Acans not looking good

[Thor2j]

Tank has been up for almost 6 months. Everything has been going well except for small battle with cyano on sand only. I did a 3 day blackout about 2 weeks ago. Everything seemed fine except a plate coral that was extremely healthy started receding. Out of nowhere about a week ago , my favorite coral, a aussie lord that had 3 huge heads and 8 new ones all along the perimeter closed up. I also noticed that all my acans look about 50% closed. Nothing else in tank has been effected at all and I have a lot. Sps, chalices, favias, hammers, torches, etc....
What on earth would effect just acans??
Take in mind the tank is 5 feet and acans are at both ends so it's not like corals touching each other.
Tank is extremely stable.

140 gallon with sump
Temp 78
SG 1.026
PH. 8.0 at night 8.1 day
DkH 8.7 (almost no swing)
CA 420
MG 1400
Ammonia and nitrites 0
Nitrates 3-5
Po4 0

Im trying to slowly bring po4 up a little. Have a gfo , reduce to half recommended amount and still at 0. Took it offline for a week after blackout and it rose to 0.05. Put it back online after acans looked bad as this was the only thing I changed.

Carbon and GFO reactors.

Have been doing weekly water changes for 3 weeks. Slowly taking thin layers off sand to combat cyano on sand and has looked great.

Will provide pictures later if it helps.

 

[AcanSkywalker]

Dip them all in Coral RX and replace them on clean substrate

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I have several acans and they can be a bit finicky at times. I just leave them alone, and they usually return to normal after a few days. It seems like they will close up for no reason at times (i.e., no new fish, no detectable shifts in water chemistry, etc.).

 

[Elementalj]

Dip them all in Coral RX and replace them on clean substrate

That stuff is amazing. [emoji16]

 

[Thor2j]

That stuff is amazing. [emoji16]

Ok, will do.

 

[kendavjac]

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

 

[Elementalj]

Ok, will do.

Also, if you have any necrosis, I'd use a super soft detailer brush or an infants toothbrush to remove the slime. It seems harsh, but removal of infected tissue increases your chances for survival.

Kind of like a recluse bite, if you don't remove the necrotic tissue from the wound, you eventually become septic. [emoji856]

 

[Thor2j]

Here are pics. Sorry for quality.

About a month ago (looked even better a few weeks ago)

For the last week

 

[Thor2j]

Here is a couple pics of what all my other acans look like. One was taken with high end camera and the other just taken with my phone but you will notice they are only about half opened. All the acans look just like this. Everything else is fine.

A few weeks ago

Now

 

[kendavjac]

Looks like they are just unhappy. I don't see any skeleton exposed. You can try a dip, but I would guess that the blackout plus the GFO change just ticked them off.

 

[Second Shot]

Looks like they are just unhappy. I don't see any skeleton exposed. You can try a dip, but I would guess that the blackout plus the GFO change just ****** them off.

I agree. Once in awhile mine do this for a couple days. I always just assumed they were cleaning themselves out because they bounce back like nothing happened.

 

[Elementalj]

I agree. Once in awhile mine do this for a couple days. I always just assumed they were cleaning themselves out because they bounce back like nothing happened.

They do contract more often than we realize, but if it becomes more of an extended stay, I'd do some testing and some dipping and some FEEDING

 

[Thor2j]

Should I dip them all. They are all mounted but not that big a deal. Or just let them go and target feed

 

[Elementalj]

Should I dip them all. They are all mounted but not that big a deal. Or just let them go and target feed

Dust them and see if they respond. Nothing too chunky, just a little. If the feeding tentacles extend you're probably in good shape. If not, and all the parameters are within spec, then I'd commence to dip.

 

[Rick.45cal]

What other corals are in the tank, how do they all look? My micromussa close up occasionally maybe for a couple days at most, but they do not look like that when they do. How long has your Phosphate been undetectable. Phosphate starvation happens extremely rapidly in corals, and causes severe damage to the actual animal itself. (It's more severe it seems than nitrogen starvation, which corals can endure for longer periods).

What kind of PO4 management are you employing? Did you recently do anything different in regards to managing your phosphates recently?

I also have a friend who's tank has so much dissolved CO2 in it constantly, that it is actually causing the calcium skeleton to erode right out from under the polyps, his micromussa look similar (but much more severely affected) to yours.

I hope you figure out.

 

[Elementalj]

What other corals are in the tank, how do they all look? My micromussa close up occasionally maybe for a couple days at most, but they do not look like that when they do. How long has your Phosphate been undetectable. Phosphate starvation happens extremely rapidly in corals, and causes severe damage to the actual animal itself. (It's more severe it seems than nitrogen starvation, which corals can endure for longer periods).

What kind of PO4 management are you employing? Did you recently do anything different in regards to managing your phosphates recently?

I also have a friend who's tank has so much dissolved CO2 in it constantly, that it is actually causing the calcium skeleton to erode right out from under the polyps, his micromussa look similar (but much more severely affected) to yours.

I hope you figure out.

Is there a way for him to test co2 levels in the tank? I'm sure there is, I've just never seen it. If elevated co2 and depressed phosphate are the culprits, I'd turn the skimmer back, and aerate the tank with fresh air or use a co2 scrubber with an air stone in the sump. Is there any algae anywhere?

 

[Rick.45cal]

I think my friends tank is an extreme case. He can't keep any hard corals because of it. I highly doubt that CO2 is the culprit here. I would suspect that there would be many problems with other inhabitants as well. I dunno if there is a good CO2 test kit.

I would also suspect that phosphate starvation would manifest itself in some other corals as well if it was the culprit. However if it was a punctuated event where the water was stripped very clean very rapidly, the damage may have been done to the acan and everything else didn't notice. I think we are starting to learn that not all corals operate utilizing the same mechanisms for nutrient uptake etc, some may react to changes in environmental cues very differently from others.

 

[Elementalj]

I think my friends tank is an extreme case. He can't keep any hard corals because of it. I highly doubt that CO2 is the culprit here. I would suspect that there would be many problems with other inhabitants as well. I dunno if there is a good CO2 test kit.

I would also suspect that phosphate starvation would manifest itself in some other corals as well if it was the culprit. However if it was a punctuated event where the water was stripped very clean very rapidly, the damage may have been done to the acan and everything else didn't notice. I think we are starting to learn that not all corals operate utilizing the same mechanisms for nutrient uptake etc, some may react to changes in environmental cues very differently from others.

My sentiments exactly. [emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

 

[Rick.45cal]

It could be pests too! I'm just spitting out possibilities. Leave no stone unturned! Hopefully the OP will figure out why it isn't happy!

 

[Thor2j]

I've been running a gfo reactor from the get go. I reduced my GFO by half hoping to run about 0.02 po4 but still at 0 with half the amount.

What I'm worried about is in lost a plate coral right after the black out that was extremely healthy. A few days later all my acans went down hill.