Acans receding/dying, please help!

[redwingrob40]

Hi,

So about two weeks ago I noticed that one of my larger acan colonies was starting to recede. I figured that I would keep an eye on things, and make sure that the params are in line, but is has been getting worse. I have read about worms that eat acans and black bugs as well, and have tried on numerous occasions to catch these guys possibly nibbling away at the poor corals. I have not been able to see either. I also don't believe that this is brown jelly as it doesn't appear to be any jelly like substance. It is only affecting some of my acans and not all. There are a couple small colonies that I added a few months ago that seem fine, but I don't want this to spread any further...

My water params as of this evening are:
Salinity- 1.026 calibrated refractomete
Alk- 8.4 Red Sea pro
Calcium- 430 Red Sea pro
Mg- 1300 Red Sea pro
Phosphates- 0 Hanna hi713
Temp- 82

Here are some pics of the affected colonies:
My biggest colony
View attachment 235916 this one looks like just at the edge
my bowerbanki with exposed skeleton

Here are some of the ones that have not been affected yet


I really want to prevent this from moving to my other acans. It is possible to dip some of these guys, but the large colony is attached to rock that would be almost impossible to get out of the tank without ripping everything apart, and I do think I can get it off the rock without damaging the coral. All of the corals were dipped in coral Rx prior to being added to the tank.

Any ideas of what could be doing this? Black bugs? Worms? Bacterial infection? Would it be worth treating with interceptor, or similar drug (interceptor seems almost impossible to find nowadays). TIA for your help.
Rob

 

[limpert]

I have a similar situation going on with one of my acans. I suspect my situation is the result of too high of alk. I'm skimming wet and doing water changes. Reading around it seems that this can also be the result of chemical warfare.. do you have any other corals close by?

 

[redwingrob40]

The closest coral to the large colony is a purple cap. It sucks when this happens to your corals. Hopefully lowering your alk will help with the issues that you are seeing. Keep us posted as to your progress.

 

[footballdude2k3]

Ok, a few extra questions.

Are you running carbon or GFO or anything?

Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite readings?

What are your lights?

Personally, I think you are running a bit warm, I try to stay at 78-79, pretty much everything I see on live aquaria says 72-78.

I use Coral RX, it is easier on corals than revive, I would get some of that and do some dips, might want to consider cutting a frag on the large colony to see if you can save part of it. Do you have a QT that you can put these in to observe?

Those would be my first steps personally.

Good luck

 

[footballdude2k3]

Also, I would get your water tested by an LFS, just to be on the safe side.

 

[redwingrob40]

Ok, a few extra questions.

Are you running carbon or GFO or anything?

Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite readings?

What are your lights?

Personally, I think you are running a bit warm, I try to stay at 78-79, pretty much everything I see on live aquaria says 72-78.

I use Coral RX, it is easier on corals than revive, I would get some of that and do some dips, might want to consider cutting a frag on the large colony to see if you can save part of it. Do you have a QT that you can put these in to observe?

Those would be my first steps personally.

Good luck

Thanks for your response! To answer your questions, yes I am running both GFO and Carbon. BRS regular GFO and ROX carbon.

My Ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates are reading 0 all on API. I think that I will take a sample in to a LFS to test just to make sure, thanks for the suggestion.

I have been meaning to pick up a fan for the sump to see if blowing some cool air over the water could bring the temp down, but I really haven't ever had any other issues. Maybe its time

Kinda on the QT question.... I have one for fish but don't have lights set up for corals. As for lights, its a 4 bulb aquaticlife with ATI bulbs 3 blue+, and a coral +. They were changed in October.

May have to try the revive, the only bad this is I don't know how I will frag that colony it looks like it's skeleton has attached itself to the rock... I guess I could try to chisel it off? It would be hard to get that rock out of the tank.

Anyhow thanks for the suggestions, think I will start with the H20 testing at the LFS, and maybe a fan to get the temp down a little.

 

[redwingrob40]

Oh yeah forgot to mention B Ionic 2 part for CA and ALK.

 

[footballdude2k3]

Thanks for your response! To answer your questions, yes I am running both GFO and Carbon. BRS regular GFO and ROX carbon.

My Ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates are reading 0 all on API. I think that I will take a sample in to a LFS to test just to make sure, thanks for the suggestion.

