Hammer Query?

[ShyTalk]

Hi Folks, I've had my first frag of hammer for about two months now approx.
Seems very happy in my D-D 24 nano, its sat at the bottom almost in the middle in moderate water flow.

It has filled out a lot since i got it, but the other day i noticed it seemed to be splitting into two branches with the part in the middle apparently being discarded, yesterday the middle section was wobbling about in the flow and sure enough today it is over the other side of the tank.

I'm wondering is this normal? Can this discarded chunk be stuck onto a piece of LR and will it grow? How do these propagate?

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I was wondering if my clown had been rubbing against it too vigorously or something?

[Macca]

good chance it will regrow a new skeleton. I have seen this before but water qauality was an issue. What the mag, cal and alk like in your tank?

[ShyTalk]

Hi Macca, well my stats are in my sig, just added some calcium a day or two back, but apart from that all seem pretty good and pretty much as per sig, it seems healthy to my untrained eye, but it does seem to be branching into two, i'll take another photo when the lights come on, might be clearer now the loose bit has floated off.

[Macca]

is this loose bit a piece of flesh or is it its poo (brown stringy stuff)

[Marine Life Uk]

It may grow a new skeleton given time but some detached heads dont make it im afraid.
The cause of this could well be the clowns if they are rubbing in the head, and tbh this isnt very good for the coral. On larger corals they may withstand this but on a small coral soft tissue damage can be very bad.

[ShyTalk]

Aw Nuts!
The other day I noticed another chunk of the hammer was flopping about in the circulation, next day it had dropped off, then this morning I got up and my hammer, which up to this last week or so, looked so healthy, was reduced to this!
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Nitrates and nitrites are as low as ever, everything else is looking healthy, maybe it was the clown, but he doesn't seem to have bothered it for days, I'm gutted!
I don't supposed there's much chance of it growing back when there's only the skeleton left?

[wayneLOVESTANKSgallagher]

are your phosphates high mate? this happend to me in my old tank and it was down too high phos

[Marine Life Uk]

I wouldnt say it will grow back tbh, clowns can cause soft tissue damage and on a smallish coral this can cause what you now have a skeleton.
As above also they dont like high phos

[ShyTalk]

Well I'm stumped, the phosphates are stable as ever at 0.03...maybe it was the clown, either way its gone in the bin today....the hammer not the clown!!

Everything else, coral wise, in the tank looks healthy, zoas and mushrooms all doing fine, gsp was sulking for a few days but has reappeared looking well, montipora growing well???

I hate not knowing what nuked it, if you know you can make sure you don't do it again, if you don't know you're stumped...I'm stumped!
:-)

Thanks for the tips/advice....I guess i'll leave hammers for others...damn shame it was doing well too, really filled out in the short time i had it!