Help: Hammer Coral Damage

[pwlong]

I have a hammer coral that I have had for almost two years. No problems until this weekend. Did a water change and noticed a section in the back was receded. Upon closer inspection, I noticed some damage. I blew off the affected area and some small pieces came off from the inner and outer section of skeleton. Now some small areas of skeleton are visible and that area has not opened. I may have brushed against that area with my arm while removing the dreaded grape caulerpa, but it shouldn't have done that much damage if I did. Also, I noticed that another LPS might have stung the Hammer, causing the damage.
My question, should I continue to blow off the affected area with baster and hope for the best? Will I need to think about cutting off the affected area so that it doesn't affect the whole coral? Anyone know what I should be watching for or have a similar experience?
Salinity was a little high at 1.026(usually1.025) before water change. Water temp 78-79F, all other parameters are OK. No other problems in tank.


TIA

Phil

[ January 30, 2002: Message edited by: pwlong ]</p>

 

[scallop]

If its the hammer coral species I am familier with it has individual heads with its own share of the skeleton. Dont worry about cutting off the head to save the rest of the coral. This, if it does go way south should not hurt he rest of the coral. Of course if it does die you may want to remove it simply for cosmetic reasons.

Be carefull when "blasting" some of its tissue off. The idea is to let it heal on its own. They are usually a pretty hardy species. You can try supplemental feeding of that head to boost grown and get an idea of how operational it is. small piece of krill is usually what I use.

Good luck.

 

[pwlong]

Bump

 

[pwlong]

FWIW: I cut the affected area off using tin snips since the affected area was increasing and spreading. Scallop, it is the type of hammer that is many polyps all connected together on one skeleton. I was afraid the necrosis would continue, taking out the whole animal. Now I have clean tissue that is ripped but looks healthy. There is a half inch gap between the two sections that I hope will eventually cover over. The polyps have not opened fully yet but the affected area heads(tentacles?) seem to be trying to cover the open part. I dipped the excised area in an iodine solution and am increasing my iodine dosing slightly for the next week. Beyond that, all I can do is hope and pray that it will recover. It is a beautiful animal.
Phil

 

[Hammer]

If you keep the area between the two heads very clean, without any algea, and they heads connect, they could re-grow over the damaged spot.
Good luck.