Alpha Aquaculture
Designer Clownfish Hatchery
Hello Reef2Reef!
I have been in the acan game now for a year and a half. I know through personal experiences and the stories of others that they are not as easy to keep as one might suggest. I have heard stories of 'the phantom acan pest' with pictures of tiny black dots but nothing real concrete. The usual course of action is Interceptor... but what's really going on? What is eating your acans? Why are they dying or looking stressed?
Could it be a bacterial disease? Very well might be... look for whitish slime begining to cover polyps that don't extend. It seems to me that bacterial diseases don't just happen. Something or some factor injures the flesh and then the bacteria invades the wound. One time I put a powerhead above an acan for a week or so (I actually never even turned it on). The fact that the middle of the colony was shaded caused the polyps to stop extending in that specific area. I removed the shade, full light again. I fed and fed and dipped in iodine next melafix but could not get the once shaded portion to extend its polyps. The bacterial disease set in and I could not stop it. I have spoken with the top acan people in the country who get their advice from Australia and they told me that the solution is to frag away the dead and dying portions and introduce the healthy portions to higher flow. So I did that, but I didn't cut away enough so it kept spreading. If something causes the onset of a bacterial disease, frag it right away and don't be shy. Remove any unhealthy portions to save the polyps that extend properly. Another time I accidentally dropped a colony on its top and damaged some tissue... a bacterial disease set in and I lost the colony. If you are fragging your acan, dip the fragged portions in a dip like TMPCC or Melafix to prevent the onset of a bacterial infection.
What if the acan has been unmoved and no factors have been changed to make you think you have stressed it? Could there be a pest eating it? Could there be a pest stressing it? If you feed it, could there be a pest eating the food withing the acan? Is this pest the reason for your onset of bacterial disease?
I had one acan colony that wasn't dying but some weeks would look stressed. The polyps on the edges were whitish but not the type of white where they weren't getting enough light. They were a stressed white look that raised a red flag. No bacterial disease but why were the polyps looking stressed? The rest of the acan was not extending properly, maybe a little more than halfway. When this happens my usual action is to make sure I feed that acan a lil more than usual (I usually target feed every polyp every other night). So I heavily feed the acan for a while and it begins to look better. Then I go back to my normal routine and it seems to be getting worse. Was it the light, no enough or too much? Or my tank chemistry or flow? Other acans around it were growing like crazy. If it were a condition like that shouldn't it just bleach out and die? I had it for 6+ months and its still with me. I was concerned. Something was happening.
One time I saw a worm living in the under skeleton of this same acan. I only saw it once or twice. I barely saw two or three millimeters of it. I never saw it completely come out to look for food. I never thought too much into it until now. I have read that bristleworms don't eat corals. They do! They eat uneaten food lying around the tank. They are carnivores for sure. I have seen bristleworms inside the mouths of corals looking for food. I remember thinking was the coral eating the bristleworm or the bristleworm eating the coral? This happened in a tank I have that I rarely feed. When there is no food left in the ecosystem, corals become the food. If you have a high population of bristleworms even regular feedings might not be enough and they will have to resort to eating the flesh of your sessile invertebrates. Corals cannot escape them. Thats why I keep my live rock seperate from my coral. Still its nearly impossible to keep all bristleworms out of your corals domain. Fish can control this issue quite well but fish also steal your corals food. I don't keep fish and it makes bristleworm control much more difficult.
I had some calurpa type algae growing of the undersides of a few acan colonies recently and I decided I needed to saw it off so the roots would not grow back. One of the acans that had it was the one I have been discussing with the worm. I removed the acan and took it to my Inland saw. After a few cuts I was reminded of this worm and finally got a good look at it. I sawed it in half! It was half out of its home and then went back in... I missed my opportunity! So now my sawing session became a mission to get rid of this worm. I sawed up the acan until I was able to remove the two pieces of the one worm. It was HUGE! It had BIG JAWS!. This was no algae eater or normal bristleworm. Why hadn't I seen it come out to eat uneaten food lying around the tank like the other bristleworms? Not once did I see it going for a piece of food. It seemed to be living inside the acan and gaining all its food from within the acan. Was this the reason why this particular acan was never quite as happy as all the others? It seems to me that it was eating the acan from within the skeleton or coming out in moments of absolutely no light to feed on the baby and edge polyps. When I fed the acan more, it would have more food to eat... I'm sure acan flesh was getting a little boring and the Rod's food mix I was giving it was appealing. If I didn't target feed that acan so much would the worm have eaten the entire colony and moved on to the next? Would it have eaten so much of it that a bacterial disease would have set in and finished it off? A lot of people have acans that have died for no reason. If you did have this worm you probably wouldn't have seen it. One thing is for certain... My acan was stressed for many months and there was an 8" worm living within it with huge jaws!
