Sick Carpet Anenome

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pcbboy32404

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 5, 2004
Messages
12
Location
Panama City
I'll try to attach a picture but my carpet anenome seems to be dying, i have tried feeding it shrimp, fish, and some pellet food. Doesn't seem to eat at all. A convict clown has hosted to it but never feeds it. Just need some help with this one. Any advice would be appreciated. I did a 20-25 gallon water change 2 days ago.

Thanks
 
If that pic is on your server you need to make it world accessible. I got ...

"Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /images/PICT0183.JPG on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. "

when trying to view it.
 
What kind of lighting do have on that tank?
Carpet anemones need MH lighting from my understanding.
 
I've got 2 Actinic 115watt bulbs, and 2 white 115watt bulbs, and they are set to run for 10 hours per day. Fish store that I buy from says that is enough lighting for them. I tested the water today and Amonia, PH, Salinity, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels are all normal or within tolerance. Used Red Sea Marine Lab for tests.
 
What size (gallons) and dimensions are the tank?
Are those VHO lights?
Are you sure the bulbs are 115w and not 110w?
WPG or watts per gallon is an oft used measurement for lighting
Amonia, PH, Salinity, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels are all normal or within tolerance.
Please post actual numbers for all parameters

How long have you had the anemone?
How long has the tank been running?
What else is in the tank, livestock, filtration, etc.?
 
Your right they are 110. 2 Actinic Blue and 2 Actinic White with a coral vue ballast. And yes they are VHO lights and also T12 connectors. The tank is a 75Gal and has been up for over a year now.

Amonia 0
Nitrite .2
Nitrate High 25 Low 5.0
Salinity 1.022
pH 7.8
Alk Low

1 Picasso Trigger
1 Damsel
Toadstool
Xenia
Fingertip Sponge

Emperor 400 Biowheel
Red Sea Prizm Deluxe Skimmer
15w UV Sterilizer
2 Powerheads
Titanium Heater
Tank remains constant 78 degrees


I bought the Carpet about 2 weeks ago. My other tube anenome has died also this morning. The only thing that is different than 2 weeks prior, is I did a 25 gal water change a couple of days ago and I bought some shrimp from local seafood market to feed both anenome's. Could they have been poisoned from the shrimp? It was caught in the Gulf of Mexico.

I will post more pictures to the above link in the next few minutes.
 
If they were fresh shrimp sold for human consumption I doubt they did any damage. Did the anemone eat the shrimp?

You salinity seems low to me. Try raising it slowly over a period of a week or longer to 1.024-1.026.

Also your pH is low. What time of day is that reading from? If it's before the lights come on, take a pH reading after the lights have been on for several hours. Otherwise you need to raise that pH.

Alk is low? What is low? Do you have a measurement (dKH or meq/L)?

I asked one of the advisors to check this thread and help you out.
 
The alkalinity card i have doesn't have any numbers its just a 3 section bar chart Low, Normal, and High. Mine is at the very low side. No measurement. The shrimp were fresh from that days catch. I don't think he ate the shrimp though. The darn clown keeps froliching around on him. Not sure if thats doing him any good. I should quarantine him, but don't have a separate tank. I could build an acrylic cage for him though that water can pass through. I took the readings about mid day, that being lights being on for at least 5 hours. By the way appreciate all the help didn't expect a response this quick. You can tell by the pictures that I had a bad outbreak of Green hair algae and that was the reason for the water change, also tank is being medicated for phosphates with ALGONE, its been floating in the tank for about 2 weeks now. It claims that it is safe for reef tanks. I cleared a spot in the sand down to the glass and placed the anenome there today and he has attached himself to the glass. Also his mouth inards have retracted back into him alot. I have noticed too that whatever has changed in the tank has affected my Toadstool also, his "feelers" if you will haven't been out for a few days now. Also my Xenia looks a little different, still hearty but have some black spots on them. I wonder if somehow a chemical wasn't introduced to my tank somehow. Not sure what to think but any more help is greatly appreciated. If anything I may just return him to the store and see how he fairs back their and just get store credit. But I would rather keep him if I can make him happy.
 
Being that the carpet has been in there two weeks and your algaecide product has as well, I might be inclined to look on that as at least a partial suspect. Even though considered an organic product, any item claiming to be safe should be treated with greatest sceptiscism.