I have been meaning to pick up a fan for the sump to see if blowing some cool air over the water could bring the temp down, but I really haven't ever had any other issues. Maybe its time

Kinda on the QT question.... I have one for fish but don't have lights set up for corals. As for lights, its a 4 bulb aquaticlife with ATI bulbs 3 blue+, and a coral +. They were changed in October.

May have to try the revive, the only bad this is I don't know how I will frag that colony it looks like it's skeleton has attached itself to the rock... I guess I could try to chisel it off? It would be hard to get that rock out of the tank.

Anyhow thanks for the suggestions, think I will start with the H20 testing at the LFS, and maybe a fan to get the temp down a little.

Perfect, good start. I would ask somebody in a local club if they have a spare light that you can try for a couple weeks, mine has equipment that you can rent for emergencies. When you have extra cash, I would look into Salifert tests, APIs...are not the best to put it nicely, I personally ran into a similar issue.

Also, I would try to yank the carbon for a while. I was having great growth on some acans until I put carbon in, found out that I was having other issues, but I have read that too much carbon can cause tissue recession. If the frag is attached to the rock and the rock is too hard to get out, looks like you might have to roll the dice on that one.

Good luck and if you have other questions, ask away or post updates.

Also, good call on the fan to see if that helps.

 

[redwingrob40]

Perfect, good start. I would ask somebody in a local club if they have a spare light that you can try for a couple weeks, mine has equipment that you can rent for emergencies. When you have extra cash, I would look into Salifert tests, APIs...are not the best to put it nicely, I personally ran into a similar issue.

Also, I would try to yank the carbon for a while. I was having great growth on some acans until I put carbon in, found out that I was having other issues, but I have read that too much carbon can cause tissue recession. If the frag is attached to the rock and the rock is too hard to get out, looks like you might have to roll the dice on that one.

Good luck and if you have other questions, ask away or post updates.

Also, good call on the fan to see if that helps.

Hmmm hadn't heard that about carbon, thanks for that tip! That's an easy fix to see if it helps, gonna give it a try for a few weeks and see if things start looking better!

Yeah need to bite the bullet on the fan, (I'm sure you know how hard it can be to keep a tank cool in texas!)

 

[footballdude2k3]

I know how that is! My AC died for a day last week, I am on the top floor of my apartment building, it got to 90 in my apartment before they had it fixed, ran out and bought 3 fans, but kept the temp under 81

 

[redwingrob40]

I know how that is! My AC died for a day last week, I am on the top floor of my apartment building, it got to 90 in my apartment before they had it fixed, ran out and bought 3 fans, but kept the temp under 81

Man that sucks, especially here in Texas, at least it happened in June and not August:eek2:

 

[redwingrob40]

Pulled the carbon the other day and the acans are actually looking worse. Going to get a chance to get a fan for the sump tomorrow so will give that a try as well...

 

[footballdude2k3]

Is there anybody local in your club that has a tank that could try to hold any to see if anything recovers at all?

 

[ksicard]

Ditch the API Tests and pick up red sea or salifert kits. If your nitrates and phosphates are truly zero then your starving them. Do you spot feed? If I were you I'd take your gfo and carbon offline and add some fish to get some po4 and no3 in the water. Also this se thing happened to me 6 months back when carbon dosing so of you have bio pellets, vodka dosing, or vinegar dosing then I'd stop that as well.

 

[redwingrob40]

Is there anybody local in your club that has a tank that could try to hold any to see if anything recovers at all?

That is def an option, will contact a few folks and see if anyone would be willing to help out...

 

[redwingrob40]

Ditch the API Tests and pick up red sea or salifert kits. If your nitrates and phosphates are truly zero then your starving them. Do you spot feed? If I were you I'd take your gfo and carbon offline and add some fish to get some po4 and no3 in the water. Also this se thing happened to me 6 months back when carbon dosing so of you have bio pellets, vodka dosing, or vinegar dosing then I'd stop that as well.

I agree API test kits aren't the best, I just hate to spend the $$$ on good test kits for things like Ammonia and Nitrate when I hardly test for them.

No I don't spot feed, and have a fairly high fish load in the tank right now. I do dose the red sea reef energy A and B about 1-2 times per week. Also no biopellets or vodka or other dosing. Right now its just GFO and skimmer... Had the GFO offline for a while about a month ago, and Phos got up to .08 on my hanna. I know its not super hight but the corals looked even more ****ed off then, so I brought it back on line...