My acans have been shriveled up and not looking good for the past 3 days. Any ideas why? Pic of normal and now are below.
Acan trouble
- Thread starter mwbeach
- Start date
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shaggydoo
Active Member
Acans can be weird like that. About once every month or two each one of my colonies will shrink for 1-3 days. Today my largest colony of red acans looks miserable and deflated just like yours.
If it goes on much longer I would start troubleshooting. Otherwise, if you haven't changed anything and your other corals are ok, I wouldn't worry.
If it goes on much longer I would start troubleshooting. Otherwise, if you haven't changed anything and your other corals are ok, I wouldn't worry.
Dempsey941
Valuable Member
Do you have any shrimp (peppermint, cleaner, etc.)? Or fish that are potential coral nippers?
I agree with @shaggydoo that sometimes acans deflate for no reason, but just to make sure. If it lasts longer you may want to give it a dip in an Iodine based coral dip.
I agree with @shaggydoo that sometimes acans deflate for no reason, but just to make sure. If it lasts longer you may want to give it a dip in an Iodine based coral dip.
OP
OP
That may be it. I added 4 peppermint shrimp 3-4 days before this started to happen. Any ideas of how to fix this?
Dempsey941
Valuable Member
Yea I had Peppermint Shrimp do this to my acans. The shrimp like to stick their hands in the mouth of the acan and remove food and sometimes they nic the flesh and the coral can develop an infection.
First I would confirm it's the Peppermint shrimp, wait until your lights are out and the room is dark and check with a light to see if they are digging into the acans. If they are doing it then you can either rehome the shrimp and/or use some Tupperware as a cloche until the shrimp are gone.
Meanwhile get yourself some Seachem ReefDip and in a seperate container and do a triple dose of the dip in some tank water. You want the dip to be a very dark brown color, borderline opaque. Let the acans marinate for 30 minutes and then put them in some clean saltwater for maybe 10 minutes. Put them back into the tank under the cloche wait a week and repeat unless you see improvement.
First I would confirm it's the Peppermint shrimp, wait until your lights are out and the room is dark and check with a light to see if they are digging into the acans. If they are doing it then you can either rehome the shrimp and/or use some Tupperware as a cloche until the shrimp are gone.
Meanwhile get yourself some Seachem ReefDip and in a seperate container and do a triple dose of the dip in some tank water. You want the dip to be a very dark brown color, borderline opaque. Let the acans marinate for 30 minutes and then put them in some clean saltwater for maybe 10 minutes. Put them back into the tank under the cloche wait a week and repeat unless you see improvement.
