my first casualty - hammer coral

[geesus69]

had a gorgeous hammer coral for about a month now, always looked really good, then it started to sulk and has got brown jelly infection (i'm sure you knew that was coming as i have read they are very prone to it)

i know the reality is that it is probably a goner, but i am going to try my best to save it

a small section of the polyps are still extending and inflating, but most of it is not

i think part of the problem is that my magnesium levels are low, but i have been waiting on a delivery of salifert mag for over a week now so not much i can do

i have some salifert iodine that i dose the tank with and i am thinking of giving it a dip in that first to see if i can halt the brown jelly, any ideas what concentration to make it?

then i have ordered some other medications to see if i can save it, and also to have on hand just in case this happens again to any other corals

gone for the revive coral cleaner
and some melafix marine aswell

it is an absolutely gutting feeling to watch a coral dying with not much i can do, suppose it's the price you pay for trying to keep them

such a vibrant coloured hammer, i hope i can find another one the same if it does die off :(

[Marine Life Uk]

Brown jelly is not normally caused by bad mag levels tbh its normally caused by soft tissue damage that said if the levels were out then it could well have made it easier to catch the infection.

Normally speaking the best way of dealing with it is to cut off the infected heads to stop the spread.

Revive might well work.

Another question is why so you dose Iodine as this in high levels can be fatal to most of the life, corals will be effected first. A golden rule for you is dont dose if you dont test i.e Id hope you know your level for iodine if you dont and dont test for it then dont dose it.
It used to be something that you had to dose many moons ago now most people get the correct volumes just by doing regular water changes.

If a section has brown jelly and abit doesnt then id say that there is a 90% chance you will lose the rest im afraid.

You could have used another supplier for mag suppliment and probably have got it within two days, pm me if you wish to know as we do deal with them direct ourselves.

[geesus69]

Not really much I can do with regards to cutting infected heads off as it's a wall hammer and not branching

In desperation I have given it a dip in some clean saltwater with iodine added, then used a pipette to blow all the brown bits away, I know this is a long shot but I figured better than leaving it all together

I dose iodine as I test for it and have never even got a result that shows on the first scale of the salifert test result. I read that as zero so thought it best to dose it.