My acans suddenly don’t look so good

[glb]

My acan colonies have been doing well and growing for 3-4 months. The past few days they’ve been closed up. They’re usually very puffy. The color is good but something is wrong. I changed a few gallons yesterday (it’s a 40g tank) but that didn’t help. I threw in some new carbon today. So far I’ve checked SG (1.024), and alk is 9.9. Both are normal for the tank. I noticed one of my yellow gobies sitting on one of the colonies but other than that nothing seems amiss. My other corals (torch, mushroom) and rock anemones look totally fine. My acans are my favorite and I’m very worried about them! I’ll test all the other parameters and post soon. I don’t know how serious this is but need help!

 

[King Turkey]

hum nitrate? phosphate levels? do you have any algae? when is the last time you fed em?

 

[glb]

hum nitrate? phosphate levels? do you have any algae? when is the last time you fed em?

Nitrate is always 5 or below. Phosphates were high (due to an accidental overdose, I have to dose to keep it from zeroing out) with no effect a month ago and are probably about 0.06. I have a leafy algae growing on some of the rocks and a little bubble algae but nothing too bad. I fed them reef roids last week.

 

[glb]

There was some algae on the back glass I scraped off a few days ago. It was typical green algae that grows on the glass. But overall the tank doesn’t have that much.

 

[glb]

Ps now that the lights are out, the feeder tentacles are out too.

 

[King Turkey]

do you dose any trace elements? what sorta salt do you use just wondering? they might be getting to much light.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Might be getting irritated by sand. Also appears to be a slight case of Cyano. Blow gently with turkey baster and elevate off sand a little. Additionally- Moderate light and flow and feed 2X per week

 

[King Turkey]

Ps now that the lights are out, the feeder tentacles are out too.

nice that's the best/ funnest time to feed them I think. give it a go and get em some food rely let them have a good meal turn off pumps for a good 30 min to hour and have a fun time wating em.

 

[thewackyreefer]

Wow, what salt are you using that your alk is 9.9?

 

[Jared's Little Reef]

Probably red sea coral pro salt

 

[King Turkey]

hummm. it is hard to say could be a light issue. what light you using? how far are they from the lighting?

 

[K95ranger]

I had the same issue with one of my acan colonies and thought my shrimp might be iritating it. I fed it some reef roids and a few days later it was back to normal. It came out of nowhere too.

 

[BayouReefer]

Try spot feeding some reef roids before you start making a bunch of changes

 

[glb]

Wow, what salt are you using that your alk is 9.9?

I use regular Instant Ocean and dose soda ash. It helps with the ph to keep the alk a little higher.

 

[glb]

do you dose any trace elements? what sorta salt do you use just wondering? they might be getting to much light.

I don’t dose trace elements. Instant Ocean regular salt is what I’ve always used without a problem. They are under an ATI 4-bulb fixture. Maybe the lights need to be changed? I’ll check to see.

 

[glb]

Might be getting irritated by sand. Also appears to be a slight case of Cyano. Blow gently with turkey baster and elevate off sand a little. Additionally- Moderate light and flow and feed 2X per week

Thanks! I’ll blow the sand off. I have a diamond goby that loves to dig caves close to where they are!

 

[glb]

Wow, what salt are you using that your alk is 9.9?

What alk do you suggest for an LPS tank?

 

[AdamB]

Do you have any hermits or emerald crabs in your tank?

 

[glb]

hummm. it is hard to say could be a light issue. what light you using? how far are they from the lighting?

I have an ATI 4-bulb fixture that’s about 7-8” above the tank (40g breeder) and they’re sitting in the sand.

 

[AdamB]

What alk do you suggest for an LPS tank?

My alk is around 9 and my acans have grown great.