My acan is not happy.

[secretreefer]

UPDATED My acan is not happy.

hey fellow reefers.
got a question. since i've recently upgraded my lights my 1 small colony of acans hasn't been happy. it's totally deflated and flat from comparing it to this picture. do acans like less light or more light? does it depend on smaller polyped or larger polyped ones? I wanna make my acans happy again!

 

[secretreefer]

oh apologies. it went from a 48" nova extreme pro t5 setup with all giesemanns 3 actinics, 3 10ks. to a giesemann neptune pro 48" 250w x2 (phoenix 14ks) + 2 giesemann actinic t5's. i have it raised really high (light fixture) comparing to my nova extreme pros with legs that was right on the top of my acrylic tank.

 

[Speg]

Where are they placed?

Honestly, they do seem to enjoy low light and may even change colors under more intense lighting. If you look around at people's pictures you'll notice that most of the time their acans are on the sand--Mine are also on the sand and they do extremely well.

Also, make sure you feed them every so often--I feed twice a week (mysis)

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

They are like any coral if you give them a lot of light you need to do it slowly and gradually. Think stability. Most people will tell you they like less light and look better or brighter under lower light. Ime some like low light and some like high light, some look brighter under low light some look brighter under high light. I have had some that brown out under low light. Some turn red and lose their rainbows under higher light. I would say you shocked it with too much light move it lower in your tank and gradually build up the light level. Use a par meter to measure the light your giving it so you can make educated decisions. There are a lot of other potential issues with acans and diseases but we need pics to diagnose those issues. Your issue is prob light good luck!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Oh yes good call speg. Feed them thangs! Yours seem happy in the pic so I'm sure you were doing things right before you made changes

 

[secretreefer]

thanks guys. yeah i moved it from halfway up to down on the sand on the outer area of the light spread. weird tho because my other acans that are half up are doing great. i thought even that something was provoking it. we'll see i'll send updated pics!
oh yeah and ill try to feed it mysis tonite!

 

[Speg]

Once the acan becomes happy again I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised how quickly it grows new heads from feeding it. I hate getting most corals in small frags, but acans grow new heads so quickly that it doesn't hurt to get a single high priced head.

Speaking of acans..have you seen the ones that sexycorals just released? holy ...... lol sorry.. now I'm going too far.

Let us know how yours reacts to the lower position/food.

 

[secretreefer]

ok guys i lowered the colony under an overhang and fed last nite. this morning it looked a little "fluffy" but very very little. not eve close to it's normal fluffy.

 

[Speg]

Let it get used to that spot for a few days.

 

[secretreefer]

yeah here's the updated pic. like a flat tire!

 

[Speg]

mine did this a couple days ago. Lasted for about a day and a half and then it was back to normal. I feed mine pretty often and I figured it was possibly something related to that. My other coral and my other acans didn't do it--just one colony.

 

[secretreefer]

same here! all my other acans (7 of em) are perfectly fine! ???? it's been like this for about 3 days.

 

[Speg]

how's the flow hitting that acan compared to the others?

 

[secretreefer]

i moved it to where it was when i took the fully inflated pic on the first post and it's still deflated. idk what gives?? i hope i don't got me some of those acan bugs!!!!!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

You don't want to keep moving it. It sounds like you might have moved it back up high. Id keep it lower for now and leave it there for a while. Ime sometimes acans deflate so that the babies on the sides can get more light. It seems like a cycle that occurs so the big polyps don't shade out the small ones. I agree that regular feeding will help make it happy again. Your deflated picture doesn't look that bad to me. It will prob be fine. Keep an eye on it for disease set in and decaying tissue. If you see anything like that frag away the decaying portion and make sure to get any areas close by. Check the flesh on the piece now for areas where detritus may have accumulated. Those are areas where disease will set in first. If you see anything like that use a powerhead or turkey baster to blast off the detritus and frag those areas off if the tissue looks affected.

 

[secretreefer]

thanks alpha will do and thanks for the great advice everyone! hopefully when i inspect it tonite it doesn't have any dead tissue!

 

[secretreefer]

hey guys just giving an update shot. thanks for all the advice. it's pretty much back to normal. did a 25% water change, let it run for 2 hrs, then did another 30% water change. polyps back to normal.