Acanthophyllia Advice

[Richsreef]

Hi there,

I have a 100gal LPS dominated mixed reef which has been set up for 2.5 years. 9 months ago I brought a lovely Acanthophyllia that settled in well and has been doing great until the last 2 weeks. I have noticed it is no longer inflating fully or feeding - I think it might have a digestive issue as when it does open its mouth it appears to have a ball of poop/sand in there? Before the last 2 weeks I would feed it just a small amount of LPS pellets by Vitalis every 10 days and I broadcast feed the tank Reefroids and AB+ twice a week - I dose under recommended amounts for each of these. Important thing to note is that I have not had any issues with any of my other LPS or SPS corals - in fact my trachyphyllias, Scolys and Cynarina are looking the best they ever have.
My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity 7.3-7.8dKH
Calcium 410-440ppm
Magnesium 1300-1320ppm
Nitrate 3ppm (was previously closer to 10ppm but has been lowering last 3 months as I started to use carbon doing to keep Phosphate in check)
Phosphate 0.11ppm (was previously up at 0.2ppm 3 months ago).

I have attached 3 photos of the Acantho. First is of it 2 weeks ago when it looked happy, second is a slightly blue photo which shows the poop/sand in its mouth and the third is how it looks most of the time now - not entirely withdrawn but definitely not as inflated as it has been.

Any help much appreciated!

Rich

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi there,

I have a 100gal LPS dominated mixed reef which has been set up for 2.5 years. 9 months ago I brought a lovely Acanthophyllia that settled in well and has been doing great until the last 2 weeks. I have noticed it is no longer inflating fully or feeding - I think it might have a digestive issue as when it does open its mouth it appears to have a ball of poop/sand in there? Before the last 2 weeks I would feed it just a small amount of LPS pellets by Vitalis every 10 days and I broadcast feed the tank Reefroids and AB+ twice a week - I dose under recommended amounts for each of these. Important thing to note is that I have not had any issues with any of my other LPS or SPS corals - in fact my trachyphyllias, Scolys and Cynarina are looking the best they ever have.
My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity 7.3-7.8dKH
Calcium 410-440ppm
Magnesium 1300-1320ppm
Nitrate 3ppm (was previously closer to 10ppm but has been lowering last 3 months as I started to use carbon doing to keep Phosphate in check)
Phosphate 0.11ppm (was previously up at 0.2ppm 3 months ago).

I have attached 3 photos of the Acantho. First is of it 2 weeks ago when it looked happy, second is a slightly blue photo which shows the poop/sand in its mouth and the third is how it looks most of the time now - not entirely withdrawn but definitely not as inflated as it has been.

Any help much appreciated!

Rich

View attachment 3013877 View attachment 3013878 View attachment 3013884

Phosphate is part of the issue
Assure nitrate <.20 and feed mysis shrimp 2-3x per week

 

[KrisReef]

I moved mine to a sand free tank because I observed a wrasse kicking sand into the face of my acantho. I have been feeding him chopped clams and it seems a lot happier being in a sand free tank.

 

[Richsreef]

Phosphate is part of the issue
Assure nitrate <.20 and feed mysis shrimp 2-3x per week

Do you think my phosphate was too high? Nitrate of less than 1ppm scares me as it’s very close to bottoming out - do you mean keep phosphate at <0.20? Thanks for taking the time to reply!

 

[Richsreef]

I moved mine to a sand free tank because I observed a wrasse kicking sand into the face of my acantho. I have been feeding him chopped clams and it seems a lot happier being in a sand free tank.

I do have wrasse in my tank and you can see there is some sand in the mouth of it, thanks for the advice

 

[Richsreef]

Just thought I would provide an update in case anyone has a similar issue and finds this thread! I took the acanthophyllia out of the tank and dipped it in some revive (by 2 little fishies) as I read that dipping the coral might encourage it to expel the waste and sand in its mouth. Unfortunately this didn’t happen so I took a pipette I had and decided to suck out the sand and poop from its mouth myself.

This worked perfectly and the Acanthophyllia is back to its best, I have attached a couple of photos from the last few weeks. Hope this is useful to someone in the future!

 

[KrisReef]

Just thought I would provide an update in case anyone has a similar issue and finds this thread! I took the acanthophyllia out of the tank and dipped it in some revive (by 2 little fishies) as I read that dipping the coral might encourage it to expel the waste and sand in its mouth. Unfortunately this didn’t happen so I took a pipette I had and decided to suck out the sand and poop from its mouth myself.

This worked perfectly and the Acanthophyllia is back to its best, I have attached a couple of photos from the last few weeks. Hope this is useful to someone in the future!

That description reminds me of a mother who relieved her child’s nasal congestion by placing her mouth over the child’s nose an to this day I want to vomit when I think of what went into her mouth. I always turn off the Novage commercials on the radio because that guy’s voice and the topic hit me right down there in the guts and I am afraid that I will choke and gag just thinking about the process.
Interestingly, I don’t get quite as ill reading about the straw and suction procedure description in this thread. I believe that my love for Acanthophyllia is much greater than my feelings for children? Thanks for the update and congratulations on saving the coral.

 

[Richsreef]

That description reminds me of a mother who relieved her child’s nasal congestion by placing her mouth over the child’s nose an to this day I want to vomit when I think of what went into her mouth. I always turn off the Novage commercials on the radio because that guy’s voice and the topic hit me right down there in the guts and I am afraid that I will choke and gag just thinking about the process.
Interestingly, I don’t get quite as ill reading about the straw and suction procedure description in this thread. I believe that my love for Acanthophyllia is much greater than my feelings for children? Thanks for the update and congratulations on saving the coral.

haha I didnt suck it out using my mouth! I used a pipette/syringe to suck it out and operated that with my hand haha thanks for the reply!