Acan question?

[danieljones8623]

Hi everybody,

After keeping fish only for a couple years now, I purchased a couple pieces of coral in the last few days. I purchased a Zoanthid frag with about 8 heads on it a few days ago it seems to be doing very well. Today I purchased a small Green Acan Lord frag and it hasn't opened up yet. Does it sometimes take a while for them to open up and extend their tentacles? Here are my quarantine tank's stats:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrates - 2
Phosphates - 0 ish
Temp - 80
Salinity - 1.025
Flow - around 25X per hour
Lighting - Current orbit led

I floated the bag and added incremental amounts of tank water for acclimation. It also wasn't opened up when I purchased it. The store owner said he feed it about an hour before I got there. Should I wait a while before I get concerned?

 

[bevans116]

It generally takes a day or so for new LPS corals to open normally.

 

[Reef Frog]

This coral need lower light and should be aclimated carefully. Watch those LEDs. Don't scorch it.

With no pic it's hard to judge, but temporarily deflated polyps aren't necessarily a bad sign.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

None of my acans extend their tentacles during daylight hours, they start to come out when my lights are turned down to blues only then they stay extended all night. But like Frog said, keep them in low light and low flow, and post up some pictures..

 

[Keithj32]

Any response to low nutrients highly salinity at all? What do you keep your alk at?

 

[danieljones8623]

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond back. My alkalinity is around 8 in my quarantine tank . Last night when my light went completely off, the acan poked out just a little bit. Maybe I need a little more patience. I'll try and post a pic as soon as I can. Maybe it'll help shed some light on the matter.

 

[danieljones8623]

I hope the pic I attached is okay. I think it's still alive but I'm not certain. What do you think? I'm thinking about turning off my powerhead and just run my filter to see what it does? Any thoughts?

 

[danieljones8623]

Sorry about the upside down pic. I don't know what the deal is with my camera because I tried uploading two more and they were the same way.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

It doesn't look good but it's still alive. What exactly are all of your water parameters especially ca/alk/mg

Your pic being upside down is because of how you're holding your camera/phone. If it's a cell phone camera the top of the phone needs to point to the left for proper picture orientation.

 

[danieljones8623]

I just wanted to post a pic update and see what you guys thought. I did a wc the other day hoping it would help out the acan. I worked yesterday so I didn't really see it but today, this is what I woke up to. I haven't seen feeding tentacles yet, but I think it looks much better. What do you think?

 

[homer1475]

Definitely looks better than the previous pic. Just give it some time, mine took 3 or 4 days to fully inflate. You could try spot feeding it regardless of whether its feeder tentacles are out.

FYI, all my acans only show their tentacles at night while my blues are on, and through the night in pitch black. In the morning when my lights start to come on, the tentacles disappear and they stay inflated. This is why I feed late at night in darkness with a red headlamp/flashlight.

 

[danieljones8623]

I just tried feeding it right after I posted the pic. How can I tell if it's actually eating?

 

[homer1475]

If it actually takes the food into its mouth. If I feed mysis, I can watch them disappear. I will take one mysis at a time with long tongs and hold it on its mouth. If it wants to eat, it will open up and take it in. Acans are pretty voracious eaters, least all the ones I have are.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

That looks a lot better! IME the feeding tentacles come out when you're lights are down to blues only, this is when I feed mine.

 

[danieljones8623]

Can it feed with its tentacles out? Should I try feeding only at night?

 

[homer1475]

That's what the tentacles are for, to catch food. Yes you should feed it at night when its tentacles are out. I feed at night.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Yes, like Homer said the tentacles are for feeding. Sorry I didn't mention that in my previous post to make that clear.

 

[danieljones8623]

Thanks for all the info. So do you think it'd be alright to offer it a little food tonight after the lights have gone off and if so, would mysis shrimp be okay? I know I mentioned this earlier, but I offered it a little food earlier and it looked like it just retracted back into its skeleton for a few minutes. I think I upset it, haha.

 

[homer1475]

You might have irritated it by touching it. I would most definitely try and feed it tonight after lights out and its tentacles are out. Just place a mysis or 2 directly into its tentacles, You'll be amazed at how quickly it will devour it. Like I mentioned "pretty voracious eaters".

 

[danieljones8623]

So I gave the acan some time after the lights went out to get in feeding mode and I tried feeding it. It blew up pretty Big after the light went out (picture attached), but still no tentacles. I dropped a mysis shrimp in each one and each time the shrimp was immediately enveloped by the acan, I could see the green interior of the coral or anything. I watched the whole time, like 15-20 minutes, and I didn't see a trace of mysis once it opened back up. I know this is a dumb question, but this sounds like it's eating, right? If it is, how often should I feed? Thanks again for all the advice.