Unhappy acans. Any advice.

tate1 · Mar 23, 2012

About a week ago I got a small colony of very purdy rainbow acans. They have shrunk in size quite a bit and are loosing some of their color. I tried moving them around a bit but I can't seem to find their happy spot. They are in a 34g Solana under 1 unit AI SOL blue that sits 10" above the water line. There are only zoas in that tank and they are happy. I just tested and all of my levels are good except mag (1500). I don't recall ever having a lot of success with acans. I don't want to take them to a buddies tank but I am not going to loose them. They were a heck of a find at an incredible price. Any help from those who have thriving acans would be great.

A few days ago I made a thread asking for help with dying sps. That was in a different tank. I have never had issues with this tank before. Then again I have only zoas in there.

KJAG · Mar 23, 2012

Your Mg is fine. Any other Params? If your levels are good, I'd say they're stressed from your lights. Try shading them for awhile

jonbar1 · Mar 23, 2012

I would start shady and then not move them for a while until they adjust to their new home. Once they are used to the tank they are trouble free and you can move them to a brighter spot.

Rockadile · Mar 23, 2012

I would like to know all your params. I know you said all is good but having the actual numbers does help.

I agree with the above statements. Low light will help, in fact my do great in low to moderate lighting. I would also consider teasing them a little with some coral frenzy or your choice of lps food. Turn all your pumps off and squirt a little in their direction and watch for a response

tate1 · Mar 24, 2012

Here ya go.

Ca 500
KH 9
Mg 1500
PH 8.2
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phos 0

KJAG · Mar 25, 2012

Your levels look fine. I'd say its your AI's for sure. Try to shade them, and personally a drop of Lugols a day works wonders in my system. Good luck

Gamble · Mar 25, 2012

Careful on the lugols dosing with only 34 gallons.... maybe a drop every 6 days or so. With new acans in my tank, I always keep them completely out of direct light for a week maybe two. Then slowly, every few weeks, work them into higher light until I begin to see a loss in color variance or pattern, then I move them back to the ideal lighting conditions. If they are happy and looking how they should in a decent amount of light then I will not move them into higher light. Feeding them a good quality food a few times a week isn't a bad idea either if your nitrates are only at 5, but make sure they are accepting the food and don't leave the food sitting on them for longer than a couple hours if they don't accept. Other than that, I try and keep my mag around 1400-1500 and my alk as stable as possible within standard range.

tate1 · Mar 25, 2012

Thanks for all of the great advice. I'm sure I had them WAY too high. They are now sitting on the bottom.

hbboarder87 · Mar 28, 2012

mine shriveled for a while too, i added carbon to my system and they are now all puffy and happy.. might wanna try it.

TulsaTye · Mar 28, 2012

Ur phosphate might be too low, water is too clean for acans to come out!

erikjphillips · Mar 28, 2012

had the same issue with my acans, ran some carbon and now they're happy as can be

tate1 · Mar 29, 2012

I'll give the carbon a try. The tank their in now is almost all zoas so I try not to have the same pristine water that my sps tank has. I'll give the carbon a try tomorrow. Right now I have moved them down to the bottom.

How often do y'all feed your acans and what time of the day or night (if that even matters).

spero · Mar 29, 2012

I feed mine once a week, a little piece of mysis shrimp. Typically around when my actinic light goes on at night, that's usually when you'll see their feeders out.

If they're in recovery mode, you may want to consider feeding them 2-3 times a week instead.

jonbar1 · Mar 29, 2012

I feed with cyclopeeze every other day. Usually I'll put a tiny amount in front of the powerhead so it blows it throughout the tank. 5 minutes later every coral in the tank has tentacles out ready to eat.