Does anyone know what this is??

[athenagrace]

I bought this Acan about 2 weeks ago. It doesn’t look so great and it hasn’t been improving. It appears to be receding and just seems generally unhappy. Last night, before lights out, I noticed this weird thing on the edge of it and I watched it for a few minutes. I didn’t see it move at all, however, it was gone when I woke up this morning. I’m sorry it’s a bad pic, it was the best I could get. Any ideas?

 

[Timfish]

I'm going to guess an Aquilonastra sp. starfish. You might find it if you lift up the plug. (See my post, #11, here.) Keep in mind corals can have a problem long before they show any outward change in apperance. It does look pretty brown which may be from too low a light level.

 

[athenagrace]

I'm going to guess an Aquilonastra sp. starfish. You might find it if you lift up the plug. (See my post, #11, here.) Keep in mind corals can have a problem long before they show any outward change in apperance. It does look pretty brown which may be from too low a light level.

Thank you! I hope that is the case and not something else. I will try moving the Acan up a bit. This is my first Acan and all of my research stressed that they didn’t like too much light, I may have overestimated.

 

[Timfish]

Hopefully that's the case as bacterial infections can also cause browning. :/ Whatever you do be patient. Moving a coral causes it to adjust to new condutions and moving it too frequently doesn't allow it to acclimate.

 

[acanman]

I keep all my acans in the sand bed. What lights are you running?

 

[Timfish]

I have different tanks and different lights. I also haven't tested PAR on all of them but generally would suggest starting them between 30 and 50 PAR. After they've acclimated and are looking ok I might move them up to engance the colors,

 

[athenagrace]

I keep all my acans in the sand bed. What lights are you running?

I have the Kessil A160. Maybe my light isn’t strong enough to warrant placing them in the sand bed?

 

[athenagrace]

Hopefully that's the case as bacterial infections can also cause browning. :/ Whatever you do be patient. Moving a coral causes it to adjust to new condutions and moving it too frequently doesn't allow it to acclimate.

Should I try dipping it, or could that make the situation worse?

 

[Timfish]

I would leave it alone. It takes time for corals to adjust to new situations, especially after being moved to different tanks and shipping and handling. Dipping works fine for external parasites but I haven't seen anything that shows it has any effect on microbial populations in coral surface mucus layers. Furthermore I seriously doubt any dipping regimen currently being used would only target detrimantal species and leave the beneficial ones alone. Here's some links you might find informative:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"