Acans always die...

[BellaCoop]

Acans are a pain in the butt.. I have luckily had a lot of success with them! I noticed one of the biggest things i did to start making them thrive in my tank is spot feeds. I forget who posted it to me on here. But you get a syringe and Reef Roids. Put just enough water in so it is really thick then with the syringe just let it drop right into the center of all the Mouths you can.

Right After i started doing that they got really puffy and super colorful! I have only been doing it for 3 weeks now and already notice a HUGE difference in size and color.

 

[Poseidon03]

What fish do you have? They do not tollerate being picked at at all...

 

[BellaCoop]

I only have One Tomini tang for algae. I have a swim tank so this tank is only for Corals and needed fish.

Although before i put them in my Reef i had a Lion, 2 Clowns, Blue Tang, Purple Tang and some other little swimmers. The only fish i had an issue with was my lion because he kept perching up on a colony i had.

 

[doughboy]

I had the same issue with first few acans I got. I think I was fiddling with it too much. Just leave it alone, and maybe lower your nitrates. I never fed my acans. went from single head to this.

 

[Chrysus]

Where are you getting the frags from? All from same place?

These ones have been from two different tanks but all at the store I work at. Are Acans particularly sensitive to salinity? One thing I had considered was that their salinity often runs quite low compared to mine, down to even the 1.021 range. I figured that was the case for the Aussie that died immediately, just not a good enough acclimation, but I'm not sure if it explains it for the ones that lasted a couple of/a few weeks.

Now I think it is a little weird that you have 0 phosphate.. How are you achieving that with your setup?? I think you might need to either do your water change every 2 weeks and/or feed more often.

I am only using the API test kit for phosphates, so I don't have the most accurate results, but if it is correct then honestly I'm not sure. The tests I posted were after the tank had not had a water change for a month+. (I do try to do water changes more often than that, the tank had been a bit neglected - acan problems started while I was doing weekly changes and I won't add anything new until I am back on track with them haha)

From my experience they seem to like the cooler water my tank temp is at 76-77° and they love it

I've heard such mixed things about temp, so I don't even know at this point! Good to know though. They have done better in my dads tank which sits around 77-78, although they haven't grown much.

Acans are a pain in the butt.. I have luckily had a lot of success with them! I noticed one of the biggest things i did to start making them thrive in my tank is spot feeds. I forget who posted it to me on here. But you get a syringe and Reef Roids. Put just enough water in so it is really thick then with the syringe just let it drop right into the center of all the Mouths you can.

Right After i started doing that they got really puffy and super colorful! I have only been doing it for 3 weeks now and already notice a HUGE difference in size and color.

Good to know! I'll definitely try that if I do give them a try again.

What fish do you have? They do not tollerate being picked at at all...

- 1x Chalk Basslet
- 1x Yellow Tang (2.5")
- 1x Chrysus Wrasse
- 1x Blue Green Chromis
- 1x Magnifica Firefish
- 1x Stop-Light Cardinal
- 1x Blue Stripe Pipefish
- 1x Ruby Dragonette

I had the same issue with first few acans I got. I think I was fiddling with it too much. Just leave it alone, and maybe lower your nitrates. I never fed my acans. went from single head to this.

That is amazing! How long did it take? I gifted my dad a couple of frags in Nov. 2017 - one still has the three heads it started with, and the other has a couple extra very small heads. I'll work on the nitrates for sure.

 

[doughboy]

That is amazing! How long did it take? I gifted my dad a couple of frags in Nov. 2017 - one still has the three heads it started with, and the other has a couple extra very small heads. I'll work on the nitrates for sure.

8 years. I stopped counting at 50 heads each. It may be these two I got are really hardy ones, as they survived several tank disasters over the years.

 

[homer1475]

Interesting that temps were mentioned. My biocube, which I could grow any acan in ran rather cold at 76 to 78. This larger tank with more equipment, runs in the 79 to 81 range and I cannot keep acans alive regardless of where I put them, or how I feed them.

 

[ReefJake123]

These ones have been from two different tanks but all at the store I work at. Are Acans particularly sensitive to salinity? One thing I had considered was that their salinity often runs quite low compared to mine, down to even the 1.021 range. I figured that was the case for the Aussie that died immediately, just not a good enough acclimation, but I'm not sure if it explains it for the ones that lasted a couple of/a few weeks.



I am only using the API test kit for phosphates, so I don't have the most accurate results, but if it is correct then honestly I'm not sure. The tests I posted were after the tank had not had a water change for a month+. (I do try to do water changes more often than that, the tank had been a bit neglected - acan problems started while I was doing weekly changes and I won't add anything new until I am back on track with them haha)



I've heard such mixed things about temp, so I don't even know at this point! Good to know though. They have done better in my dads tank which sits around 77-78, although they haven't grown much.



Good to know! I'll definitely try that if I do give them a try again.



- 1x Chalk Basslet
- 1x Yellow Tang (2.5")
- 1x Chrysus Wrasse
- 1x Blue Green Chromis
- 1x Magnifica Firefish
- 1x Stop-Light Cardinal
- 1x Blue Stripe Pipefish
- 1x Ruby Dragonette



That is amazing! How long did it take? I gifted my dad a couple of frags in Nov. 2017 - one still has the three heads it started with, and the other has a couple extra very small heads. I'll work on the nitrates for sure.

That’s just from my experience when I used to run higher temps my scans would get all ***** and start to fade out but I brought it back down and they were as happy as can be

 

[DMG Reef]

In my experience, acans do better with more nutrients. When I set up a 2nd tank, I moved some of my LPS into it. Duncan coral, mushrooms, neon leather all did fine in new tank. Acans, euphyllia, and anemone suffered and had to be moved back into 5-yr. old display with higher nutrients. Nutrients in new tank were 2 nitrates and undetectable phosphates. Temperature on both tanks stays a solid 80 degrees, so temp didn't have an effect on my acans.

As mentioned, just my experience FWIW.

 

[ReefJake123]

And here’s the problem it doesn’t matter what any of us say these corals don’t give a **** about our opinion[emoji23] they just are picky for placement [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[bisteclol]

Your lights are way too high for them. I run my 160s at a peak of 55% with the acans on the sandbed

 

[ReefED!]

This was my issue with blastos my favorite coral, too much light and maybe too much flow for me, def putting them in a shaded area helped. When I say shaded I literally mean it too they barely get any light where they add but they are thriving now

Blastos like shade.

Acans I can’t figure out. Even in shaded areas they don’t do well for me

However when my tank was new, I had one super fat and happy for a while

My nitrates and phosphates are low but non-zero so idk.