Aside from that your water specs are quite poor for sensitive inverts as these and most likely the root cause. You should really do several large water changes over the next few days with well aged (24 hrs) and aerated SW, heated to the same as the tank. That should help with the low alk/pH as well as lowering the nitrite and nitrates. I would seriously suggest removing the Algone as well. It will not reduce PO4 either, it simpley binds nitrates and supposedly lowers the available nutrient in the system. Judging by the time it's been there and your nitrate levels, it's not working.

Higher nitrate (above 10ppm) is quite bad for more sensitive inverts but the presence of the nitrite is even worse. NO2 should be undetectable at all times. How often do you feed the fish and how much/what?

The anemone attaching and the tighter mouth is a good sign though. Do not try to feed it any further either. It's not necessary given the lighting you have unless it ends up catching nothing with general fish feedings. Even then I would urge against it.

If the Emporer HOB filter is the main means of filtration you need to be sure the media is cleaned quite often to prevent organic build up. Is this mainly an FO system with some inverts or does it have LR?

You will also need to make a serious choice in what you will be keeping in the tank. The Picasso will begin to look upon the anemone as lunch sooner or later. They are no where near inverts safe at all. :wink:

Cheers
Steve
 
I usually feed twice a day, and as much as they consume, its hard to tell how much the picasso consumes as he is always hungry. He hasn't bothered any of the inverts yet in the tank, the only thing he really likes to eat is turbo snails he masacred about 25 of them i bought to control the algae growth. The filter on the Emperor I started to clean at least once a week due to not cleaning it for the first 4 months the tank was up, it was pretty filthy so i decided to incorperate that into my water changes. I have 3 fish in the tank now, and the rest are inverts with about 65lbs of cured live rock. I will just do the water changes you suggest until the nitrate levels read zero and monitor them on a daily basis there out until i get a feel for how long it takes them to trace again. Let me know if you can think of anything else and thanks again for your help.
 
I would cut back on the feeding a bit, twice a day is what's causing your water quality issues. Once a day should be fine for the trigger although it may start nipping at additional inverts, not too sure there.

Be sure that once the water specs are back "inline", you continue to do at least weekly water changes to keep them lowered. Messy carnivors are quite taxing on the biofiltration.

Cheers
Steve
 
Well today the situation has worsened. Not only is the anenome being affected but now the xenia, toadstool, green tip mushrooms are all experciencing some sort of posioning. I have had my tank for over a year now and haven't seen anything like this. The only thing that is different is the ALGONE. It has been removed from the tank from earlier suggestions in this post. I have decreased all the nitrate, nitrite readings to zero or just a very small trace. I'm afraid i'm about to lose everything but my fish.
 
How much water did you change each time and did you allow the newly mixed water to properly mix and aerate for 24 hrs before use? Improperly dissolved salts can be quite harmful. Also are you always using the same brand of salt? Any phosphate removal items?

The Algone could still be affecting your tank, don't know for sure. I would suggest using some carbon in the Emporer swapped out a few times. That will help with what you can't see.

What is your water source and have you had it tested for copper?

Cheers
Steve
 
All water changes come from the LFS, or from Wal-Mart, bottled water, not spring or anything added kind but the reverse osmosis and/or distilled water. I never use tap or contaminate with tap water, i know some people that do but i worry too much about copper posioning. I have added salt to the tank to keep the salinity up. I have carbon in the Emperor now, i will change it out to make sure, but today the tank looks very sick. I'm afraid i am about to lose everything. I am calling out my LFS tomorrow and they have on-site service for 45/mo and I will let them fix my water and whatever suggestions they may have i will proceed with. My yahoo screen name is pcbboy32407. I should be around all weekend if anyone wants to im me and talk real time about this. Any help is appreciated. Not only from me but my tank critters too!
 
I have added salt to the tank to keep the salinity up.
allow the newly mixed water to properly mix and aerate for 24 hrs before use? Improperly dissolved salts can be quite harmful
Did you add the salt directly to the tank or did you add it to make up water? The best way to adjust salinity is through water changes. Make the new batch of water either higher or lower than the tank, depending on your goal. Do this over several days.
 
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