Acans dying off

[martin1121]

anyone know what can cause acans to start dying off

 

[trinidiver]

It can be anything possible unless you give all your parameters.......... do you want us to guess?

 

[martin1121]

Kh 8
Salinity 2.3
Calcium 480
Phosphate 0
Nitrates 0
Mag 1300
The acans are place bottom to 1/4 of the way up
Good flow

 

[mbingha]

Do you mean salinity of 1.023? Also what kind of lights, how long have you had the acans, and are any other corals showing signs of stress?

 

[trinidiver]

Do you mean salinity of 1.023? Also what kind of lights, how long have you had the acans, and are any other corals showing signs of stress?

X2...........how long have you had the acans, how old is your tank, size, what type of lights and how old are they (MH or T5), do you use tap water, whats your live stock (and non reefsafe fish or inverts?)

 

[martin1121]

I have t5 and the salinity is 1.023 sorry about that I have had my tank for 6 years 47 gallon bow front reef safe fish and inverts no stinging coral around the they were doing just fine then slowly started dying off no other corals are showing signs of stress I'm getting discourage on buying acans

 

[martin1121]

I have ha acans for about 4 yrs but even the new rainbow acas I bought died off they were. Looking good nice and fluffy then the just died off with in 3 days

 

[mbingha]

Wish I could help, I've had mine for three years and sometimes they look horrible but then bounce back for seemingly no reason. Right now they are looking fantastic tho so I don't question it lol.

 

[trinidiver]

that's strange?
still check and see if its not one of your fish........just saying
I had a friend that had nearly the same problem and it turned out to be his pygmy angel.
a next friend had issues in that he could never figure out why every week he would put in 4-5 big 4" feather dusters and they only lasting a few days. After about 20+ featherdusters he realized that his yellow tang will wait till no one is looking and strip it in seconds for no apparent reason

 

[MechEng99]

How are they dying? Like...are they bleaching, receding from one side to the other, turning brown jellyish, what? Pictures? What's your quarantine/dipping procedure like?

 

[martin1121]

I was told that peppermint shrimp can eat them I dipped them in coral rx they are receding

 

[martin1121]

They are also bleaching out I will try and take pic

 

[trinidiver]

I was told that peppermint shrimp can eat them I dipped them in coral rx they are receding

Tell us exactly whats your live stock. This will help. You have any urchins or starfish even? I have 7 peppermints in my reef and have no issues with them over 2 yrs now. Camel shrimp may nip.

 

[afishionado]

It's also wise to feed many species in the Acanthastrea genus; specifically lordhowensis, hillae, and bowerbanki ..

 

[drewquan]

Have you ever feed them, if not you may want to. Never heard of peppermints eating acans, maybe that could be true. I have never seen it in my own tank. How are you other corals doing?

 

[martin1121]

other corals doing great
i only have those little small starfish
i have to picasso clown, a yellow watchman goby a blue hippo tang, and 2 damsels
i feed them oyster feast

 

[afishionado]

Starfish = Asterina Sp.

 

[floridascape]

Dip it in Lugols, if you have a differnt system without lps adjust the salinity to 1.025 and put it in the shade for a couple days. Try and feed to see if it responds. Most likely salinty relative to alk if your alk was closer to 5/6 at that salinity I bet you would see a difference. Gl Acans are pretty resilient

 

[mbingha]

Acans are pretty resilient

So very true. The acans I have survived a tank crash from the chiller fuse popping, and then survived an 800 mile move up the east coast, and the subsequent poor water conditions in the months it took me to catch up on the tank from spending so much time moving. They are troopers for sure.

 

[Molly1414]

I just recently had an Acan that went from looking great to not looking so good and I thought it was going to die. I had been target feeding them in the tank but decided to try a more direct approach with this one. I placed this Acan in a small cup with tank water and mixed the food into the cup. I let the Acan sit in the cup for five minutes and then put it back int the tank. Today that Acan is looking great again. I would try to feed it and see what happens.