I think it might still be alive...

[sadie]

I gently used my turkey baster and swooshed it over the acan, and I saw some color.  Not a lot and can still see the skeleton, but is there a chance it could still make it?  And if so, what can I do to help it?

[mitten_reef]

it seems to be alive, but barely.  when acan retracted that deep into the skeleton, it's not happy with something or many things in the tank.  happy acan should be nice and puffy.  Has anything in the tank been picking at it? have your tank parameters been fairly stable?  They're fairly hardy.  provided that whatever condition it's in is not exacerbated, it might recover all on its own.  

 

[sadie]

It's a new arrival and it didn't arrive in great condition,  It was already receeded and the skeleton showing. One head died within the first day and I thought the 2nd head died.  My parameters are all stable,  my cleaner shrimp stole the food from it when I fed it but besides that, I haven't seen the crabs or anything bothering it.

 

I tested the water yesterday and this is what 

temp-79.9

salinity-1.025

KH-9.3

Mag-1425

calcium-450

 

[sadie]

oh the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and phosphates are all 0

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, sadie said:

oh the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and phosphates are all 0

Phosphate being 0 and nitrate being 0 is not beneficial.

Corals need both.

[sadie]

 

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Phosphate being 0 and nitrate being 0 is not beneficial.

Corals need both.

I still don't get that.  In 2000 when I started, you HAD to have 0's on everything, water changes EVERY week.  And tanks were amazing.  Now, it's )'s on Po4 and No3 are bad, Don't do WC EVERY week, it's so weird.  I had acans that did great in my old tank.  It had 4-5 heads when I got it and it grew to maybe 8=10.  I had 0 phosphate and nitrate.  I don't know why this is a thing now.  I know just before I stopped going to the forums before, people keeping zoos were all about "dirty water".  I wanted to keep zoos so bad (mine just slowly disappeared).  I thought about dosing, but everything else in my tank was doing awesome and I didn't want to change that.  

 

These were my orange crush.  I had them for maybe a year or two.  I lost them when we moved and had a 4 hour drive.  Between breaking the tank down and having to set it up, I lost the rest of my LPS coral.

 

 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

10 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

it seems to be alive, but barely.  when acan retracted that deep into the skeleton, it's not happy with something or many things in the tank.  happy acan should be nice and puffy.  Has anything in the tank been picking at it? have your tank parameters been fairly stable?  They're fairly hardy.  provided that whatever condition it's in is not exacerbated, it might recover all on its own.  

 

Is it possible for an acan to be too puffy? My one acan that I have is so puffy that it almost reminds me of a trachy. The flow in the tank hits it sometimes and I’m always afraid that the acan is gonna pop right out of its skeleton. It’s already happened once before for me.

[sadie]

1 minute ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Is it possible for an acan to be too puffy? My one acan that I have is so puffy that it almost reminds me of a trachy. The flow in the tank hits it sometimes and I’m always afraid that the acan is gonna pop right out of its skeleton. It’s already happened once before for me.

I just read where a frogspawn jumped off it's skeleton, landed in a sea shell and was living.  I'll have to look it up again, I wonder how it's doing.  I hope yours doesn't jump.

[sadie]

So this does keep coming up- the No3 and Po4 thing.  Is there a link to this?  I don't have many coral in my tank now. so maybe if I change things, now would be better.  I thought they might go up with the heavy feeding and I didn't do a WC last week. (I feel like a rebel😈)  but they haven't moved.

 

I just want to fully understanding before I actually change things.

[mitten_reef]

14 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Is it possible for an acan to be too puffy? My one acan that I have is so puffy that it almost reminds me of a trachy. The flow in the tank hits it sometimes and I’m always afraid that the acan is gonna pop right out of its skeleton. It’s already happened once before for me.

No idea on corals popping off the skeleton, or what may caused it.  If everything else is puffier than normal in your tank, I’d check salinity.  Also, Is it puffy or is it extended (light), the two are slightly different looking. Pics?

[sadie]

oh, the pictures of the acan are mine.  I had them about 7 yrs ago.  The first picture is shortly after I got it and the next is after it grew and had a few more heads.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

8 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

No idea on corals popping off the skeleton, or what may caused it.  If everything else is puffier than normal in your tank, I’d check salinity.  Also, Is it puffy or is it extended (light), the two are slightly different looking. Pics?

