Acan accidentally frag'd

[TheGooseWhisperer]

I bought 2 heads of an acan yesterday and in the process of picking an aiptasia off the backside of the rock one of the heads got broken in 3 pieces (1/2, 1/3, and 1/6th). The largest piece stayed with the other head. I didnt know what to do...the flesh was still loosely attached, but I wasnt sure if it would heal. I ended up thinking that if it could heal from this break then it would heal from a full dissection. So I cut off the 2 smaller pieces and carefully glued them onto a piece of LR rubble, making sure I didn't get any glue on the flesh. Its only been 22 hrs, but they haven't melted yet. I would just keep an eye on them, but I'm going to be away for a couple days and if they have zero chance of survival it would probably be smart to just toss them now.

[AquaticEngineer]

If your gonna toss em, toss em my way

[RoseCityAquarium]

In my experience acans have been bulletprrof. Even a little micro frag will heal up and grow. Definately don't toss it. I put them at the bottom of the tank to heal.

[undrtkr_00]

Dsoz had some munched on by inverts clear down to the bone with no visible tissue left. After a while the flesh grew back in... I'd also say leave them - they'll probably recover (then you'll have a few new polyps to trade).

[dsoz]

^^^ it is true. There was no visible flesh left, and now they are almost as good as new (not quite as colorful yet). I was even able to frag one of the polyps off and use it for a trade at the last meeting.

 

My vote is to keep them under medium light and medium flow. If you see feeder tentacles at night, give it some meaty foods (krill, plankton, silverside, etc.). But don't try feeding unless there are feeders out. Other food in the tank at night may get the feeding response going.

 

dsoz

[TheGooseWhisperer]

The unfractured colony and the largest piece are starting to extend feeders...just barely though. My tank is running a bit on the "nutrient rich" side w/ flow and light being pretty good. The main colony and the largest frag are at about mid depth in the tank...even with my other acan that is looking fabulous. The tiny frag is all the way at the bottom in a good flow area close to the glass where I can keep an eye on it. Thanks for the info...sounds like things will be OK and might even be perfect for taking a pinch off the side to trade later:)

 

Side note: My other acan has its feeders out all day. I feed it a few times when it was new, but since then its seemed so inflated and colorful that I thought it was pretty happy and the tank overall would be better without the extra food going in. Long term, is it best if I feed it once a week or is that just if I really want to be pushing growth?

[dsoz]

I feed my acans between twice a week and every other week. Depends on how I feel at the time, and whether I want to fight the tang that is in my tank. When I feed meaty foods, the tang will hover around, and when I remove my hand will snatch all the food out of the corals/anemones. Unless it is totally ingested and covered up. So I have to guard each coral that I feed for 10-15 minutes. It makes for a long feeding process.

 

dsoz

[mrgreenthumb]

I feed the crap out of my acans grow grow grow!!!! I also have a bio denitrator so i don't have to worry about overfeeding I can see a noticable difference in growth rate when I traget feed!!!

[TheGooseWhisperer]

The 2 biggest pieces are doing better everyday. The 1/3 size frag had its feeders way out yesterday, but the cleaner shrimp trampled it before I could get a chance to feed it. The tiny frag is toast I think. There is still a tiny bit of flesh stuck to the skeleton so I'm going to leave it alone, but I really doubt it is going to make it at this point.