sad acan

[sillygoose]

My acan has been looking rough for the last 1.5 weeks. We went out of town and pH got a bit low/ NO3 high. Last weekend we did about a 50% water change (our tank is a 90 gal) and I have been working to keep pH up. I also have a few mushrooms that look bad, although not all of them. They were all looking beautiful before we left. Everything else looks fine.

Any thoughts on what else I can do for them? My current approach is that I've done all I can and now I have to be patient, but I want them to hurry up and get better.

 

[lordraptor1]

there must be something wrong if your shrroms are looking bad (i cannot kill mine with a hammer in fact they have all survived NO3 levels off the scale on one of those test strips). what are your temps like? does it seem like anything is shorting causing a little shock?

 

[outcastjra]

Something must be way off. I would check the salt levels, cal, alk, ph, and your traits. Also the temp may be way too high, or too cold. Whatever level you find off I would use seachem products to readjust the levels. That's what I use and they work great!
You may want to try a few bags of chemipure!
I hope this helps!

 

[2006]

silly how is your acan doing? IME acans are sensitive to unstable alk and high light.

 

[sillygoose]

Thanks for the input - I've been AFK for a few days. My Acan is still not thrilled with life, although it's doing better - I think. I have started having some real issues with pH and add buffer everyday to keep it above 8.0.

As for temperature, I hadn't given it much thought...During the winter, we dropped our pump into the fuge. It is probably time to lift it back out now that it is warm again because the tank is creeping up to 80 degrees.

The other thing is that my GSP has gone nuts lately and I'm wondering if it is causing mischief. Has anyone had adverse reactions in neighbors from robust GSP growth? It's not touching the acan of the mushrooms.

 

[Tucson Reef]

If you are having pH problems find the cause, chems are not the answer. First take a sample (clean rinsed in RO glass) and aerate out side for a few minutes with air pump and air-stone. Check pH, if big diff, that's your answer, sealed house means high CO2 level, means low pH. If the sample pH is same as tank pH, the house is the cause, if not its feeding or die off. Vacuum detritus while doing water change, do every other day till pH comes up a and stays stable. If you have a lot of algae it might vary a point from morn to night as algae use CO2 and release O2. My pH get down to 7.6 at night and till noon and goes to 8.2, mine is CO2 caused, sealed house and use a lot of CO2 for plant tanks. I am also not a big water change type, will start in a few weeks when temps rise and my brute mixing tank gets to 80. I do heavy in summer and few in winter. My Acan's and Blasto's and Acro's do fine.

 

[sillygoose]

Today the pH is decent - 8.2. My overall water quality is good too. I'm thinking of moving the acan to a different part of the tank to see if a localized phenomenon has affected it. Also, we alternate the light cycle for the fuge so it is illuminated at night - an attempt to stabilize pH. Did a major tank clean a couple of weekends ago - almost clean as a whistle.

Someone told me that a calcium reactor helps stabilize pH - any thoughts?

 

[Sir Romey]

acan

acan

how is the acan doing?