Help me with an anemone

[misskeeter2766]

So my father... while trying to do something completely out of his comfort zone and unlike him... brought me a "present" ... its a sebae anemone.

Now this is a man that knows nothing about saltwater at all... he has a 55 gallon freshwater tank (thank he breaks all the "rules" with I might add) ... so he did not realize that bringing me an anemone was not a good thing.

I called the store.. of course they won't take it back... I only know one other person with a reef tank.. and they just had a lighting issue (bulbs getting lost, then broken during shipment) that lead to a giant clam death. Their tank is in utter chaos right now and everything is dying... so that isn't an option...

So I set about to drip acclimate the poor thing and come to research it a little more... only to find out that not only is it one of the more difficult species of anemone, but it is yellow.. yep... its been dyed.

I decided that since I cannot change things, I will do my best to try to keep it as happy as possible.. and baby it with as many feedings as it needs. I am afraid that it is already not well (I wouldnt be either if I had been captured, dipped in dye, and then spent two days being shipped in a bag of my own filth)... It is not attaching. I have it low, nested in between live rock, with it's food on/in the sand.. it will not open fully. I thought it was going to eat last night, curled in and opened its mouth to the food, but then it just sat there, then opened back up and was uninterested in the food (I removed it after an hour)...

So, is it completely doomed? is there anything I can do to save this poor thing? I am now completely distrusting of my lfs and will probably not purchase anything but water from them from here on. I'll go snap some pics and post them.. maybe that will help.

(tank is a 12 gallon nano cube dx---no need to tell me... I know it isnt appropriate for the anemone.. ... and my family has now all been notified to give me gift cards in the future instead of surprising me with creatures)

 

[misskeeter2766]

Okay, heres a pic that I took last night... today it's mouth is very tightly closed.. and you cant tell by this pic.. but this is in the bottom of the tank, and his foot is resting in the sand behind the rock.. theres a good amount of sand that goes straight to the bottom of the tank.
tank params are
ammonia-o
nitrite-0
nitrate-20
alk-3--
pH-7.4
salinity- 1.026
temp-80

 

[misskeeter2766]

grrr.. just called the lfs again.. told them I was pretty ticked about having to take a loss (even if it's my father's money not mine) on an already difficult creature that has been dyed... the manager called the distributer, who swears that this anemone was not dyed, and that it is a natural yellow base sebae. They are telling me that if it was dyed, they would let me return it, but that since it was not (which I don't believe) then I have to just keep it and take the loss.
I can't find any info anywhere on a natural yellow base sebae anemone.. I think the distributer is an idiot or lying.

 

[thincat]

The best thing for that anemone right now is "light". What type of lights do you have? Some times an anemone will respond to a feeding stimulus. This can be done by taking a small piece of food, a piece of shrimp or something like that and gentlly brushing it against the anemones tenticle. This will get the anemones instintive responses going and it might start to feed. But again light (strong) is the best bet right now.
I hope this helps...

 

[MarineFlake]

Lighting? Though I suspect it's pc if it came with the 12 dx. People keep nems under pc lighting, though it will be interesting to see where it moves. Best cover any pump intakes now if you have any. Also, you should contact your local reef club, find out if someone will buy it from you or just take it. Either that or give it back to the lfs, 12 is just too small and should it survive it will sting and wipe out everything else. Consider also that if it does decline, it ain't gonna be pretty in that 12 for long. GL!

 

[misskeeter2766]

the lighting is standard nano cube dx lighting...

and we don't have a local reef club.. closest one is 2 hours away...

store wont even take it back. I tried that before I even acclimated it.

it is not attaching at all.. just sitting there looking pissed.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay I tried rubbing the food on its tentacles (even though they are pulled in tiny...) and where it wasnt sticky at all yesterday, it IS sticky today... is that a good sign?

 

[thincat]

Lighting? Yes an anemone gets most of it's energy from photosynthesis. So if it's not feeding then it's best to give it the most light that you got....