I do have a picture I think maybe. It’s not reaching for light, it looks like a normal acan, except that it almost looks like a trachy at the same time, bc the flesh is extending out over the skeleton

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I just read something that it could be due to magnesium levels in my tank.

And strontium

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

I just read something that it could be due to magnesium levels in my tank.

And strontium

Are you able to test to confirm?

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, sadie said:

 

I still don't get that.  In 2000 when I started, you HAD to have 0's on everything, water changes EVERY week.  And tanks were amazing.  Now, it's )'s on Po4 and No3 are bad, Don't do WC EVERY week, it's so weird.  I had acans that did great in my old tank.  It had 4-5 heads when I got it and it grew to maybe 8=10.  I had 0 phosphate and nitrate.  I don't know why this is a thing now.  I know just before I stopped going to the forums before, people keeping zoos were all about "dirty water".  I wanted to keep zoos so bad (mine just slowly disappeared).  I thought about dosing, but everything else in my tank was doing awesome and I didn't want to change that.  

 

These were my orange crush.  I had them for maybe a year or two.  I lost them when we moved and had a 4 hour drive.  Between breaking the tank down and having to set it up, I lost the rest of my LPS coral.

 

 

Methods and knowledge change as we evolve and knowledge is gained.

 

As time has gone on and more research has been done, we have learned that some of the old ways of doing this hobby weren't necessarily beneficial.

 

Lack of nutrients prevents growth, colouration, and even encourages problems like dinoflagellates. 

 

Polyp bailing(euphyllia leaving skeleton) is caused by stressed, a last attempt to live. Normally caused by water conditions.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

3 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Are you able to test to confirm?

I don’t have either of those test kits. I didn’t think that they were as important as the other things in the tank. I’ll have to get some, but that may be the problem 

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

I don’t have either of those test kits. I didn’t think that they were as important as the other things in the tank. I’ll have to get some, but that may be the problem 

Magnesium - yes, you should have a test kit. 

 

unless your trace elements (Strontium is considered a trace) is totally off balance - most cases would be due to bad water source/RODI needs to be changed - it'd be just fine by doing routine water change to manage trace elements to within acceptable level.  

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I still don’t have a rodi system yet, I’ve been using gallons of distilled water.

[Clown79]

25 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

I still don’t have a rodi system yet, I’ve been using gallons of distilled water.

Distilled is perfectly fine to use. Pure water.

[sadie]

And...I think it died.  I don't see any color at all and can see the skeleton in the center.  😪  What a bummer.  The other acan looked a little shady yesterday and I questioned if it would make it, but today it looks a little better.  It is eating, but you can still see the edge of the skeleton.

 

[Tamberav]

On 9/24/2019 at 6:59 AM, sadie said:

 

I still don't get that.  In 2000 when I started, you HAD to have 0's on everything, water changes EVERY week.  And tanks were amazing.  Now, it's )'s on Po4 and No3 are bad, Don't do WC EVERY week, it's so weird.  I had acans that did great in my old tank.  It had 4-5 heads when I got it and it grew to maybe 8=10.  I had 0 phosphate and nitrate.  I don't know why this is a thing now.  I know just before I stopped going to the forums before, people keeping zoos were all about "dirty water".  I wanted to keep zoos so bad (mine just slowly disappeared).  I thought about dosing, but everything else in my tank was doing awesome and I didn't want to change that.  

 

These were my orange crush.  I had them for maybe a year or two.  I lost them when we moved and had a 4 hour drive.  Between breaking the tank down and having to set it up, I lost the rest of my LPS coral.

 

 

 

Filtration and skimmers have become more effective at stripping the water....test kits are probably more accurate now (maybe your 0s was not 0 but just very low). To compound the issue is that true live rock isn't as readily available now and dry rock is popular. This probably effects natural plankton food... stability...etc. 

 

Zero in a mature diverse reef is a lot different than zero in a young tank. The mature tank is probably just processing it quickly but it is there along with many life forms feeding the reef.

 

For the most part reefing is different now....especially the rock.