Does my Acan have a chance?

[jdnumis]

My Acan has been like this for almost a month(well it looks a little less pink). Can anyone tell me how to nurse this back. When I got it, it was very healthy and open. Has been like this for a while.

 

[thesauce]

Acans are incredibly resiliant. How are your other corals? Parameters? If those are in check, spot feed it.

 

[pauliwalnuts]

I would love challange to bring them back to life. :splitspin

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi
It possibly does but whatever is "bothering" it has to be identified ... what are your water parameters presently:

KH
pH
Ca
Mg
..... etc...

Do you perform water changes?
What is the livestock you keep and what and how frequently do do you feed it?

Please help us to help you.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno

 

[rookie07]

do you have any peppermint shrimp in the tank?

 

[jdnumis]

I have fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp. My parameters are PH 8.3 Calcium 440 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrate/Nitrite 0 Phosphates 0

Don't know Kh or Mag

Livestock hippo tang, corris wrasse, clown, chromis, decorative fire fish, algae blenny, flame angel,

I have a bunch of turbos and hermits

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Do you have test kits for Alkalinity and Magnesium...?? You should have these gochi. No if, and or buts about it. Then test for alk... and mag. Your acan is telling you something by decreasing in size and color. Also shrimp become very aggressive and pull food right out of the mouths. You should spot feed when the lights go out to keep them somewhat nurished untill you find out whats wrong with your tank and why they are acting this way.

 

[thesauce]

Also you can put a 'feeding bell' over it to make sure it gets those tentacles out and eats. Cut off the top of a soda bottle and place it over coral. Then squirt a little bit of food at the coral and wait ten minutes or so then give it the majority of the food. It will be putting out the feeders by then.

What are your other corals telling you? I often use my most sensitive corals as bioindicators to give me a good idea of where to look first for parameters.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

'feeding bell'

i often use my most sensitive corals as bioindicators to give me a good idea of where to look first for parameters.

++++1

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi
A lot of good info has been given to you in the other posts ... anyway KH is paramount for a good water chemistry and thus has to be checked or should be checked ...

Many things can be causing the problem ... I would not be surprised if KH was one of them ... KH values over 9 dKH can lead corals to react as your Acanthastrea is and even lead them to death ... this said cases can exist of corals adapting to such high levels of KH but those are not the rule ... so far ... (nature changes and has done so in response to many things like external factors of environment change like global warming, Oxigen level change... etc)... so please check KH and since Magnesium plays a very important role in balancing the chemistry of the water, it also is very important to check, especially when something "fishy" is going on like the case of your Acanthastrea ...

Should KH and Mg be at good levels, then at least we can rule them out of the possible causes that are "bothering" your Acanthastrea and thus allow to concentrate in others until finding the real causes, hopefully before the Acanthasrea "pays the terminal price":dead1:

Here is some more about KH and MG and Water Chemistry that might help you further ... articles by specialist Randy Holmes-Farley

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2002/chemistry.htm

KH conversion table
http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Magnesium
Magnesium's primary importance is its interaction with the calcium and alkalinity balance in reef aquaria. Seawater and reef aquarium water are always supersaturated with calcium carbonate. That is, the solution's calcium and carbonate levels exceed the amount that the water can hold at equilibrium. How can that be? Magnesium is a big part of the answer. Whenever calcium carbonate begins to precipitate, magnesium binds to the growing surface of the calcium carbonate crystals. The magnesium effectively clogs the crystals' surface so that they no longer look like calcium carbonate, making them unable to attract more calcium and carbonate, so the precipitation stops. Without the magnesium, the abiotic (nonbiological) precipitation of calcium carbonate would likely increase enough to prohibit the maintenance of calcium and alkalinity at natural levels.

and there is more but I do not want to confuse you :splitspin :Yikes: with loads of info, just want to help :tongue1:

Cheers
Pedro Nuno

 

[solracju]

just tagging along

 

[jdnumis]

Thank you all for the info, I will get those kits ASAP. Another fellow reefer is nursing the Acan for me. Thank you FunkMaster.

 

[MGR201]

My Acan has been like this for almost a month(well it looks a little less pink). Can anyone tell me how to nurse this back. When I got it, it was very healthy and open. Has been like this for a while.

My first guess is that the Alkalinity is too high as others have suggested. You should make sure that it is about dKh 8 and that your magnesium level is 1200-1500. If a partial water change and ensuring correct water parameters do not solve the problem, your coral may be getting picked at by the Flame Angel. I have a Flame Angel in my BioCube 29 and he sometimes becomes fixated on munching away at the LPS (such as favia and acan colonies). Repositioning the pieces seemed to stop this behavior (along with ensuring that the angel has plenty of other grazing opportunities on rocks)

 

[rookie07]

Flame angel or blenny( I know this seems crazy, but I have seen something similar before)