collegeman March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 (edited) I notice that my acans were looking a little funny yesterday. The tissue looks like it is receding and it looks like some of the heads are shrinking away. One of my chalice is starting to turn white and my frogspawn also looks like one head might be receding. What should i do? Should i dip them or what? I tested nitrate, nitrite, kh, phosphate, ammonia, and calcium. All parameters are in check.My clams, torch, hammers, zoas, softies, maxi anemones, and other corals are looking amazing. My torch has been releasing some brown stuff which i think might be waste. Edited March 20, 2011 by collegeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 Even though you think the parameters are fine it helps us if you list them. Describe your lighting some, photo-period and type. When my acans had issue like that it was from old bulbs and high nitrates. New bulbs and more water changes enabled them to make full recovery. How long have you had them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 (edited) Nitrates-0 nitrite-0 KH-10 Phosphate- 0.0-0.25 ammonia-0 24 3 watt leds on a nano cube 28. half are on from 3:30-11:00, the other half 4:30-9:30. 3 acan frags are over 7 months old 4 acan frags over 4 months chalice 2 months frogspawn 9 months torch 2 weeks The only difference is i stopped feeding the acans for almost a month. However, I never feed the chalice. Edited March 20, 2011 by collegeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 Did you just switch to the LED's? I had some chalice frags that started receding when I switched to LED's. I think they are too bright for them. Do you have a dimmer hooked up? Try moving the corals under a ledge if possible. They should recover as long as the water quality stays up. Also, there is a big difference between 0 phosphate and .25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 ^^ That is exactly what I was thinking too, possibly to much light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 They have been under the leds for over a month with no problem. the chalice is located in the shade along with my mushrooms. I do not think the phosphates are the problem since i was battling it with way higher readings. I do think it more towards the 0 since most of the algae is falling of the rocks now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 One of the acans were shaded a whole lot and it is the worst one. 2 that were in direct light looks the best. I will try moving them around and see how they do over the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 Try slowly increasing the photo-period some. Maybe 30min every few days to see how they respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 Okay, thanks for the help Coral Hind and BowieReefer84. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 I took another look at my tank and 2 pieces of sps i received for free is doing bad. One has been in my tank for 2 weeks and the other for 4 weeks. I am starting to think the clam i recently purchased is soaking up all the calcium and depriving all the other livestock. I tested the calcium with an API test kit which is know for not being on point and everything seemed fine. I will do another test later on today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 I took another look at my tank and 2 pieces of sps i received for free is doing bad. One has been in my tank for 2 weeks and the other for 4 weeks. I am starting to think the clam i recently purchased is soaking up all the calcium and depriving all the other livestock. I tested the calcium with an API test kit which is know for not being on point and everything seemed fine. I will do another test later on today. Check your ALK. I had some sps frags not doing well, and I blame it on ALK. Not the number, but the quick change. It is used at a faster rate than Calcium. Get a salifert alk test kit, and measure regularly until you have a good understanding of how much is used daily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 20, 2011 Author Share March 20, 2011 Thanks, i was just looking at salifert test kits. should i replace all my test kits with salifert? I am going to test my tank more often since i have a lot of coral in my tank. What are the most essential test for a reef that consist of mostly softies, lps, and clams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 I took another look at my tank and 2 pieces of sps i received for free is doing bad. One has been in my tank for 2 weeks and the other for 4 weeks. I am starting to think the clam i recently purchased is soaking up all the calcium and depriving all the other livestock. I tested the calcium with an API test kit which is know for not being on point and everything seemed fine. I will do another test later on today. I think it's unlikely that a single clam is having much of an effect on your calcium, or that the calcium level in your tank is affecting your sps frags. IME the most likely causes for sps problems are too much light, not little/too much water flow, alkalinity swings, and pests, as others have mentioned. Can you post some pics of your sps to help us understand if their problem might be related to the acans? Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 Do you feed you acans? MY acans are HUGE and always open. They sit at the bottim of the tank directly under the lights but I think they're doing so great because I feed my tanks Oyster feast and phyto feast. The phyto is great for clams. BRK sells it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS March 20, 2011 Share March 20, 2011 How established are the frags? They seem somewhat new and small. They seem like some of the $10 frags out there and they can have survivabilty issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 21, 2011 Author Share March 21, 2011 The frags are established and the amount of time i had them is stated above. Everything looked healthy friday night and when i got home from work saturday they looked a little weird. I do not think it is an light issue since some were shaded a good amount. I do not think it is just the clam but the combination of the clam and the small lps colonies of hammer, torch, frogspawn and 2 clams which could be causing the problem. I might be wrong but that is why i am here asking questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 March 21, 2011 Share March 21, 2011 Chemical warfare between corals maybe? Looks like some of those LPS are quite large. You have quite the variety in that tank. I see that you added the torch just two weeks ago. I would suspect that maybe? Hard to say, others with more info may be more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS March 21, 2011 Share March 21, 2011 I'd look to see if something is stinging them. Some of those LPS have really long feelers at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 21, 2011 Author Share March 21, 2011 Now that bowiereefer mention it i think a leather could be the blame. I have a leather coral that was torn and i placed it in the front of the tank near the acans. I later placed the leather near a chalice and that chalice looks the worst. I have removed that leather, lets see what happen. I am doing a water change and replacing my carbon now. If anyone else have any ideas let me know, i am all ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager March 21, 2011 Share March 21, 2011 (edited) an injured leather coral can blast massive amounts of alleopathy (chem warfare) in a tank, your waterchange is a good idea, and id bet your acans were "downrange" flow wise from that leather and getting most of the chemicals to the proverbial face. if you do not see improvement within the day add more carbon and run as much chaotic flow as you can to get the mucus off the corals. a very brief gentle direct hit with a hand held powerhead to blow them clean may also be in order, just hold the frag when you do so and move it into the flow then out. watch at night for the torches feeder tentacles, if they get near the acans that may also be the culprit as above. i have seen 4 inch+ tentacles off of them before so worth a check Edited March 21, 2011 by Jager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 21, 2011 Author Share March 21, 2011 The torch does not get near the acans since the acans are on the floor and the torch is at the highest point in the tank. I think the leather was the problem now since everything it was near was affected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 21, 2011 Share March 21, 2011 I think that if tyou thin the herd (remove some corals) and feed the LPS, they'll do much better. SPS in that tank probably won't make it. IME, those little tanks never do well with SPS because you can't blast them with high water flow. I grow chalice, acans, and blastos under the led cannon and have zero issues with them. Clear out some of that rubble, increase the flow, feed the corals, ditch the sps. You'll see results quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach March 21, 2011 Share March 21, 2011 Sps are very hard to grow in a smaller tank. How is your calcium? with a clam and all those hard corals those were my thoughts anyway? I think its a very pretty tank I hope stuff recovers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman March 23, 2011 Author Share March 23, 2011 The acans and chalice are doing better. I decided to do a water change, add new carbon, and dip them in lugol's solution. I will post new pic after a few more days.Thanks for the help, i truly appreciate the help that was provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collegeman April 16, 2011 Author Share April 16, 2011 Here are some up to date pictures after my little problem. I decided to start dosing 5ml of C- Balance Part A and B every morning. since i did this everything in the tank looks way better. The Acans and chalice is finally starting to grow. for the time i had them i saw little to no growth. 2 weeks of dosing the tissue of the acans are starting to grow and cover the rocks and or frag plugs. I was very scared about doing but i glad i took the chance. I will continue to does the same amount until i test again in a few weeks.Do not mind the brain coral in the front right that i rescued. It is doing better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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