Do Goniopora/Hammer Corals Regrow

Hey everyone, I've been reading mixed feedbacks on the Internet and from my LFS. If some (not all) of the tenticles on a Goniopora or the polyps on a Hammer Coral retracts completely and leaves behind its skeleton, is there a chance that it would regrow later on?

 

Hi and welcome to 3reef first of all!
As for your question regarding coral regrowth, once the polyps have died they do not come back, though many times corals will grow and spread over the once dead area.

 

Most LPS unlike SPS has no way of regrowing old dead tissue, goniopora is one that can "reclaim" dead area. Branching hammers or frogspawn or the like have no way to do so. If a polyp dies on the end of a branch well you now have a dead polypless branch. At that point some people will cut the dead branch off.

Happy reefing!

 

Hey guys, thanks for the quick replies.

So once a hammer coral is gone, it's pretty much gone right? When you meant spread over the skeletons, were you referring to other corals?

What about the Goniopora reclaiming the dead area? Not quite sure what that means...

Thanks again!

 

yes if a hammer coral has no polyp or coloration to it and its a skeleton its DEAD as a doorknob...by "spread over skeleton" he means that the once dead and exposed skeleton part of the goniopora will "regrow" once again covering the bare spot....If im not certain goniopora is not that easy to keep for low care tanks anyway and if its dying theres something wrong or the care level is to difficult...I wouldnt dare spend the money on one im to lazy to keep up with sensitive coral

 

as for the goni care i think placement is 80% of is survival. i currently have one thats thriving now and have had it for about 1 and a half years. he is the focal point of my tank. i have noticed that the skelaton is growing or he consantly grows baby polyps toward the bottom. calcium is very important when keeping these corals. welcom and good luck.

 

Thanks! Alright, so Hammer Coral will be dead as a doorknob and the Goniopora, I can expect the half-side that is thriving will eventually spread back to cover the other half-side that is just its skeleton. I'll put some pictures of my tank soon! Thanks for the info everyone.

 

Welcome to the 3reef
I would like to say yes, but for the most part goniopora will continue to die off in most reef aquariums (mine included) as most reefers struggle to keep this species alive for more then 12mths .
A coral better left at sea.
good luck thou.