Acan Lord Questions...

Discussion in 'Coral Health' started by RedGambit, Dec 8, 2009.

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  1. RedGambit

    RedGambit Giant Squid

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    So I got an acan lord sunday, and it's accepting food and all.... Still has its tentacles out at evening/morning/night.

    Heres my thing.... few area of the coral piece is turning shaded and things are protruding from it... I dont have a new picture yet.. but in this picture:
    [​IMG]

    if you make it larger you can see white almost pipe like things on its side. These things are growing out of the coral in different spots.. :-\ Does anyone know what the heck its doing?

    Also I noticed a small bit of almost like spider webbing meterial hanging off the coral as well :( Is something wrong with my acan?

    Will post current pics in the am. An Ideas till then?
     
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  3. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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    I think you may have some vermetid snail hitchikers on the coral it's not the coral itself. They create a thin web that they drag in the water current to capture food to eat. They're pretty harmless filter feeders unless their population explodes they can become a bit pesky.
     
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  4. ZachB

    ZachB Giant Squid

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    +1 vermetid snails. I have some of these, they irk me. They hurt too, if you stick yourself on their shell picking something up.
     
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  5. WuWu

    WuWu Feather Star

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    +1 on the snail .... Those things piss me off to no end I hate them I like to go in with hemostats and crush the lil turds
     
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  6. RedGambit

    RedGambit Giant Squid

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    Thanks everyone... After looking at pictures of the critters you suggest I would say 100% it is that... Question being now... What do I do... Try to kill them some how or... just play it out and see if it doesnt kill the coral :|? Im quite lost in this situation I guess...

    +k for the help!
     
  7. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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    They probably won't kill the coral, the coral will grow around the snail. If they do start to irritate the coral you can always just take some super glue and superglue the end of their little tube shut or if you can scrape it off entirely you can do that too just be careful not to damage the coral poylyps.
     
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  9. RedGambit

    RedGambit Giant Squid

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    It really seems to be irritating the coral in a few spots... I noticed a few pods roaming the acan... Can they irritate it as well or damage it?
     
  10. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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    I would probably just keep an eye on it if you don't just want to clean them off right now. The coral will be fine for a little while even if it's being irritated, acans are pretty hardy. If polyps stop opening up for more than a day or two or you start seeing more exposed skeleton then it might be time to worry. The coral might get used to it too, who knows.

    Only thing is depending where the vermetids are located it might force the coral to form new polyps around the worm and it might continuously irritate those new polyps too as it covers more rock, so I might just get rid of the snails if it were me.

    I don't think you need to worry about pods irritating it either, they're just running around looking for food.
     
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  11. RedGambit

    RedGambit Giant Squid

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    Thanks for the info!.. Another quick question, I noticed my other acan... I could see what looked like the skeleton inside a couple of the polyps, but took a led flashlight tonight and looked and its tentacles are out now and I cant see that any more... Is it normal for Acans to change shape or do anything weird when full and not hungry?

    Sorry for all the questions!
     
  12. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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    Yes, they occasionally deflate and change shape based on water currents/temperature/light/food availability/mood whatever. As long as the polyps continue to puff back up and you don't see more exposed skeleton over time I think they're probably fine.