Bleached Acans

[gmendez619]

Does anyone know if there is anyway i can bring back some acans that are bleached but not dead ? I live in san diego and it gets pretty hot over here. During the summer i keep a fan on the tank and also turn the ac on but i left for a week with my family on vacation and I obviously didnt leave the fan running nor the ac. My tank pretty much cooked although nothing died. It was covered in algae and then only thing that seemed affected were my acans. They turned white. They arent dead because they still open up at night to eat and when i feed them they do take the food in. But they are just bleached. Is there anyway i can bring the color back ? Ive been trying to feed daily but no color has come back

 

[robert]

Pretty tough question - I've many LPS come back from a beached condition after being overrun with algae.
It s fairly common condition. First the algae has to go. Algae sets up the environment in its own favor by releasing dissolved organic compounds which ultimately will kill a coral.

Once the algae is gone - the coral has a good chance to recover if not over illuminated. Cut the feedings down - you have to get the zoanthelle feeding the coral again. If you can get a friend with a clean healthy system to take the coral for a bit - until it has a chance to recover - id do that.

Low light has always seemed to help when this happened to my corals - it will take quite a while.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

Pretty tough question - I've many LPS come back from a beached condition after being overrun with algae.
It s fairly common condition. First the algae has to go. Algae sets up the environment in its own favor by releasing dissolved organic compounds which ultimately will kill a coral.

Once the algae is gone - the coral has a good chance to recover if not over illuminated. Cut the feedings down - you have to get the zoanthelle feeding the coral again. If you can get a friend with a clean healthy system to take the coral for a bit - until it has a chance to recover - id do that.

Low light has always seemed to help when this happened to my corals - it will take quite a while.

I Agree. Try to bring back everything in normal range and move slowly from there. It takes awhile but the good thing is they're still alive.

 

[gmendez619]

Yeah atleast theyre alive and they have no algae. I will try and move them to a dimmer part of the tank and see what happens. Hopefully they come back :/

 

[The Kahnasaur]

As others have said, low light is your best friend with them. Wouldn't he want to feed them often? The zooxanthelle are depleted(color loss) so they aren't feeding the coral as much. Unfortunately, if they come back their colors might be altered.

 

[gmendez619]

Yeah thats what i was thinking which is why i try to feed them almost everyday if i have time. I guess my best bet right now is lower light. Hope the original pink and purples come back :/

 

[robert]

As others have said, low light is your best friend with them. Wouldn't he want to feed them often? The zooxanthelle are depleted(color loss) so they aren't feeding the coral as much. Unfortunately, if they come back their colors might be altered.

You know, I can't honestly say whether they stand a better chance if they're fed or not. I know they can't survive without the
zooxanthelle or we could grow them in the dark. I just know that the LPS that I have managed to save, I didn't feed until they began to color back up, but that decision was mostly a function of having the coral in a shaded area which made direct feeding difficult. I basically let the coral go dormant...and let time and improved environment fix it if it is fixable...corals are a strange mix of algae (zooxanthelle) and bacteria. Overfeed the bacteria and you can kill the coral.

 

[gmendez619]

Hmmmmm so if i put the acans in a semi shaded are and not feed them you think it might help ? Ill try it for a week or so because where i have them now so far very very very little color has come back. I can only see a lightt shade of purple on one head

 

[robert]

Any color at all is a good sign - just don't expect a quick recovery...it can take months, I've had some that I had no hope of recovering come back and and thrive.

 

[dwebb1031]

I had acan bleach out and almost die completely after an ich treatment about a year ago. They were a soft neon pink originally. After they almost died they turned white with a pinks center.

After months of no change, i (believe it or not) moved them to the highest point in my tank directly in front of the uv exhaust. Now they have the best color and growth ive ever had out an acan.

I did a couple weeks ago move them from the high point to where they are now in the pic.

 

[gmendez619]

Any color at all is a good sign - just don't expect a quick recovery...it can take months, I've had some that I had no hope of recovering come back and and thrive.

Yeah i hope these come back because i really liked them and they were my first acans i bought so i kinda wanna keep them as a memory. I guess ill just wait to see what happens

 

[gmendez619]

I had acan bleach out and almost die completely after an ich treatment about a year ago. They were a soft neon pink originally. After they almost died they turned white with a pinks center.

After months of no change, i (believe it or not) moved them to the highest point in my tank directly in front of the uv exhaust. Now they have the best color and growth ive ever had out an acan.

I did a couple weeks ago move them from the high point to where they are now in the pic.

Wow those look like they came back pretty strong. Pretty amazing

 

[dwebb1031]

Yea i was surprised before this colony acans were that one coral for me i just couldn't keep. Everybody has something. Lol