 

[ccCapt]

That's not a sebae, or at least it looks nothing like my sebae. It looks more like a bleached carpet...or possibly a bleached bubble tip.
Don't even try to feed it now. It's too stressed out and if it does take food, it will use too much energy just to digest it.

 

[misskeeter2766]

oh wow...

okay.. so I will just leave it alone for a few days... pray.. and see what happens... Im told I will "know" if it has died... what will I be looking for, other than it falling apart?

 

[nxb161]

any updates?? Also I'm curious about one thing, does your LFS have a policy about no returns or just being a pain about this one? It saddens me when you find a LFS that is only about the $$$ and not the pets they sell.

 

[misskeeter2766]

first off... my lfs apparently has a very strict no returns no matter what policy on anything saltwater... which is sad.. they'd rather have a creature die in an improper aquarium than take it back...

This morning the anemone had moved. First time it's moved anywhere since it's been in the tank... it's still shrively looking, but it is now on the bare sand away from any rocks... I guess it hates live rock. lol..
I was sad to see the weird yellow ball of stuff it spit out... that probably cant be good. . I haven't tried to feed it.. probably wont until it starts looking a little less pissed. water quality is still very good today, so that's good. I turned on the light for an extra hour this morning too.

It still is not attached, but it's foot looks a little more spread out and a little less tight. It has also left a very slimy trail behind it. still closed mouth.. that gives me some comfort at least.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Hope it ends well.

 

[misskeeter2766]

me too... it looks very very droopy right now.

I'm afraid my clowns are about to start bothering it too... they have come out of their back corner and are now hanging out RIGHT in front of it in the front corner...

 

[Mitchell0605]

Probably want to host it. I don't think that the nem could take that ATM either.

 

[misskeeter2766]

well... I didn't expect to wake up to find one of the clowns dead this morning.. I was worried about it when I got a good look at it swimming last night and noticed it had a crooked spine and wasnt eating...

The anemone is the same this morning... not attached... still shrively...

checked water quality.
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-20
pH-7.4... that's lower than it was 2 days ago..
salinity-1.026

... I also found an aiptasia on the tiny rock with my mushroom... not sure what to do about that.. it is teeny tiny.. but I dont want it in there... I dont see how I could get that off the rock without hurting the mushroom

 

[ccCapt]

If your pH is really that low, nothing will survive long. You need to get that up. What's your alk level? If it's a little low, you can throw some Arm & Hammer baking soda in the oven, bake it for an hr at 350, then mix it with some RO water and dose your tank.
If your alk is normal, you need to reduce the amount of co2 in the water. Best way to do that is pump some outside, fresh air into the tank.

 

[cmor1701d]

Put 2½ cups of Arm and Hammer backing soda on a baking sheet, bake at 350 for aobout and hour and mix with RODI to make 1 gallon of Alk supplement. DO NOT ADD IT ALL AT ONCE, but just a few ounces at a time.

PLEASE test your Alk first. Also what test klt are you using? If you make a batch of water for a pwc, what does that test at for pH and Alk?
What time of day did you test your pH? Is this the same time of day you always test? The light cycle affects pH abit so you need to test at the same time of day every time you test.

Also, those nitrates are on the high side. PWC's should help get those down and stabilize your pH at the same time.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay... did a water change (was planning on it anyway... ) new numbers (after about 6 hours) are:
ammonia- 0
nitrate-10
nitrite- 0
alkalinity- 300
pH- 8.2
salinity-1.0265

oh.. and the anemone is lying on its side now... still shriveled looking... I'm really thinking it may die soon....

shoot... this is why I didnt want to add anything but a cuc for about a week.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay. the nem is lying on it's side.. it looks just terrible.. it hasnt moved at all today... I don't see it being able to come back from this. I am worried about it dying and nuking the tank, but I dont want to just take it out and flush it if it is still alive.. I'll feel like a murderer...

can it come back from this? or is it too far gone?