Concerned about Acan - opinions needed please

[impur]

I got this acan just a few weeks ago from a fellow RC member. It had some damage on the top of it, to about 3 of the polyps. One died back to about half the polyp, but it has since grown a new mouth and it recovering nicely. My concern is that the area around these damaged polyps has started to look bleached. Now as you will see in the pics, there was a little bit of damage in this area where the spikey part of the skeleton poked thru the tissue. So i'm not sure if its bleaching or repairing. Other than the color it seems to be doing fine. Feeders are out at the first taste of food in the water and they are also extended every night all night long.

The acan came from the bottom of a tank with PCs, and i have it at the bottom of my 29gal with a 250w 14k MH that sits 11" off the water surface. The coral is in medium flow. Should i try to shade it for a little while or does it look like it is just repairing itself?

Pic day i rec'd it, getting a quick dip
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1240146.jpg

Right after the dip, placed in the tank. Also same day i rec'd it. Notice the spikey part of the skeleton poking thru.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1240147.jpg

Late last week
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1280148.jpg

Close up of damaged polyp
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1280150.jpg

Close up of bleached area
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1280152.jpg

Thanks for looking!!

Miles

[marcel leroux]

Yeh, it is bleaching a bit. Just make sure you keep feeding it, these corals are quite tough and will probably heal itself. I always give a new coral, especially a damaged one, a lugol's solution dip. I also feed misis soaked in garlic. Seems to work for me. JMO. Seems like you are on the right track, that is a nice piece. Good luck.

[impur]

Thanks for the input. I did give it a lugols dip prior to putting it in the tank. I have only fed it a few times, usually mysis/brine/blood worm combo soaked in Selcon.

I'll try feeding it a bit more often this week. Should i move it to less light?

[marcel leroux]

Bottom of the tank should be fine, but if you have a shady area it could'nt hurt

[RandyO]

The spiky part on the top is from a thumb. Usually when people pick corals up they cup the bottom of the animial, but use their thumb to hold the top part. If you squeeze too hard you press the flesh right through the skeleton, which is what it looks like. It could have happened in the bag too, but usually when it's on the top like that, its from a finger.

And it's bleaching, most likely from the increase of lighting. I would move it right away to a lower lit spot. Keep feeding it. That will help it keep it's energy level high. It's it's energy level drops, it won't be able to heal itself.

[impur]

Yah that was most likely my thumb. That part has healed though. I'm going to move it to a little less light and begin feeding it every other day or so to see if that helps it.

[impur]

Well its been a couple weeks so i thought i'd update this thread. I ended up leaving the acan where it was originally placed, although i did turn it a bit so i could get a better look at more of the coral. The bleaching has subsided, i guess its getting more and more use to the MH. There is still some washed out color on the top of the coral, but the rest has returned to normal. The damaged polyp has almost completely repaired itself. Thanks for all who replied, it helped set me at ease and gave me some ideas for any future acans i get. BTW thats my new acan lord in the background :)

Pics

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P2200203.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P2200196.jpg

[RandyO]

you might not want to keep the lord that close to the Echinata. They can get aggresive.

[shinny]

awesome colors. What is in the dip solution you used? I recieved a damaged favia last weekend and I was wondering if I should do the dip thing. The dealer said it was a "scratch and dent" coral that he had gotten in september but I don't know. I probably shouldn't have bought it but my temptation won. I did notice a tiny flea looking thing on the coral after I put it in the tank. My hermit crabs went right at it when I put it in the tank so maybe they will clean it up. It does look like it has had some new growth on it (small polyps where skeleton is). Thanks for any suggestions.

[impur]

I dipped it in flat worm exit and a few drops of iodine for about 10 minutes. My hermits went to town on this one too, mostly for the damaged flesh and an algea spot that was on it. One of the few times i applauded my hermits! Usually i'm cursing them for climing on corals, knocking stuff over.

Just keep it in a stable environment and minimize any stress to it and i'm sure it will recover.

[shinny]

thanks for the help. You got yourself a beautiful coral there.

[impur]

Thanks! Its definately the showpiece in my tank.

[shinny]

is that a rainbow acan? Or what do you call that? Does the place where you got that have any more, if you know?

[impur]

Yup you got it, rainbow acan echinata. I got it off a guy in Florida who was selling it in the selling forums here on RC.

Any pics of your favia? That is one of the corals on my list that i have yet to get. My LFS got a beautiful favia in, i think the common name is xmas favia. Its a real nice green with red mouths.

[shinny]

can't get a good pic of it. mine is one third florescent green polyps and one third brownish purple (orange and blue stripes under actinics) and the other third is kinda barren with polyps appearing to be coming back. Hope it does. Maybe I'll try to take a better picture. The other favia I saw (and wish I bought) was like red rims with very florescent green centers, that was a cool one.

[impur]

Does your favia have similar colors to my acan lord?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P2200189.jpg

[RandyO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6797089#post6797089 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by impur
Does your favia have similar colors to my acan lord?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P2200189.jpg


This coral is not an Acan lord. It looks like a Favide to me.

[impur]

Hmm thanks for the ID, was traded to me as a lord.

[shinny]

My favia is quite similar to yours. but not as much green but it is similar. All of the sudden I am addicted to LPS. Before I always thought they were boring (didn't move in the current or retract or anything). Now I have learned more about them and am very interested in them.

[impur]

Same here, i've become very interested in LPS. In fact i'm dedicating a tank to all LPS once i get moved into my new house. Should be awesome!

[xdusty6920]

lol i thought i was loosing my mind. as i was reading i was like "weres the lord in that pic?" lol

[shinny]

Yea Impur, I think I could buy a lot of LPS if I had the $ and the tank. Did you check out the other thread on here and did you check out reeffarmers.com? Man, you could spend a lot of money there on LPS. I love the alien eye and moon rock. BTW, you have to watch out for those crazy buckeyes like xdusty.