Rainbow Acan Stopped Opening

For about the past week my rainbow acan has stopped opening its tenticles and eating. Last night a few of the heads were opened a little larger with a few tenticles out, but that's about it. My water params are all in check and I've been on a regular feeding schedule of every other day. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? :bowdown:

 

did u have a temp swing

 

No temp swing. I run 2 heaters just in case 1 shuts down. Temp is constantly at 78*

 

is it near any other corals that might sting it? and could a fish or invert be picking at it?

 

Not within reach of any stinging corals. The only time my inverts will pick at it is during feeding....thieves! My fish don't pay any attention to it. My scooter blenny will glide along it as it cruises the sand, but that's about it.

 

how long have uhad it

 

about 2 months

 

were is it sitting in the tank. and how muck flow does it have on it. they like lower flow and a moderate light

 

+ Daugherty

Also, it's possible to OVERfeed. It may still be processing the amount of food it's already been fed. You need to allow the acan to expand or the heads will collapse. Good luck!

 

I have it on the sandbed so the light can't really get any more moderate unless I put it under a rock ledge. The flow is the same as its been since I put in the tank. The flow it gets is deflected from the front glass. The flow was hitting it too hard and moved its angle, but that was on day 1. I actually haven't moved the acan at all since I first put it on the sandbed. I've been feeding it every other day since then as well and it's been having polyp extension just fine up until last weekend. Maybe its just acting a bit finicky and will get back to normal.

 

I have had them close for a long time and they eventually will reopen. I had one stay closed for 3 weeks to a month, honestly thought it was dying, but it kept its color and eventually reopened. I don't know how you have it in the sand but I keep mine on on rocks on the sand bed they tend to close up and get touchy if the sand gets in them.

 

Mine it attached to a frag plug and I have it stuck in the sand. The colors are very bright actually so I'm not too worried. They may have got sand in them bc my urchin decided to knock them over about a week ago, but only 4 or 5 polyps were in the sand. That might be there answer...thanks!

 

Stop feeding so frequently. LPS corals will eat every day if you would feed them. I've read a couple articles claiming that might not necessarily be good for them. The theory is (I guess it's actually happened a few times) feeding all that rich protein will produce lots of large and fluffy polyps for awhile - but they can overgrow their boney skeleton underneath. If this happens they can deflate and shrivel or die.

The LPS is a large polyp STONEY coral. It has the same skeletal structure underneath all those polyps as you would normally see exposed on an SPS coral. The stoney skeleton is not grown with protein. It's grown with trace elements and calcium. It takes significantly longer to grow than the fleshy polyps - especially if you're feeding the polyps a rich diet on a regular basis. But you can't have polyps without skeleton. The limiting factor is skeletal growth. Making polyps grow is easy - as you found out - just feed them. Only time and good water conditions will accelerate the stoney growth required to support the exposed polyps.

I'm just guessing though. It won't hurt to stop feeding them for a bit. I have some LPS that I never feed (favia and chalice) and they grow just fine - albeit slowly.

When in doubt - do some water changes. IMO that's your first line of defense when something is not looking normal in the tank. Changing water removes toxins, helps stabilize major parameters such as pH, alk, calcium and will help replenish trace elements.

 

Thanks for the thorough feedback Chris! :bowdown: I actually did a water change 4 days ago. Last night the acan looked a lot better. The polyps were inflated more and some the tenticles were out. Three of the heads even ate some food that was passing buy in the current. I'm sure it will be just fine, but I'll keep a close eye on it for any changes...better or worse.

I do know that overfeeding can cause overgrowth of soft tissue and not enough skeletal growth, so I'll probably cut down my feedings to once or twice a week. I got this acan with 22 heads on it and it still has 22 heads. They really don't even look much bigger in size either.

 

I'm one of those people that feeds my corals a lot. But I don't feed my LPS more than once or twice a week, and I still think that's on the end of "very frequent" feedings. It's funny, because some people (like Melosu, I think), have never fed their LPS, and his grows like crazy! Growth can be attributed to so many factors, and I think if you don't feed, but make up for it somewhere else, you can still see great growth.

 

Update: The acan is completely back to normal. I'm going to do my feedings once a week now. I think it's hungry because the tenicles were out in full force last night.

 

good to hear

 

I feed it a mix of frozen mysis, brine, marine cusine and meaty formula 1 mix.

 

sorry i didint know there was a second page on youre post, i thought youre queston had not been answered yet. glad to hear its doing good.