Somewhat new please help

[Cotereef]

Hi everyone my names Daniel iv been in this hobby for just over a year, I could really use some help my local fish store kinda sucks and dosent help with much. I have had my tank for just over a year and I've been noticing my hammer coral has some bite marks/holes in the stem of it, what could be doing this ?!

[mcgyvr]

Looks like you posted the wrong pic. Thats not a hammer coral..

Looks like a caulastrea furcata (Candy Cane/Trumpet coral)

[Sk8r]

We can't guess without knowing what you have in your tank, how long you've had the coral, what your lighting is, what your water chemistry numbers are, etc. There's a sticky up top called 'setting up' that may help you come up with some of these.

[Cotereef]

Oh sorry I have a hammer coral as well.. I get the names mixed up a lot but that is the correct picture.

[Xandernfs]

What have you tested lately and what are your water parameters?

[Cotereef]

my ph is 8.4, ammonia is 0 ppm, nitrite is 0 ppm, nitrate is 5.0 ppm and my salinity is 1.026. the tank is 30 gallons and my temp is 76f.

[Cotereef]

for lighting i have 165 w dimmable mars aqua led

[stelliofleondis]

Looks like a stem broke off not sure what you mean?

[Sk8r]

If you mean the stony base, (old coral) you are likely seeing the erosion of old coral by active seawater, which does go on constantly. The parameters in my sig line supply calcium to corals which use it via kalk in the topoff water. If you are not supplementing calcium AND have stony coral in your tank, you may see snail shells dissolve on living snails.