help! Acan irritated receding

[jimmy_beaner]

I got some acans about 2 weeks ago or so and they seemed to be happy in the tank (puffed out) but never really ate. I tried cyclopeeze and mysis and they never really took any of it. Well, the last couple days one of the frags has receded a lot and hasn't looked happy in the least. Today, another one of the three has started this process. I'm left wondering what could be going on. My candy cane coral has also deflated completely over the last couple days and you can tell it was happy as the one head has 5 mouths on it (I got it with 1 on that head). The guy I ordered the acans from also gave me some zoas which seemed happy but also have shrunken even though they're relatively close to my other zoas which are mostly out.
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0-5
pH - 8.3
alk - 9dKh
calcium - 440
temp - 78

The only thing I can think is I regenerated my Purigen and added it back to the tank about 5-6 days ago and I'm wondering if I didn't get all the bleach out. It was rather spent when I took it out, soaked it over night in 1:1 bleach:RODI, then soaked it a day in RODI+Prime. I don't think the addition of Prime to the tank would've done this, but I can't think of much else that would do this. Perhaps if the new Purigen sucked out a bunch of something the acan liked that spike could've caused something?

I do have them under LED lighting, and reduced the photoperiod by 2 hours for today. The actinics should be on for 10 hours today, with whites on for 8. I also noticed the analog timers we were using seemed to have some of the buttons pressed in a ways (not completely, but perhaps enough) to possibly kick on some lights over night so I reset that portion.
They're near the bottom of the tank and out of the majority of flow.

Any other ideas?

Here's the worst one:

10ish days ago:

Next acan that's decided it doesn't like life (today/yesterday):

10ish days ago:

This is two acan colonies (bottom right is the "best" right now) and the candy cane.

10ish days ago:

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Blastomussa merletti loving life...

Brain Coral...

Even the RBTA

I did mount them to rock about a week ago (3-4 days before the recession) and some of that was base rock so perhaps a spike in phosphate? The tank got cloudy and everything seemed to shrink up for 10-20 minutes until it cleared and then almost everything popped back out (the RBTA got mad and pouted under a rock for the night).

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I dimmed the LEDs down further, removed the Purigen and rotated the rock so the acan is lower in the water. Any other suggestions? I really want them to make it.

 

[organism]

What's your salinity and how are you testing for it? Definitely something not so good going on there, could be that the lights got stuck on like you said, it's hard to tell...

 

[jimmy_beaner]

1.025. Refractometer. You think they'll recover if it was a light issue?

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I'd really like more opinions if anyone would like to share some

 

[Glazner]

when I set up my LED's my acans didn't seem to like it. I moved them to the edge of the tank where the light was not so bright and they are doing better??? Just a thought.

 

[sbabs]

What about phosphates? You have algae growing in the tank. It's weird that you have so many lps not happy, I would look to water quality.

 

[AGYDAL]

How well did you wash the Prime out? I've heard that too much prime can cause Ph to go cattywampus...I cant remember if its high or low, but it might be something to look into?

 

[jimmy_beaner]

when I set up my LED's my acans didn't seem to like it. I moved them to the edge of the tank where the light was not so bright and they are doing better??? Just a thought.

They are on the edge. I turned down the LEDs and reduced the photoperiod so maybe that'll help. If that was the problem, it should.

What about phosphates? You have algae growing in the tank. It's weird that you have so many lps not happy, I would look to water quality.

I added new base rock for mounting the acans too, that added phosphates and a bloom of cyano and GHA. I don't test for phosphates since the algae tends to suck a lot of it up. I'm under the impression the phosphates have gone down because the cyano hasn't returned (all that's left is what I missed when I cleaned it out). I've heard the blasto merletti is more sensitive to water quality than the acans, plus I posted my water numbers. Aside from the acans, it's just the candy cane that isn't happy.

