Having Problems With Acan

[NickNiz]

Hello all! I'm having trouble with an Acan that I recently purchased... The polyps have receded into the skeleton. I thought this could be because it's only been in the tank for 3 days, but I got another Acan yesterday and it's perfectly fine... It puffed up a little bit when I fed Reef Roids today, but then it went back to looking like this...

Here's the one I'm concerned with.

I have an older green Acan that is doing great and growing more heads..

And here is the Acan that was added yesterday. It's already looking better than the one that was added a few days before.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

How's the lighting/ flow? Has anything been bothering it? Check to make sure there isn't sand/ debris near its mouth or in its polyps as that may inhibit an acan from opening

 

[reeferfoxx]

Need more information..

Salinity
Calcium
Kh
Magnesium
Nitrates
Phosphates

 

[NickNiz]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Salinity is a little low right now at 1.024
Ca is at 500
I'm not sure about KH and Mg
Nitrates are <5
Phosphates also <5

The tank is a 12 gallon nano cube with stock LED lighting and an aftermarket LED strip that has 4 bulbs. Flow comes from the outtake (which has a rotating koralia fitting) and a Koralia Nano 240. Feeding is a combo of Polyp Booster to initiate feeding response and Reef Roids.

Other corals around are a light green Acan and a Frogspawn, as can be seen in this picture.

 

[reeferfoxx]

When keeping corals you have to have the right test kits to give us the information needed to know if something is off.

Phosphates < 5 wouldn't be a correct identifier. We want po4 in the 0.01 - 0.05 range. Anything more may cause issues. Maybe not with the coral itself but with the tank.

Ditch any API test kits you have and look into Salifert. Kh, Mag, Ca, NO3 and PO4 are your most important tests next to salinity.

If Kh drops too low, your coral can be affected. If Ca is too low, some coral may not grow. If Mag is too low, it can throw off Kh and Ca and LPS like Acans can become very unhappy. Those are just some examples.

 

[NickNiz]

When keeping corals you have to have the right test kits to give us the information needed to know if something is off.

Phosphates < 5 wouldn't be a correct identifier. We want po4 in the 0.01 - 0.05 range. Anything more may cause issues. Maybe not with the coral itself but with the tank.

Ditch any API test kits you have and look into Salifert. Kh, Mag, Ca, NO3 and PO4 are your most important tests next to salinity.

If Kh drops too low, your coral can be affected. If Ca is too low, some coral may not grow. If Mag is too low, it can throw off Kh and Ca and LPS like Acans can become very unhappy. Those are just some examples.

Thanks! I did have a KH test kit and it's showing around 10dkh... does that sound right? And the phosphate was matching up with the lightest color on the color chart. Using an API Reef Master kit. I should get a Mg kit but I dose it occasionally between water changes using Red Sea Reef Foundation. And the water changes are done with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt. S0 there shouldn't be any shortage of Mg. Could it be the surrounding corals? I forgot to mention that lights are on for 8hr/day.

 

[Vincent100]

Looks the same as my acans when my hippo tang was nipping at them

 

[Jimbo662]

Do you know what kind of lights was used where you got it from?

 

[NickNiz]

It looked like a Radion or similar light. Possibly an AI hydra 52? More of a bluish tone too...

 

[NickNiz]

Looks the same as my acans when my hippo tang was nipping at them

I wonder if this could be the problem... I picked up a tiny Bicolor Angel the same day as the Acan and I thought I'd be able to keep it for a few months. I did this because I've had great luck with angels not nipping in the past... This was with Coral Beauty, Flame, Bicolor, and Nox Angels. None of the other corals are suffering though and aside from the retraction, there are no parts missing from this particular Acan.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

I wonder if this could be the problem... I picked up a tiny Bicolor Angel the same day as the Acan and I thought I'd be able to keep it for a few months. I did this because I've had great luck with angels not nipping in the past... This was with Coral Beauty, Flame, Bicolor, and Nox Angels. None of the other corals are suffering though and aside from the retraction, there are no parts missing from this particular Acan.

12 gallons is much too small for any dwarf angel

 

[Vincent100]

I never saw bits of flesh missing from my acan they would just shrink up and look like the pic you posted , took me awhile to work out what was going on
Also iv 7 different acans and the hippo would only pick at 3 of them
Before I saw it with my own eyes I had lost 2 other frags that were In perfect health they started to close and never got a chance to open back up as they must of been picked at everyday
Just try to watch the fish , if it is nipping it's gonna be a quick peck so it's hard to see
Good luck

 

[NickNiz]

12 gallons is much too small for any dwarf angel

I know angelfish have a huge bioload even when tiny, but that should be solved with 4gal/week water changes with sand siphoning right? That's what I'm doing... Space shouldn't be much of an issue because it's less than 1" and is happily grazing with plenty of hiding spots... Only planning on keeping it for a few months until I move. It was a $15 deal I couldn't pass up and I didn't have any fish at the time.

I never saw bits of flesh missing from my acan they would just shrink up and look like the pic you posted , took me awhile to work out what was going on
Also iv 7 different acans and the hippo would only pick at 3 of them
Before I saw it with my own eyes I had lost 2 other frags that were In perfect health they started to close and never got a chance to open back up as they must of been picked at everyday
Just try to watch the fish , if it is nipping it's gonna be a quick peck so it's hard to see
Good luck

I'll keep an eye on it. Thank you for the info! Sometimes I see him picking at the Rock the Acans are on but at a closer look the angel is pecking at algae on the Acan skeleton... Idk what to think. I've also got an emerald crab that picks at the coral, but I'm not sure if he's going for the polyp, or some leftover reef Roids. Could an emerald crab be responsible?