Acantho very damaged

[MrDeathKills]

So some background first. I saw this acantho from a local reefer/seller a few months ago. I asked about and he said he isn’t selling right now because it got damaged at a show. Fast forward 3-4 months later he is moving. He posts about it for $150 with the first picture saying its still damaged but wants to move it out since he is moving houses. So my thought was it was healed well. Me not realizing that the dark parts in the folds is the skeleton still completely poking through the flesh.

I dipped him as soon as I got him and thats how i realized how damaged it was. The 3rd picture is the coral in my tank after dipping. I deiced to blast him with 10ml of AB+ to see how it would react and he had a feeding response. Picture 5 is my tank lights at moon phase he looks nice and happy.

1. What can I do for this guy to help him on his journey of healing?

2. I feel cheated on this deal. I don’t think he explained well enough how damaged it was. He took down the post saying that it was still damaged but is getting “nice, fat and healthy”. Him taking down posts after payment is a standard thing for him so it wasn’t unusual that he did so.

Unfortunately when I went to pick it up I had my special needs son so it was a grab and dash. I didn’t get to see it till i got home. I don’t know what I should do.

 

[blaxsun]

1. Stable water parameters, direct feeding with Reef Roids, AB+, etc.
2. I don't know if there's a lot you can do other than ask for a refund (full or partial).

 

[MrDeathKills]

1. Stable water parameters, direct feeding with Reef Roids, AB+, etc.
2. I don't know if there's a lot you can do other than ask for a refund (full or partial).

Tomorrow i planned on feeding benepets to everyone and feeding some big shrimp to my anemones/clean up crew. Then in the afternoon feeding brine/mysis/cycolopods. Would it be okay to hit him with the benepets and the frozen food mixture?

 

[blaxsun]

Tomorrow i planned on feeding benepets to everyone and feeding some big shrimp to my anemones/clean up crew. Then in the afternoon feeding brine/mysis/cycolopods. Would it be okay to hit him with the benepets and the frozen food mixture?

It's worth a shot (probably start with a smaller amount).

 

[MrDeathKills]

It's worth a shot (probably start with a smaller amount)

I will stick to small amounts for both.

 

[Hypan]

If it still accepts food then I’d be on a regular feeding schedule with it. It’s likely going to be a long long road to recovery with this one. I wouldn't expect much more polyp extension that it has in the first pic with that kind of damage. Once their skeleton gets exposed they can sometimes inflate and heal it back pretty quick overnight if it’s just a couple holes. But once algae and stuff start to take hold it really slows things way down.

 

[MrDeathKills]

If it still accepts food then I’d be on a regular feeding schedule with it. It’s likely going to be a long long road to recovery with this one. I wouldn't expect much more polyp extension that it has in the first pic with that kind of damage. Once their skeleton gets exposed they can sometimes inflate and heal it back pretty quick overnight if it’s just a couple holes. But once algae and stuff start to take hold it really slows things way down.

Should I be feeding it every 2 days? Or how often would you suggest?

What are good ways to keep algae and such from setting in? My clean up crew is pretty dam good at eating any sort of algae thats ever been in the tank.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I just delt with this. By LFS had an acantho that was failing to thrive there in the shop. Owner sent it home with me to see if I can rehab it. Despite a 10 week Cipro treatment as well as a cocktail of other goodies, It would get better and worse and better and worse, I just had to remove it from the frag tank over the weekend.

If I was to do this again I would not be feeding it. Even small mysis. It would get worse after eating. That was an additional stress it didn't need.

 

[MrDeathKills]

I just delt with this. By LFS had an acantho that was failing to thrive there in the shop. Owner sent it home with me to see if I can rehab it. Despite a 10 week Cipro treatment as well as a cocktail of other goodies, It would get better and worse and better and worse, I just had to remove it from the frag tank over the weekend.

If I was to do this again I would not be feeding it. Even small mysis. It would get worse after eating. That was an additional stress it didn't need.

So you wouldn’t feed anything at all? No benepets or reef roids ether? Would AB+ still be okay? I will do a 2 week cycle of feeding and if it does get worse then I will stop feeding it entirely.

 

[MrDeathKills]

Bump to see if anyone else has anything to add.

 

[Reefer/0]

I only just got into the hobby last year but in my experience, I saved a trachy from almost skeleton(I almost killed a perfectly healthy trachy when I first got it and then saved it from near-death:.)) by putting it in low light, very low flow on the bottom of the tank, essentially forgetting about it and not moving it unless cleaning the sand. Give it some time to acclimate with just the basic building blocks(being water params, flow, light). Bigger pieces of food is a lot less important for me when trachys are damaged, as it takes way more energy to digest bigger particulates. But if you’d like to feed, I would suggest small particulates such as powder foods in very small amounts(if direct feeding), or just by letting it catch food by itself if you broadcast your tank. Of course, your trachy looks a lot better than mine at it’s worse so it could probably do with pellets and meaty foods, but I usually go for the safer, slow and steady option. That’s my experience but you might want to listen to more experienced reefers because I’m still new to the hobby All the best with your trachy!