How well did you wash the Prime out? I've heard that too much prime can cause Ph to go cattywampus...I cant remember if its high or low, but it might be something to look into?

I rinsed it rather well. I don't know if I buy the pH argument because I posted my pH above, it's 8.3 which is spot on normal for my tank. Though the tank does smell a little fishy.

 

[Sar]

I think that you shoud take your water to a LFS and have them check your water for a second opinion. If that comes back to be ok, then do a 30% water change so that you could start recycling your tank. Also, how often are you running your light for and have you seen any abnormal activities with any of your vertebrates during both days and nights. The last thing is to check to find all of your fish, to make sure that all of them are a counted for because you said that it do smell really fishy. That could indicate that your salt is really high or dead animals that could bring upi your nitrates and phos.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I did a 30% WC this morning. I normally do 15%, but figured the additional new water could only help if there's something in the water that I can't test for.

My lights are currently whites - 10 hours, actinics - 12 hours. I have dimmed the LEDs down to around 75% of what they were at.

I have two clownfish that have been ignorant of any changes and have acted as normal as a clownfish can act. Both clowns accounted for. There's also a fire shrimp in the tank. It did molt about the time the Purigen went in, but it is also acting just fine. No losses in snails either.

Saltwater read 1.025 on refractometer, and saltwater I add is 1.025 checked by LFS and checked before it goes in the tank.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Just as a small update, the second to worst acan is attempting to puff up today, so I take that as a good sign. We'll see how things turn out over the next couple days. I'm wondering if I should do another 30% WC tomorrow (since I need to run to the LFS anyway and it would finish off my bucket). I'm going on a motorcycle ride today, I'll update if there's any improvement or decline by this evening. In the mean time, feel free to leave other comments/opinions as I will be checking thread throughout the day.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

Might as well do some updates (daily if I have to... trying to keep myself convinced I'm doing something to help).

I'm not sure what this clearish "ooze" is next to the acan

And the healthy looking things...

(it's actually got a snail with some algae on it under the brain coral)

I've heard of bugs/spider-like things that might eat the acans... anyone think an Interceptor dip would be a good idea? Or just added stress at this point? Other than the red dot on the 2nd to worst acan, I can't see anything that would suggest they're being eaten.

 

[AGYDAL]

How do you monitor your Ph? An overdose of prime can cause your Ph to drop...maybe it wasn't much of a drop for you or your other more established inhabitants to notice but since these guys are new to the tank they were more sensitive to the drop than the others in the tank???

You asked for more ideas in a previous post...

You mentioned bleach first and then thought Prime second...in my life experience it seems that my first two thoughts are always the root of the problem.

Maybe it wasn't a Ph drop cause by prime, but why did you think of bleach and prime first? Was there some point in the bleaching process you stopped and second guessed yourself?

That's why I mentioned the prime and Ph, I have witnessed this ph drop in freshwater tanks...IMO: bleach + tanks = a quick trip to the center of earth in a hand basket

 

[AGYDAL]

Ooze? What do you mean ooze? Are your snails disappearing?

Sorry to post twice, I don't know how to quote multiple replies.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

How do you monitor your Ph? An overdose of prime can cause your Ph to drop...maybe it wasn't much of a drop for you or your other more established inhabitants to notice but since these guys are new to the tank they were more sensitive to the drop than the others in the tank???

You asked for more ideas in a previous post...

You mentioned bleach first and then thought Prime second...in my life experience it seems that my first two thoughts are always the root of the problem.

Maybe it wasn't a Ph drop cause by prime, but why did you think of bleach and prime first? Was there some point in the bleaching process you stopped and second guessed yourself?

