would normally open up about halfway then about 4 o’clock in the afternoon it would close back up it’s been doing this since I’ve gotten it I first thought it would be my light being too weak and not enough flow as I had next to none so I got a new light it seem to help it opened up the most it has since I’ve had it then this afternoon it closed up the most it has ever it almost looks like polyp bail out not sure what’s going on. Livestock dwarf lionfish 2 clownfish and a BTA. Lights are on timers I do run external canister filter and a chiller along with a small skimmer. I have tried moving the coral nothing has made a difference I thought with the new light I may be burning the coral but even with a light set to 1% white and 5% blue it’s still shrivelled up.

Hopefully the photos I’m trying to add work


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Anselth

Well-Known Member
First things first, check your parameters, as PSU said. That will give you your first clue as to what might be causing issues. However, Euphyllia species are pretty hardy. But there are a few things that may be going on. While I'm running down a list of possibilities, it's important to evaluate each individually, rather than trying to change everything all at once. You may end up finding the culprit, but still see a decline because you simultaneously changed a parameter that wasn't previously causing an issue.

At that low of a light setting (1%/5%), the hammer will think it's night time, and will close up. So if you haven't tested anything in between your full settings and that, it's possible that the light intensity is too high when you are at your full intensity. However, the hammer should adjust to that over time - can you run an acclimation program on the lights? Hammers also don't like a ton of flow, and won't fully extend under stronger flow regimens. Too much flow could also tear the polyp. Is there any sign of tissue damage, tearing, etc. when the polyp is closed?

It doesn't look like it in the picture, but is it near your anemone, or might your anemone have walked past it? While Euphyllia species can be pretty aggressive, there's a good chance it would lose to an anemone sting.
 
The light I have even at 1% and 5% is way stronger then my last and for flow the individual hammers only just move. Water parameters are all fine but I don’t trust my test kits so I’ve got new ones showing up tomorrow
And my BTA hasn’t move from the back of the tank


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