I keep killing my Sea Anemones....Why?

[Joey]

I have bought 2 Sea Anemones and both have died within a week,. Then i bought 2 pieces of coral that looked like a sea anemone and they died within 2 days!! What in the world am i doing wrong!! Other than the fact they are expensive, Its really sad . I refuse to buy anymore until i know what i am doing that is killing these amazing creatures!!!

I Need All The Help I Can Get!!
Thanks,
Joey

 

[reefrunner69]

Please tell us more about your system.

Size, equipment, lighting, tankmates, how much LR, have you ever medicated the tank? What are your water parameters?

 

[tkos]

Even really good aquariums do not make great home for anemones. They are just an animal that is not suited for life in a small box. They have 100 year or more life spans in the wild and maybe 1 year in an aquarium. That being said corals shouldn't die that quick in an established aquarium with good lighting.

 

[kidafius]

They have 100 year or more life spans in the wild and maybe 1 year in an aquarium.

They are immortal, from what I understand, as far as natural life cycle. They only die from environmental or physical conditions, i.e. poisons, animals, aquarium nuts who "need" them in their tanks.

It is imparative, if you want to keep anenomes, that you have ZERO NO3, ZERO NO2, AND ZERO NH4/NH3. They also need ALOT of light to support the zooanthellae (I always mispell that), which is the symbiotic bacteria that grows inside of the anenome. Actinic lighting is reportedly a big help in keeping the Zoo........-stuff doing well. HTH. Good Luck, and please wait a while before trying again. Take a sample of your water to the LFS, and see if they can do a series of tests on it to see whats going on.

 

[bennerkla]

*sees doubles*

 

[kidafius]

man, i thought i was being original the second time

 

[Joey]

I am not sure of some of the stuff! I know that sounds silly but the LFS set it up for me and i bought all of my equipment through them! Its a 75 gallon tank,I have a Maroon Clown, Cardinal, and a Yellow Tang. There are several hermit crabs and snails. I also have 3 cleaner shrimp and an emerald crab. My other coral is doing good!! I have a flowering pot and a crown coral and the newest is a big yellow tree sponge looking thing!! the light is umm... one white one blue and one white, hehe if that tells you anything!! water perimeters are fine, just had them tested and just started adding bionic for coral. That was something that i never did before LFS said he must have forgotten to give it to me!!

Hope that helps? Sorry
Thanks
Joey

 

[roblikesfish]

wow

 

[BillyZ]

water perimeters are fine, just had them tested

this sentence makes it sound like you don't have the test kits yourself? If you don't you really need to get a set of test kits and test your water parameters regularly, at least once a week. and when you say "just fine" it still leaves questions in our minds. as stated above, anenomes and corals need as near to zero on NO3,NO2 and everything needs zero NH4/NH3

The other big question that comes to mind is how did you acclimate the anenomes/corals to your tank? Just dumping them out of the bag into your new tank can kill lots of things, especialy if your water is not pristine. Check out this article on acclimating and this article on Quarentines.

 

[kidafius]

I am not sure of some of the stuff! I know that sounds silly but the LFS set it up for me and i bought all of my equipment through them! ....the light is umm... one white one blue and one white, hehe if that tells you anything!!
Hope that helps?

Joey, you need to start doing some mad reading, my friend. It sounds like you are not too sure of a.) what you have, b.) what you need, and c.) how to take care of your aquarium.

I'm not trying to be rude. I just want you to be able to make all the decisions you need for your own system, and to stop relying on the LFS so much. Please check out this site for a ton of information of this hobby. After you have read what you need, check out the left column for good information on lighting, the cycle process, protein skimmers, DIY projects, and a wealth of other information.

Good luck! I hope everything goes great for you.

 

[kidafius]

sorry, I guess html doesn't fit in here try this link http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bcorsettingup/index.htm?terms=saltwater

 

[d9hp]

Kidafus, 100 kudos for that first post, i liked it.


Joey, read read read, dont buy anything else for a while too ok? You most likely need more lighting too