Acans retracting?

[chimmike]

My acans have been retracted the past few days and I cannot figure out why.

dkh- 12
calc- 480
salt- 1.025-26
(I know both of those are high, but everything else is fine) nitrates and ammonia are both 0

I tried moving them to a lower light area on the sand bed, so far nothng. All the color is there, they're just retracted a lot.

I'm going to do a significant water change today, probably 15 gallons or so.

I haven't added or removed anything out of the ordinary lately, and the last fish add was about 2 weeks ago, orange spot rabbit, I haven't witnessed him trying to pick at anything.

 

[chimmike]

anybody?

 

[Premiumaq]

Sorry that no one got to you sooner. I pretty much keep only acanths in my reef, and I can tell you that even though they're the easiest things in the world to keep, they can put a scare into you with their odd behaviors.
A change in lighting can make your acanths retract, because they'll stay small to concentrate their zoo/algae into a smaller surface. Then they'll work on changing color a bit to better seal with the new lighting spectrum, and re-expand with a more appropriate light reflecting/refracting scheme.
Another time your acanths will retract for a spell is when they're getting ready to put on new heads. They seem to focus less on swelling up than on producing a small ring of corallites towards any sheltered edge. Try looking around the base of your acanths to see if any juveniles are evident.

 

[chimmike]

Thanks for the info saamath. I'm going to be doing a big water change today too, and running some carbon through a reactor just to be on the safe side.

 

[chimmike]

unfortunately, after further inspection of the acans, a couple polyps have their mouths open with no feeder tentacles out, and it looks like I can see the skeleton on some of them...........

they still have color and i'm completely clueless at this point as to what it may be.

also, my open brain seems to be retracted quite a bit. Again, all my SPS look normal.

both the acan and the brain are on the sand bed.

 

[kingnai]

whats your ph?

 

[chimmike]

right around 8, hasn't changed significantly in months.

 

[chimmike]

well insofar as I can tell, they're dead.

No chance of recovery now.

I just want to find out WHY they died!

 

[kingnai]

man that sucks... how long have you had them? where did you get them?

 

[chimmike]

got 'em from Agu......the legend himself. And they were doing great for a while, then they receeded about 3-4 days ago, I thought maybe they were takin a dump, but it continued........then the brain started to receed, it looks bad now too. It's like my LPS (except for my chalice......fingers crossed) which were all within 8" of eachother on the sandbed are dead/dying.

I do have a lot of SPS frags in close proximity on a frag rack and I'm wondering if there's chemical warfare going on in the tank........so the 15-20g water change I did (maybe it was 25g?) will help, and I'm running carbon thru a reactor too.

 

[MG21]

I had a similar situation with my acans and scolys. Lost a few thousand dollars worth of stuff. All my sps were fine. Finally found out about trying interceptor and it worked for me. Not sure if this is the same problem you are having but it's something to look into. Good luck.

 

[faze07hd]

maybe because they were on the sandbed???? im not sure if thats why but hey, anything could be a possibility...

 

[ktar]

I would try interceptor if nothing else works for you. You might have the little parasite i use to have and they will wipe out all your LPS. Where the receding start do you see some white stringy stuff. If you do then it the little bugs i had. I have no idea where they come from but they are hard to get rid of. You have to dose interceptor like multiple times just to get rid of them completely. Good luck!

 

[chimmike]

I didn't have any white stringers or anything.

 

[chimmike]

any other possibilities?

 

[intenseimage]

Dose interceptor -- you MAY be able to save them even if they are quite far gone

 

[chimmike]

okay, so I researched this interceptor stuff......am I reading this right? Are people dosing dog heartworm medicine?

 

[intenseimage]

YEP

 

[chimmike]

looks like ill be dosing that, and hopefully not killing my entire cuc

 

[chimmike]

just wondering if anyone else has any ideas?