How quickly can acans become burnt?

[Sophie reef dog]

I have a beautiful (well, I think so anyway) acan frag that I got last Friday from the LFS. I have had it on the floor of my tank in a moderate flow area and it seemed to be doing wonderful - until the crew from the same LFS came on Tuesday to do their every other week water change (my tank is at my office and my boss has a contract with them to do this...that is a whole other story). The guy moved the acan from the tank floor to the top of the rock work which put it in a relatively high flow area (I have a 130 gyre on continuous setting at 30%) and about 6-7" below my LED's and left it there. I don't know if he moved it while cleaning the sand bed and left it accidentally or if he decided it was a better place for it. Either way, I noticed it there several hours later and noticed it looked somewhat receded but didn't have much time to do more than move it back where it was supposed to be. When I was able to get a good look at it yesterday I found severe tissue recession involving 3 of the 4 "adult" and the 4 "baby" heads (3 of which had developed mouths) were still covered but very shrunken. There is only one head (total) left which has a functional mouth, so I am feeding it daily. Sorry for the rambling, but what I am wondering is if the several hours it spent that close to the lights could have caused all that damage, or should I be looking elsewhere. Thanks for your help...this just makes me sick :sad2:

 

[rt67ghy]

It could since it was basically moved from the bottom of the tank to the top right under the lights in a few seconds. It must've been a big shock to the poor coral and I think you did the right thing to move it back down when you noticed it. Ask your boss to speak to the LFS and tell them not to touch/move the corals in the future. It goes without saying that if it dies, they should replace it.

 

[knukles55]

well I don't know how your boss is but just tell the maintance guy if you see him please don't touch this 1 coral pretty sure they'll get the picture. I do maintance if I see corals on the floor I move them up because people clients that are walking by don't like seeing coral on the floor. acans can handle high light but not such a drastic change like that. it sounds like a serious burn or a fish that might like LPS.

 

[Sophie reef dog]

Yeah, the timing just seems awfully suspicious. I have some pictures of the poor thing...
Before:

 

[Sophie reef dog]

And after...
So do you think it is OK is the location where it was to begin with, or should I move it to a shaded area while it recovers? What do you think it's chances are of recovering?

 

[Budman422]

It should recover looks like what is left has good color to it. I recently bought several frags of acan at an lfs that were bleached they gave me a good deal of the 7 only lost one all others colored up and opening good now 2 months later.

 

[Reef Frog]

I'm looking at your pics on a phone and can not make out the detail all that well, but it looks like there's tissue there so it may very we'll recover. Yes, a sudden change in lighting extremes can cause a deep polyp retraction.

You said "tissue recession". Did tissue actually flake off in pieces or strings? That is a dead polyp. It's not necessarily dead when it just puckers up and retracts/deflated into the skeleton. I'd keep it in low, indirect light for a while and watch it, and eventually expose it to more light. Recovery may be very much possible since you were able to remedy the situation in only a few hours.

 

[Sophie reef dog]

Thanks so much everyone for your help! Reef frog, I never saw any tissue come off of it...this is my first acan but my impression upon looking at it was that the tissue had receded/retracted versus actually come off completely, so I am really hoping that's what happened. I have moved it to a partially shaded area and am going to keep feeding it a little bit each day (and have a talk with the maintenance team from the LFS and tell them to leave my corals where they bloody found them!!)
Fingers crossed