Acan/anemone/chalice deflated

reefrider777 · Nov 29, 2015

My acans, anemones, and chalices are all deflated. They have been deflated for a few days. I did a water change yesterday and checked parameters and my alk is low. It was 7dkh last night and i started buffering and this morning it is up to 7.5dkh. Do you think this is the reason for my deflation?

Ca 385
Mg 1305
ph 8

Shep · Nov 29, 2015

Hmm not sure, [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

DeniseAndy · Nov 29, 2015

Have you increased your flow or cleaned a powerhead? Accidentally bumped a powerhead? Are they receeding or just deflated? Any fish in the tank?

LetItReef · Nov 29, 2015

Check Phosphate levels too.

redfishbluefish · Nov 29, 2015

reefrider777 said:
........ Do you think this is the reason for my deflation?

No! I'd be looking at water quality....nitrates and phosphates and anything else. Are you running carbon?

Also, did anything die recently?

reefrider777 · Nov 29, 2015

Salifert NO3 and PO4 are 0ppm. I am going to add some carbon. Nothing has died. I have a melanaris wrasse, starry blenny, 2 occ clown. Water has no odor. Water temp 78.7

DeniseAndy · Nov 29, 2015

Try the feeding method of using a 2liter cut to cover the coral and give some food. See if they begin to puff up. If they do not respond after 1/2 hour in no flow environment with food, may be water issue. If do respond, someone nipping or just plain bothering them, fish too close, clowns trying to host, blenny sitting on them, flow too heavy or changed recently, or hungry.

reefrider777 · Nov 29, 2015

DeniseAndy said:
Try the feeding method of using a 2liter cut to cover the coral and give some food. See if they begin to puff up. If they do not respond after 1/2 hour in no flow environment with food, may be water issue. If do respond, someone nipping or just plain bothering them, fish too close, clowns trying to host, blenny sitting on them, flow too heavy or changed recently, or hungry.

Thanks. I will try that and let you know what happens!

reefrider777 · Nov 29, 2015

DeniseAndy said:
Have you increased your flow or cleaned a powerhead? Accidentally bumped a powerhead? Are they receeding or just deflated? Any fish in the tank?

I did clean my gyre and skimmer yesterday, but I noticed this before they were cleaned.

reefrider777 · Nov 29, 2015

No response to food...

DeniseAndy · Nov 30, 2015

Not good on the no response. However, first times doing it they will not always respond. Did they usually open in the day or have feeding response at night? By that I mean, my scolys will swell during the day, but at night they get all the tentacles out and puff from the middle looking for food.

If they are more of night feeders, try again after lights out. They may have been mad the first try. If they are not responding to food after a few tries at night, something else is bothering them that seems to point to water. Your Alk should not have been the issue with that small of a change.

reefrider777 · Nov 30, 2015

DeniseAndy said:
Not good on the no response. However, first times doing it they will not always respond. Did they usually open in the day or have feeding response at night? By that I mean, my scolys will swell during the day, but at night they get all the tentacles out and puff from the middle looking for food.

If they are more of night feeders, try again after lights out. They may have been mad the first try. If they are not responding to food after a few tries at night, something else is bothering them that seems to point to water. Your Alk should not have been the issue with that small of a change.

Thanks for checking back on this post. I woke up during the night to check on them and they had not changed. I guess I will do another water change this afternoon. I checked the parameters and all are acceptable. Skimmer isn't going crazy. I just don't get it...

DeniseAndy · Nov 30, 2015

Could be too clean. With Nitrate 0 and phosphate 0, your water does not have the junk that these guys like to eat. Try feeding the anemone directly. Put food onto its tentacles and let it bring to mouth. Use mysis or anything really.

For the acans and chalice, wait till no lights and then place small bits of food over the mouths with no flow on. See what they do.

reefrider777 · Nov 30, 2015

So I tested PO4 with Salifert 0.00ppm and I tried it again using high resolution and 0.00pm. I tested with Red Sea and it wasn't completely yellow at 0ppm. I ordered a Hanna HI713 PO4 low res checker today.
I did notice a little bit of Dino starting on a rock on that side of the tank. Could that be the culprit? I am on my way to walmart to but a plastic tote that can dip it in some H2O2. It is only on that rock. I just added that rock about 2 months ago as I needed more room for some new frags. What do you think?

DeniseAndy · Nov 30, 2015

Need some nitrates and phosphates increased a bit. 0 is too clean for most lps.

reefrider777 · Nov 30, 2015

how do i increase without having an algae outbreak?

DeniseAndy · Dec 1, 2015

If we knew that, we would all be algae free. Haha! I would just feed a bit extra each time. Maybe try to spot feed those guys twice a week at least. I know others use a dosing method and hopefully they can chime in.

reefrider777 · Dec 5, 2015

So as I have sat here and pondered some things here is what I remember doing. A couple weeks back I change an old poly filter with a new one. When I opened the new one it was yellowish discolored and it felt kind of resiny and not like a filter mesh. I wonder if changing this caused something foul in my tank. Today I also cleaned the powerhead I use to make saltwater and pump into my tank. The impeller was in rough shape and had some black goop with inside the housing. I will probably order a new pump. So my new question is do you think the poly filter or the powerhead could be causing my LPS and anemones to not inflate? I have removed one acan frag that deteriorated. My water current params are
0ppm PO4
0ppm NO3
1.026 SG
380 Cal
8.6 DKH
1250 Mg
8ph

DeniseAndy · Dec 5, 2015

Sorry about the acan. I could never keep them in my main display. Always too much flow or something eating them. Not sure. With all this, we forgot to ask how long the system has been running? I know some animals, nems especially, need a more mature system. As in one that has lots of bacteria, nitrates, phosphates, bugs, spores floating all over, etc. One that has a better balance from time.
Calcium is a bit low, but not horrible, Mg looks okay. It could be something introduced chemically. Did you take that pad out and do a nice water change? What size tank is it anyway and what lights? Sorry if I am asking repeat questions from another thread, but it has been a long day.

reefrider777 · Dec 5, 2015

Tank is about 13 years old and I have never had this problem. That is why I am perplexed. My lights are 2 175w MH 14k and 2 110w VHO super actinics. The tank is 75g. I have had the nem for over 5 years.
I did buy some seachem nitrogen flourish today I was going to begin to dose to try to increase my nutrients. It is just weird all my chalices and acans are deflated.