That's why I mentioned the prime and Ph, I have witnessed this ph drop in freshwater tanks...IMO: bleach + tanks = a quick trip to the center of earth in a hand basket

What had me cautious with the bleach is that I know bleach kills things. Thus, I'm uncomfortable with it ever touching anything that'll go in the tank... but I followed the regen procedure for Purigen to a T and decided if it works for lots of people I guess it's ok. The regen may just be coincident going in the tank when the recession happened or it may be linked (perhaps it pulled out organics that cleared the water making the lighting even more intense and that sent the acans over the edge).
The reason Prime and bleach came together is that they're both involved in the regeneration step. I'm using API test kit (like I've always done) and my pH has been 8.3 for a long time. I'm debating getting a controller with a pH and temp probe after all of this just so I could have a log. The idea of adding base rock that clouded the tank is another possibility in my eyes... it could've caused a large alk spike that has now gone away but it could've stressed the acans into recession.

Ooze? What do you mean ooze? Are your snails disappearing?

Sorry to post twice, I don't know how to quote multiple replies.

If you look just left of the worst acan, there is this clear substance... that's what I'm calling "ooze". I haven't lost a single inhabitant, be it snail, fish, shrimp, etc.

In other news, I fed some cyclopeeze last night about 2 hours after the lights went out. The best acan looked like it ate and the second to worst acan looked like it had some that went halfway down one mouth (I'd call that progress). I can also see what look like little fleas running around. I'm assuming these to be pods and not some murderous acan killing commandos.

 

[MattAndKim]

I think your tank has sufficient nutrients and detritus that the purigen may be doing more harm than good by trapping detritus and preventing export. You didn't post much info on your setup, but I assume you are using a biocube and your options for controlling your water are very limited. I think you need to up your WC schedule to bring nutrients down and maybe use a HOB reactor with GFO to help deal with your phosphate issue. IMO your nuisance algae problem was not due to the cycling of new rock.

Have you thought about carbon dosing?

What is your feeding schedule right now?

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I think your tank has sufficient nutrients and detritus that the purigen may be doing more harm than good by trapping detritus and preventing export. You didn't post much info on your setup, but I assume you are using a biocube and your options for controlling your water are very limited. I think you need to up your WC schedule to bring nutrients down and maybe use a HOB reactor with GFO to help deal with your phosphate issue. IMO your nuisance algae problem was not due to the cycling of new rock.

Have you thought about carbon dosing?

What is your feeding schedule right now?

I have a Biocube 29 with InTank media baskets and fuge. Running filter pad, Purigen, Chemipure Elite in the baskets along with phosguard. I have chaeto in the fuge lit 24/7 by a DIY light. MaxiJet1200 for flow. 3ish weeks ago I switched over to DIY LEDs mounted in the hood. I feed cyclopeeze and rinsed mysis every other day. I spot feed cyclopeeze twice weekly and change filter pads twice a week after feeding. I do 3.5 gallon WC (more than 15%) weekly. The cyano flared up terribly the 2 days after introduction of the new base rock and hasn't hinted at returning since I removed it manually. The GHA also boomed at that time, suggesting to me that the released phosphate is a likely culprit considering both were reasonably under control prior to the new base rock. My tank is also still young. Only 4 months. I realize this is rather young for a RBTA but I have religiously maintained water parameters. The growth of my corals and RBTA should attest to the care taken.

Thus far I believe alk spike induced stress combined with light shock from the intense LEDs to be responsible. The newly regenerated Purigen isn't suspected as a detritus trap because it had just been regenerated though it may have cleared the water making the LEDs even more intense

 

[MattAndKim]

IME anything in a bag is a detritus trap. Long ago I used purigen in sump, but after using carbon and aluminum oxide in reactors, I wouldn't think of using anything in a bag. Bulk GAC will perform better than chemi-pure elite as the resin is essentially inerted in seawater. If you think about passive filtration in a mesh bag versus a reactor from a kinetic perspective, the media in a bag is doing almost nothing if it is performing mechanical filtration.

Have you lifted the hood to attempt to lower PAR if you suspect light shock?

Next time you change the purigen, shake the bag out in a clean bucket of water and you will see the DOM that falls out.