Hey guys, I’m new here. So I have a 90 gallon tank that is about 4 months old. I have 2 Acans that have been in there for about 2 months now and were doing great up until a couple of days ago. They all of the sudden look deflated and are not opening up. They do still have colors but just aren’t opening. All of the other corals in the tank are doing great. I have checked and rechecked parameters they are 406 calcium, 8.7 dkh, 1250 magnesium, 5 ppm nitrates, and 0.13 phosphate. I am not dosing anything yet. I have been faithful in my weekly water changes and they have kept things up to par so far. I called my LFS and they suggested that I begin to dose and raise my levels (slowly) up to 10 dkh, 450 calcium, and 1350-1400 magnesium. However, I have read about people keeping lower levels and being fine. Has anyone else had the same issue with their Acans? Should I try raising my parameters like the LFS suggested? Or should I be trying to identify a different cause?
Acans Struggling
- Thread starter Caleb123
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Brad Miller
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Hi Caleb, welcome to R2R ! 
Your magnesium is pretty low and most acans don like that.
When my mag gets out of wack, they are the first to let me know it.
1350 is a good target for mag, slowly bring that up.
What kind of lighting and schedule are you running ?
Your magnesium is pretty low and most acans don like that.
When my mag gets out of wack, they are the first to let me know it.
1350 is a good target for mag, slowly bring that up.
What kind of lighting and schedule are you running ?
Caleb123
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Thanks Brad!
I am running 2 radion xr15 pro gen 4. The acans are sitting on a couple of small rocks on the sand as they seemed to like that better than sitting directly on the sand.
I have already purchased the BRS 2 part dosing starter kit. Should I bring up my calcium and alkalinity as well? Or should I just try to get my magnesium up to par?
I am running 2 radion xr15 pro gen 4. The acans are sitting on a couple of small rocks on the sand as they seemed to like that better than sitting directly on the sand.
I have already purchased the BRS 2 part dosing starter kit. Should I bring up my calcium and alkalinity as well? Or should I just try to get my magnesium up to par?
ScottR
Surfing....
Your alk Is fine. Ca looks ok. How did you get 406 on a test? What kind of tester/kit did you use? I can almost guarantee you that alk and Ca aren’t going to be the issue. Do you have other corals in the tank? If so, what kind? Pics? I agree that Mg is a bit low. But if doing weekly water changes, your Mg shouldn’t be that low.
Caleb123
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I am using the Hanna checkers for calcium and alkalinity. I have 2 hammers, a good size piece of frogspawn, a torch, lots of zoas, 1 tester acropora, favia, digitata, Stylophora, a Trachy, a ricordea, and a toadstool. Nearly everything is a fairly small still. You can see the 2 acans here this was before they closed up.
Caleb123
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I have not been feeding corals much as an effort to reduce my phosphate and nitrate. I use aquavitro fuel twice a week along with an occasional reef Roids. Flow seemed pretty good I could see them kinda bouncing around when they were fully extended but they weren’t getting blasted.
I realize your tank is young, but I feed mine frozen food several times a week. In my experience they look much happier and fatter when regularly fed. I'd turn off the pumps and hit them with some frozen to see if that helps.
ScottR
Surfing....
Hanna checker clears the 406 Ca. Looks like a hammer next to it. Could be coral warfare. Hammer sweepers stinging the acans. Good to keep most LPS away from each other. Peek in your tank at night, you may see corals throwing out sweeper tentacles and mesenterial filaments which are even deadlier.I am using the Hanna checkers for calcium and alkalinity. I have 2 hammers, a good size piece of frogspawn, a torch, lots of zoas, 1 tester acropora, favia, digitata, Stylophora, a Trachy, a ricordea, and a toadstool. Nearly everything is a fairly small still. You can see the 2 acans here this was before they closed up.
Auto-pilot
Valuable Member
When it comes to dkh I'm at 8 and have no issues. Not sure if a low magnesium would cause it to do that but 1250 isn't too low as mine is at 1300
Brad Miller
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Acans are very sensitive to mag levels
Caleb123
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I dosed some mag this morning. I was very conservative with the amount that I dosed compared to what was recommended. I am going to test again in a bit. The acans have not improved throughout the day. I was able to get a couple of pictures of what they look like.
Hemmdog
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Do it at night.
Brad Miller
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In my experience....Once acans stress out like this, it takes a week or so to see improvement .
Caleb123
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Update: I began dosing and got my parameters in check. Brought my calcium up to 420 and mag up to 1350. I have not seen any improvement since Wednesday. I have been doing a lot of research and while I have not actually seen him do it, I am beginning to get very suspicious that my potters angel is the culprit. I have read several posts about dwarf angels picking at meaty corals like Acans and brain corals. Hopefully this isn’t the case as he is probably my favorite fish. I will be keeping an close eye on him for the next few days
