some acans not doing so well when the lights turnon

[Jon]

I bought some beautiful acan frags about two weeks ago. When I first dropped them into my tank they opened up perfectly. But since yesterday they are now fairly unhappy. They do not inflate when the lights come on but when the lights go off they inflate to normal size. I did my normal 15 gallon water change on Wednesday (I have a 58 gallon oceanic with a 20 gallon sump) and this has been happening since than. My water paremeters are as follows: ph 8.3, ammonia .25 ( I think something is wrong with my test kit everything else is perfect) nitrite 0, nitrate 0, calcium 440, magnesium 1400, alkalinity 9 and salinity 1.024 Could it be something with my lights or could it be that they are in somewhat of a healing mode since they were cut on site when I bought them.

Jon

 

[njstillwell]

Tjey are healing up give it another week or so if they are getting inflated at night its normal. They are night time water colum scavengers if nothing has happend in a week, try some revive on them in a bucket and get some flow nothing crazy this will help them to heal up faster and bring out great colors in their skeleton. LMK what happens ..

 

[mnat]

Also, what type of light do you have and where are they in your tank?

 

[Scottyrock]

my blue purple grey and green acans dont like much light. have them in a shaded area. target feed him one night after ya turn the lights off and he will stay big in an area with a high shadow... not alot of water movement either

 

[Jon]

NJStillwell thanks for the advice I will keep you posted. The acans are located at the bottom of my tank under 234 watts of Tek T5 lighting using giesemann bulbs about 6 months old.

 

[njstillwell]

Anytime also your fine with the lights...just keep them at the bottom of the tank...

 

[mnat]

I agree with njstillwell, keep them at the bottom and they will be fine.

 

[mr_X]

acans should not retract when the light is on, new cuts or not. i have cut hundreds of acan frags and haven't seen any act like that.
you've seen where they were in my tank. i would shield them from any strong light.

 

[Scottyrock]

just telling them what happens to MY acans. they are half the size when lights come on and they retract their feeders in. they are super healthy sprouting 4 new heads

 

[Johan]

Have you been feeding them and if so what? I had an issue with an acan once where it receded from five polyps to one and all I started to do is feed the one polyp more. Over time it healed and the polyps started regrowing.

 

[mr_X]

just telling them what happens to MY acans. they are half the size when lights come on and they retract their feeders in. they are super healthy sprouting 4 new heads

interesting. my acans always stay the same size. they just show tentacles at night.

i never insinuated that your acans were unhealthy. maybe since my acans are in a dimly lit tank and are fully open, it might be a good idea to try to sheild them from intense light and see if they open up completely. if they shrink to half the size, they are telling you something.

 

[Scottyrock]

i know that x. just saying that they are and the same thing happens. maybe different varietys react different ways

 

[adesimone1]

They are in my tank now and I already see them starting to inflate. Mine are on the bottom of the tank and if you look at the photo of the month for May that is mine and it pretty much stays like that all the time.