+C Lo Slice Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I have a colony of acans with about 20 heads that I have had for about 2 months. Their feeder tentacles have ALWAYS been out; never seen them not out. Well I did two 5 gallon water changes this past weekend because I had a fish bite the dust and was seeing the resulting ammonia spike. Since those two WCs, the acans have been completely recessed. I have three other acan frags that are doing just fine, and all other corals and fish seem okay. The color in the colony is still there, but its been three days since their tentacles have been out. I've never seen them like this in the 2 months I've had them. Is this something to be concerned about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmthree Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Have you checked your alkalinity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Have you checked your alkalinity? I have, and it is right where it needs to be. Calcium was high before the water change, though. I normally only do 5 gallon water changes each week, but since both ammonia and calcium were too high, I went ahead and did 10 gallons last weekend (60 gallon tank). And when I say "recessed," it isn't just that their feeding tentacles aren't out; their mouths are literally recessed into the body cavity. It isn't by much, they are still visible, but there is probably a 2mm gap between the mouths and the rims of each head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Bump... can anyone help me? I'm getting concerned about this colony, and it's my favorite thing in the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Here is a picture of the colony I took last night. They're usually twice that size. Please, if anyone can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I've had that happen too. It seemed to be in my situation that my temperature was getting too high for them. My first suspicion was a big swing in alkalinity. What is your alkalinity? How do you test for it? How are you testing for salinity? Do you know if that's a wild colony or tank raised? Sometimes it takes a couple of months for wild colonies to start fading... If it's in high light I would try a bit of a shaded area and see if you get a response. Are you target feeding your acans? At night? with what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 I've had that happen too. It seemed to be in my situation that my temperature was getting too high for them. My first suspicion was a big swing in alkalinity. What is your alkalinity? How do you test for it? How are you testing for salinity?Do you know if that's a wild colony or tank raised? Sometimes it takes a couple of months for wild colonies to start fading... If it's in high light I would try a bit of a shaded area and see if you get a response. Are you target feeding your acans? At night? with what? Temp has been between 78-80, depending on the time of day. I have no idea if it was a wild colony or not; I bout them from a fellow reefer who had it for about a year (I believe). Alkalinity was at 200 ppm when I tested a week ago, which was when my other parameters were skewed (API test kits). SG is consistently at 1.025 and I use a hydrometer. I just moved the colony to the sandbed in indirect lighting two days ago. Still haven't seen any progress. I have tried target feeding twice in the past week, once with frozen mysis cube and once with frozen brine cube. I went to RCA today and spoke with one of the guys there. He thinks it may either be phosphates (I don't have a phosphate test kit), or they're still trying to adjust from that swing in ammonia I had last week. Ammonia is back down after testing this morning before a water change. All I can really do is wait and continue to entice eating, I guess. They still have their color, so things COULD be worse. Thank you for your response. I really do appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Alkalinity is over 11 KH. How do you maintain it that high? Are you dosing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I have one colony of acans that does that exact same thing every few months. It usually stays that way for a few days and then slowly starts to puff back up. It used to really freak me out, but now I've had the colony for two plus years, and it's been doing that the entire time so now I just kinda ignore it and hope it goes away. My water params are always stable when it does this too. Hopefully this is your case as well and nothing to be concerned about. Also, out of all of my acans I only have the one that does this. Is this your case too or does it seem like other LPS are effected as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Alkalinity is over 11 KH. How do you maintain it that high? Are you dosing? Yeah, its actually exactly 11 KH. I dose B-Ionic maybe twice a week. It's always been consistent in that range. That's good right? I'm still fairly new to all this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 IMO, it's good for a SPS dominated tank but not so sure about a mixed reef. It's the high end of the "recommended" range. I shoot for 9 KH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I had an acan colony w/ same issue. I notice there were some funk growing around the acans sponge or algae not sure. I took an extra soft tooth brush and gently brush perimeter of each acan. After a couple of days, it was full again. I probabably stress the heck out of them but it works for me. I guess you can try it as a last resort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+C Lo Slice Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 IMO, it's good for a SPS dominated tank but not so sure about a mixed reef. It's the high end of the "recommended" range. I shoot for 9 KH. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. My tank is mainly LPS dominated, with one very large Superman Monti (about 6"+ in diameter). I had an acan colony w/ same issue. I notice there were some funk growing around the acans sponge or algae not sure. I took an extra soft tooth brush and gently brush perimeter of each acan. After a couple of days, it was full again. I probabably stress the heck out of them but it works for me. I guess you can try it as a last resort. I'll keep that in mind, Long. I tried target feeding again last night with half a frozed brine cube and two of the heads VERY slightly extended tentacles. They probably didn't get any of the food, but it was definitely some progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Do you turn all pumps off for target feeding? I would try some smaller foods like cyclopeeze or coral frenzy; I also use the Tropic Marin LPS pellets and they get gobbled up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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