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Acan't keep Acans


JamesL

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I have been quite busy lately, so my tank has not gotten a lot of attention other than feedings, dosing, and a biweekly water change. Everything is doing great in the tank ... everything but my Acans :D

I have lost this one, and at first I just blamed it on random coral loss (it didn't look the hottest when it arrive via mail):

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And now this one is is not as inflated any more, and has become a more translucent red:

IMG_1854.JPG

And a frag from Mark is not fairing too well either :D

The only one looking OK is:

IMG_1849.JPG

(BTW, the above pictures are all from about a month ago)

They have always been on the sand, under 300W total MH light (2 150W lights).

I don't think it is light shock, as the rest of my corals are doing great. In fact I have a favia that is going bonkers on expansion. But just to be safe, I moved the Acan's to a shadier spot. They had been eating fine when I first got them. Now, I think only the brown/green one is still eating.

Am I missing something in keeping these? Or are these going to be a coral I just can't keep for some odd reason? (In I previous tank I could not keep xenia ... yet this tank it is growing fine).

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I am still fighting the same thing... I do a lot of spot feeding with mysis shrimp but still not flourishing... but sustaining... would like to hear others experience and success...

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I will have to check my general parameters tonight.

Low MG levels can also cause acans to die off.

Wouldn't this affect other LPS also? (just asking as a point of curiosity).

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I think I see something pink growing on the skeleton of your frags. I always chalked that up to coraline algae, but one of the acan collectors on another forum that I frequent claims that it's a red flag. The guy was pretty adamant that it's parasitic (I don't know if that's a guess or if there's at least anecdotal evidence to support that claim).

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I think I see something pink growing on the skeleton of your frags. I always chalked that up to coraline algae, but one of the acan collectors on another forum that I frequent claims that it's a red flag. The guy was pretty adamant that it's parasitic (I don't know if that's a guess or if there's at least anecdotal evidence to support that claim).

Hmm.. I was wondering about that. I still have that frag skeleton in the tank, but I think I might take it out now.

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I hate to say it, but I don't spot feed mine, don't feed the tank anymore other than what's in the RF system and mine are puffy and fine. In fact, one that had receeded before I got it has new growth. I can't say what I'm doing to them other than leaving them be.

They are on the sandbed of my 90g 500W of total 14K MH.

I'm open to hosting some to see what I get.

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I don't have a MG test kit, will order one (need to get a few other things anyways).

And thanks reef_pug for the offer, but I might want to hang on to them for a while more. If I have some parasite/virus/whatever, don't want to spread it to your beautiful colonies.

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seahorse-

I have a Mg test kit and I'll be in the Oak Hill/moPac/71 area today if you want to meet up.

Also, if you order stuff online, LMK as I might want to pickup an item or two.

Sure, that would be great. Anyplace in particular you will be in that area?

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Sorry if I didn't give much evidence to back up my post last night. Not sure if it's kosher to post links to other forums here, but this thread has a tiny bit of anecdotal info about the pink stuff growing on LPS skeletons. It's not the thread I was thinking of when I posted, but I couldn't find the other one for the life of me.

Some people over there are recommending an interceptor treatment as a cure-all for various acan problems, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I'm not really fond of trying things without at least a sound reasoning as to why it should be done, so these kind of remedies should be taken with a grain of salt IMO. The last thing I'd like is to start a blackmarket for pet meds in Austin. One of the coral dips might be more practical.

Honestly, I think the 2nd and 3rd frags look fine. If the loss of solid red color has you bummed, I've had rainbow acans turn totally red when put in higher light. IME, some acans just tend to morph if their lighting changes even slightly, so I pretty much expect my acans to change their colors after I add them to the tank.

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Interesting read, but no real conclusions :)

Well, I have a MG test kit (from reef_pug) that I am gonna use tonight. Will report back later.

BTW, the picture of the red acan was pre-demise. I will try and take a current picture tonight.

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Ok, the results are in:

Mg: 1125 ppm

Ca: 450 ppm

Alk: 3 meq/L

pH: 8.2

Amm: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 20 ppm

So while not super low, my Mg is a bit low. The bottle of Mg I have been dosing with suggests a range between 1290 and 1320 ppm.

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Were you able to get your Acans back to its glory. I'm see to be having the same issue w/a few of my colonies. Everything else looks great...SPS, other LPS and few softies (zoas and few mushrooms). Fish and corals are growing....maybe my Mg is a bit high?....I don't know, all I know is some Acan colonies are not happy.

Here are my water parameters:

KH 9

Ca 475+

Mg 1450

PO4 .03

PH 8.1

Temp 80.3

Ammonia 0

NO3 0 Non-existence

NO2 0

SG 35 ppt/1.026

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Well, I haven't lost my last colony. And my piece from Mark looks like it might still have flesh on it, though it is not enough to inflate.

I have been dosing Mg, and will test again later this week.

Your Mg looks to be about right.

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