So this was my story that I was planning on typing up for everyone... until last night. Another potential acan pest revealed its face.
One of my most beautiful acans I started with 3 polyps and within 5 months turned it into 12. It was doing good but recently has begun looking stressed. It was too small to have an 8" worm living inside it. It was surrounded by small frags as well so no 8"ers anywhere around it. Again I thought about my tank conditions, light, chemistry, flow. I feed it as much as it will eat so its not looking unhealthy from lack of food. Well my plan last night was to cut it up into three portions and place them in different spots around the tank to increase the chances that I could save it. After I sawed it up I placed the frags in a small container with some Melafix to help them heal up. Melafix really does a number on small worms and flatworms. When I dipped it I noticed many small worms squirming around obviously dying from the dip. I have seen these worms around my tank. Sometimes they swim and when they do they look white and squirm through the water very quickly. There are many of them. My corals frags are mostly on plugs that are glued to 1/8" clear acrylic. I can see through the acrylic and can count many many of these worms living between the glass and acrylic. I never thought anything of them. I have read much about beneficial worms and so I naturally thought that because they are small, 1-2 cm, they are harmless. Then while the acan frags were being dipped and I stared at them I noticed one of these worms halfway inside one of the baby polyps of the acan. Oh no! Was this the reason why this acan was going downhill after months of growth? I pulled out my camera and snapped some pictures. Before putting these frags back into my tank, I pulled the worm out of the polyp and it seemed to be attached to the inside because it did not come out easily, some flesh/slime came with it. For some reason I still feel like these worms might not be bad but the evidence is irrefutable. It was inside the polyp of my stressed acan.
First here is the 8" worm (and the acan he was living in)
I have been in the acan game now for a year and a half. I know through personal experiences and the stories of others that they are not as easy to keep as one might suggest. I have heard stories of 'the phantom acan pest' with pictures of tiny black dots but nothing real concrete. The usual course of action is Interceptor... but what's really going on? What is eating your acans? Why are they dying or looking stressed?
Could it be a bacterial disease? Very well might be... look for whitish slime begining to cover polyps that don't extend. It seems to me that bacterial diseases don't just happen. Something or some factor injures the flesh and then the bacteria invades the wound. One time I put a powerhead above an acan for a week or so (I actually never even turned it on). The fact that the middle of the colony was shaded caused the polyps to stop extending in that specific area. I removed the shade, full light again. I fed and fed and dipped in iodine next melafix but could not get the once shaded portion to extend its polyps. The bacterial disease set in and I could not stop it. I have spoken with the top acan people in the country who get their advice from Australia and they told me that the solution is to frag away the dead and dying portions and introduce the healthy portions to higher flow. So I did that, but I didn't cut away enough so it kept spreading. If something causes the onset of a bacterial disease, frag it right away and don't be shy. Remove any unhealthy portions to save the polyps that extend properly. Another time I accidentally dropped a colony on its top and damaged some tissue... a bacterial disease set in and I lost the colony. If you are fragging your acan, dip the fragged portions in a dip like TMPCC or Melafix to prevent the onset of a bacterial infection.
What if the acan has been unmoved and no factors have been changed to make you think you have stressed it? Could there be a pest eating it? Could there be a pest stressing it? If you feed it, could there be a pest eating the food withing the acan? Is this pest the reason for your onset of bacterial disease?
I had one acan colony that wasn't dying but some weeks would look stressed. The polyps on the edges were whitish but not the type of white where they weren't getting enough light. They were a stressed white look that raised a red flag. No bacterial disease but why were the polyps looking stressed? The rest of the acan was not extending properly, maybe a little more than halfway. When this happens my usual action is to make sure I feed that acan a lil more than usual (I usually target feed every polyp every other night). So I heavily feed the acan for a while and it begins to look better. Then I go back to my normal routine and it seems to be getting worse. Was it the light, no enough or too much? Or my tank chemistry or flow? Other acans around it were growing like crazy. If it were a condition like that shouldn't it just bleach out and die? I had it for 6+ months and its still with me. I was concerned. Something was happening.
