Sometimes you just have to ask for help

[j_a_wickstrom]

I recently bought livestock, LR, and substrate from a couple that is moving and needed to find their pets a good home. They told me that this little thing was an anemone, but after 3 weeks of searching and researching, I'm not so sure.

I tried to inhance the photos as much as possible, but you still can't see the little pink dots that are on the underside of the top. There are no tentacles and the top is ruffled. Fully extended, I'd say the top is somewhere around the size of a penny (I'm very bad at size guestimation, though).

It reacts to touch and water movement. At one point the damsel had annoyed it enough that it retreated until it was a little bump in the rock. It seems to have a little hole dug into the rock where it's base it.

I haven't been able to get a hold of the original owners to find out if they know any more. They didn't give me any special feeding instructions for it, and it seems to be OK after 3 weeks of life in my system. It's not coming out as far as it did at first, possibly due to either a change in the rockwork that allows more current to hit it or because the damsel keeps disturbing the rock as it digs.

I'm thinking zoanthid of some type, but that could be a product of too much research. I've definitely went into information overload.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

TIA,
Joleen

 

[Fluff]

I think it looks like a very unhappy bleached anemone. I'd give it some time. I have one that was so overstressed when I got it, the tentacles were not evident and had no idea what species, but it has come around slowly and I now know it is a bta. How long have you had it?

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

Three weeks now. The tank it came from was in rather bad shape, with green hair algae choking everything in the tank.

Should I be feeding it zooplankton to some other type of plankton?

 

[Fluff]

I wouldn't bother attempting to feed it. If you have enough light and stable/clean water, it should come around. Attempts at feeding it may stress it even more. It needs time. Just be patient with it.

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

OK... Next stupid question: how do I know if it's getting enough light?

 

[Fluff]

Just let it position itself. If it needs more light, it will go higher up. If it needs less, it will move down. It may also hide for a few weeks just adjusting to the new tank. What type of lights do you have?

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

Just normal output fluorescents. A 15 watt Life-Glo 2 and a 15 watt Power-Glo from Hagen. I have a 55 gallon tank. When I started this, I never planned on doing a reef tank...

Thank you, Fluff, for your fast responses.

 

[Hara]

unfortunately, it will not be able to survive with normal output flourescents. You might try taking it to a store for credit before it fades any further.

 

[Hara]

I am also in Lousiana, if you do not know of any stores nearby that can take it, I may be able to help you locate one.

 

[Fluff]

I agree with Hara. Unfortunately your lighting isn't enough to sustain the anemone let alone enough to help it recover.

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

How many watts would I need, and what tint? At least 4 watts per gallon, right?

 

[Fluff]

Yes. a mix of white light and actinic would look nice. The price of pc lights are coming down considerably since I bought mine. You might want to check into that. Four 65w bulbs, two actinic and two white would be good.

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

PC lights are ordered and we're trying to give it as much light as we can until they arrive.

Next stupid question (and please forgive my newness at this ): Is it possible that there is not enough floating food in my tank at the moment? The reason I ask is because I just rearranged the tank in order to fix the damsel's excavations and try to prevent further digging. As you can imagine, pushing the substrate back into the holes kicked up a lot of detritus. The anemone, after being closed for a few hours, opened partially and stretched out. It's position didn't particularly change. So, was it trying to get the detritus and is this an indication that I should add something to the water?

 

[Fluff]

The stretching could be it reaching for light, or maybe it was irritated by the stir up. It's gonna get most of it's food from your lights as well as food particles in the water. Sounds like it is still getting adjusted to the tank and lights. Keep your water pristine through water changes, give it some decent lighting and lots of time to recover. If you really feel like you have to feed it something, it wouldn't hurt to add some phytoplankton or something simular to the tank. You could also try offering it some mysid shrimp but nothing big.