Help with new acan Coral

[Kirschy17]

hey guys i just added my first sps and while my frogspawn is doing great my acan doesnt look too well. A bit faded and only a bit of polyp extension.

As far as numbers go theres nothing off id say

Ca was 380 at first test which is low but im not sure if my test is that good.

Besides bout 1500 mg

0 nitrate
0 nitrite
0 ammonia

Sal is 1.025
Temp is 78-80
No po3<0.1

I fed some special lps food twice since i got it. Placed low at the sand at first and moved to a low rock with less flow now.

Help appreciated.

 

[Krzydmnd]

How long ago did you add them?
Any pics?

 

[Kirschy17]

3 or 4 days ago. It was extended for the first 1 or 2 days. Then i fed them and they accepted the food. After that they never opened up again like before

 

[Zack K]

You need some Nitrates in your water. All of the “squishy” LPS likes around 5 Nitrates. Your SPS will also enjoy some. Corals live off of nutrients found in the water. NO3 and PO4. So if you have 0, you may be starving them.

-Zack

 

[John3]

My acans like nitrates 10-15, when they go below 10 they shrivel up and show skeleton. They will also do the same thing if the alk drops too low or too fast, not sure which affects worse. I keep my alk 11-12 and if I get below 10 things start to look like crap. I’m manually dosing between water changes so it’s my diligence to keep things stable.

 

[Kirschy17]

Forgot about alk. Its at 10 atm. For nitrates i feel like im overfeeding allready. The stocking is on the low side for sure. In a 65g theres 2 percula clowns, 2 pygmy yellowtail angels, a watchman goby shrimp pair, 3 peppermint shrimp and cuc.

Any advice on how to raise safely?

 

[Zack K]

Feeding heavy and adding more fish are the best ways to do it. You could also stop Carbon dosing if you do so, remove Biopellets, or sulfer denitrifyer.
You could also dose NO3 but IMO it’s a last resort option.

 

[Kirschy17]

For the meantime is there achance to save the acan. Should i be feeding it directly even more often. The food i feed is a sprcial lps food. Its soft pellets. I fed 1-2 per head every 2-3 days.

For adding fish i have the prob that most fish fish are juveniles so they will grow. I wont be adding that many since its only a 65g.

 

[John3]

When my nitrates got too low I stopped skimming for a few days and didn’t change my filter sock for a bit. My nitrates got too low dosing vitamins c(carbon dosing). So I stopped dosing and about a week later my nitrates we’re back up. Then I went back to skimming and changing filters and no more vc.

When you feed heavy it’s not just fish eating more, you will get food that isn’t eaten and that will turn into nitrates as it decomposes. The most likely collection spot is your filter, so that’s why you can leave it a bit longer to create some nitrates.

 

[John3]

If your acan still puts out feeders you can feed it and it should help. I like feeding my acans small pieces of regular raw shrimp.

 

[Kirschy17]

Pretty sure no feeders extended( thats long polyps looking like tentacles right)

So only nitrates should be their nutritional value then right?

 

[John3]

Yeah it could take some time to regrow enough tissue for it to put out the feeders. Make sure they are not in a hot spot getting too much light.

It’s stinks how fast they can get in trouble and how long it can take to then recover. I have a rainbow that had some sort of infection which killed off 4-5 heads leaving less than half a head. I still don’t have a full head back yet and it’s been months but it did sprout 2 new small heads.

I guess my point is that don’t get frustrated, it’s gonna take some time to regrow.

 

[carbene]

could be too much light. i keep all my acans on the bottom closer to the panels and theyre all pretty fat

 

[Kirschy17]

I started mine in the sand, u think even that mightve been too much?

 

[carbene]

did it liked it more in the sand than the rock?

 

[DHill6]

These puffy acans get flow and light, g4 Pro, they are fed Goldpods, Roe or oyster feast very sparingly, coral frenzy pellets sparingly, mainly Reef Roids and whatever floats around from LRF food. I had one which only had 1 head out of 4 which looked alive. It came around, took time. There is .05 P04 and 23 nitrite measured with Hanna UL nitrite checker, no nitrate comparison. If the corals look good I figure the nitrate is ok, when they start to look paler or I can see a bit of white in the disk, I dose nitrates. I feed one to two times a week depending on how they look. I have SPS also and don't want to overdue.

Pic doesn't capture the colors, very vibrant.