One time I saw a worm living in the under skeleton of this same acan. I only saw it once or twice. I barely saw two or three millimeters of it. I never saw it completely come out to look for food. I never thought too much into it until now. I have read that bristleworms don't eat corals. They do! They eat uneaten food lying around the tank. They are carnivores for sure. I have seen bristleworms inside the mouths of corals looking for food. I remember thinking was the coral eating the bristleworm or the bristleworm eating the coral? This happened in a tank I have that I rarely feed. When there is no food left in the ecosystem, corals become the food. If you have a high population of bristleworms even regular feedings might not be enough and they will have to resort to eating the flesh of your sessile invertebrates. Corals cannot escape them. Thats why I keep my live rock seperate from my coral. Still its nearly impossible to keep all bristleworms out of your corals domain. Fish can control this issue quite well but fish also steal your corals food. I don't keep fish and it makes bristleworm control much more difficult.
I had some calurpa type algae growing of the undersides of a few acan colonies recently and I decided I needed to saw it off so the roots would not grow back. One of the acans that had it was the one I have been discussing with the worm. I removed the acan and took it to my Inland saw. After a few cuts I was reminded of this worm and finally got a good look at it. I sawed it in half! It was half out of its home and then went back in... I missed my opportunity! So now my sawing session became a mission to get rid of this worm. I sawed up the acan until I was able to remove the two pieces of the one worm. It was HUGE! It had BIG JAWS!. This was no algae eater or normal bristleworm. Why hadn't I seen it come out to eat uneaten food lying around the tank like the other bristleworms? Not once did I see it going for a piece of food. It seemed to be living inside the acan and gaining all its food from within the acan. Was this the reason why this particular acan was never quite as happy as all the others? It seems to me that it was eating the acan from within the skeleton or coming out in moments of absolutely no light to feed on the baby and edge polyps. When I fed the acan more, it would have more food to eat... I'm sure acan flesh was getting a little boring and the Rod's food mix I was giving it was appealing. If I didn't target feed that acan so much would the worm have eaten the entire colony and moved on to the next? Would it have eaten so much of it that a bacterial disease would have set in and finished it off? A lot of people have acans that have died for no reason. If you did have this worm you probably wouldn't have seen it. One thing is for certain... My acan was stressed for many months and there was an 8" worm living within it with huge jaws!
So this was my story that I was planning on typing up for everyone... until last night. Another potential acan pest revealed its face.
One of my most beautiful acans I started with 3 polyps and within 5 months turned it into 12. It was doing good but recently has begun looking stressed. It was too small to have an 8" worm living inside it. It was surrounded by small frags as well so no 8"ers anywhere around it. Again I thought about my tank conditions, light, chemistry, flow. I feed it as much as it will eat so its not looking unhealthy from lack of food. Well my plan last night was to cut it up into three portions and place them in different spots around the tank to increase the chances that I could save it. After I sawed it up I placed the frags in a small container with some Melafix to help them heal up. Melafix really does a number on small worms and flatworms. When I dipped it I noticed many small worms squirming around obviously dying from the dip. I have seen these worms around my tank. Sometimes they swim and when they do they look white and squirm through the water very quickly. There are many of them. My corals frags are mostly on plugs that are glued to 1/8" clear acrylic. I can see through the acrylic and can count many many of these worms living between the glass and acrylic. I never thought anything of them. I have read much about beneficial worms and so I naturally thought that because they are small, 1-2 cm, they are harmless. Then while the acan frags were being dipped and I stared at them I noticed one of these worms halfway inside one of the baby polyps of the acan. Oh no! Was this the reason why this acan was going downhill after months of growth? I pulled out my camera and snapped some pictures. Before putting these frags back into my tank, I pulled the worm out of the polyp and it seemed to be attached to the inside because it did not come out easily, some flesh/slime came with it. For some reason I still feel like these worms might not be bad but the evidence is irrefutable. It was inside the polyp of my stressed acan.
First here is the 8" worm (and the acan he was living in)
