Electric Green Carpet Help!!

[The Reef Addict]

Hey guys,

I originally posted this an the reef threads and someone recommended I repost here to get some help from you anemone experts out there!

I got an electric green carpet anemone which has noticably decreased in size (been about 3 weeks).. Sometimes the mouth is wide opened and other times its closed. Not sure why but for the most part it opens up more during the night (not the mouth, I mean size of nem) . A couple days ago I dosed Kents Microvert and it seemed to respond better to it, its currently not accepting meaty foods. Partially sticky to the touch, still has fantastic coloring! All other corals (hammers, asteriods, bubble, polyps, zoas, scolly, torch, others) and tube anemone all look great!! Please Help!

Here are some specs:
Ammonia: 0? Please check picture
Nitrate/Nitrite: 0
PH: 8.3
Lighting T5: 3- 10000ks 1-actinic (9 hours daytime)

 

[The Reef Addict]

Have I made that many enemies already? :sad1:

 

[m0nkie]

from your pictures your carpet look sick and needs treatment.. it looks like he's starting to lose shape (able to kinda fold his body upward), and gapping badly

How old is your tank? Does it inflate and deflate? expel anything??

you can follow this thread for treatment:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2271385
10gal water, cipro, daily 100% water change. 7 day treatment!


Kent Microvert is coral food. it shouldn't have much effect on Haddoni..

 

[The Reef Addict]

from your pictures your carpet look sick and needs treatment.. it looks like he's starting to lose shape (able to kinda fold his body upward), and gapping badly

How old is your tank?

you can follow this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2271385

10gal water, cipro, daily 100% water change. 7 day treatment!

I was actually reading that thread yesterday, thanks to another member directing me to it. Ive never had this sort of an issue before so I didnt know if my nem was suffering from an infection, or another issue. I have everything for the treatment, except cipro... Is that what your guessing my nem needs?

 

[m0nkie]

btw a sick carpet can take awhile to slowly die.. I had a green just like yours that looked good most of the time.. after 2-3 weeks it could not longer attach and treatment was too late.. I would treat early

IME. 99%-100% carpet anemones I got from LFS needed Cipro treatment, I assume Petco is worse in quality.. healthy anemones can get stressed through shipping and die. In all those cases, early Cipro or Septra treatment will be your best bet. and I stress, early is the key.. Haddoni react very well to treatment IMO. but time is not usually on our side.

I have 6 Haddoni, 1 Gig and a ton of BTAs.. had to Cipro so many anemones...

you can get Cipro cheap on ebay.

 

[The Reef Addict]

btw a sick carpet can take awhile to slowly die.. I had a green just like yours that looked good most of the time.. after 2-3 weeks it could not longer attach and treatment was too late.. I would treat early

IME. 99%-100% carpet anemones I got from LFS needed Cipro treatment

I have 6 Haddoni, 1 Gig and a ton of BTAs.. had to Cipro so many anemones...

you can get Cipro cheap on ebay.

Wow, I had no idea it was such an issue! Thank you very much for the reply! Luckily mine is still staying attached, and is fairly sticky. Hopefully it's not too late, its beautiful in color and I was hoping to get my clowns to host out of it eventually. Im getting cipro right away!!

Is this mainly a carpet thing, Or is it fairly common with all anemones? My bubble tip acclimated, no problem!

 

[m0nkie]

Wow, I had no idea it was such an issue! Thank you very much for the reply! Luckily mine is still staying attached, and is fairly sticky. Hopefully it's not too late, its beautiful in color and I was hoping to get my clowns to host out of it eventually. Im getting cipro right away!!

Is this mainly a carpet thing, Or is it fairly common with all anemones? My bubble tip acclimated, no problem!

Ime.. bta are much hardier so they rarely need treatment. Carpets are fragile.. haddoni responds to treatment well. Gigs, not so much.. 1 week obserbation time could sometime kill it.. they really need to be treated on the spot.

I havent gotten into other anemones.. but i hear some are just as hard to keep..

 

[ulli]

Cipro
Are your lights decent?

 

[m0nkie]

I'm certainly not a pro anemone guy like some of the folks on this forum.. my track record: I killed 100% of my carpet anemones before learning Cipro.. (lost 4 Haddoni and 2 gigs)..

now I haven't lost any.. (knock on wood!!!) I think success lies in:

1) picking only healthy anemones (which usually means avoid crappy LFS, or buying them straight out of shipping bag if you trust the LFS)
2) identify if treatment is needed.. takes a day or two sometimes..
3) treat right away..

and of course, you must be very careful on the treatment process

 

[The Reef Addict]

I'm certainly not a pro anemone guy like some of the folks on this forum.. my track record: I killed 100% of my carpet anemones before learning Cipro.. (lost 4 Haddoni and 2 gigs)..

Even if your not a pro, you just gave me some great advice! And I appreciate your honesty, its not easy admitting things you've done wrong in the fish world (cause it almost always ends in certain death).. Its heartbreaking losing a fish/nem etc. to something you could have prevented.

Do you know of anything I can use in the meantime to help aid my nem back to health? Cause its friday I wont be able to get Cipro till Wednesday via ebay.. I already pulled it from the DT and have it housed in a 10g with clean water.

And my lights are pretty damn strong (from my perspective) T5HO- 3:10000ks and 1:Actinic... Everything else in my tanks thriving.

 

[m0nkie]

you can try your local vets and beg for some Cipro or Septra. show them pictures of your nem.

Fri to Wed is a long wait, since it's been in your tank for 3 weeks, I would assume waiting in the display tank is better than a new QT without medication. if you already pulled it, I would watch for expels, and keep providing cleanest water

 

[The Reef Addict]

Exactly what I was thinking, I took water straight from my DT and put it in my spare 10g tank... At least that way it cant pollute my DT. You think I should keep pulling water from my DT daily for the water changes? I'll make a few calls tomorrow and see if I can get my hands on something for treatment. I got a HOB filter going w/ no filter, a heater, small PH, and lights all set up

 

[m0nkie]

I would do near 100% wc.. i put them into a half broken flower pot. Small ones. They like to stay inside and not move. I then drain till almost no water left and pour new tank water in. Clean the ph and heater in old water. My qt and dt are near same temp..

Same with medication. Just add it to the new water at night

 

[The Reef Addict]

Thanks for all the tips. My nem is still attached to a rock from my DT, I decided to pull the rock too so I wouldnt risk injuring its foot. Ill keep the flower pot method in mind too! I also matched my heater and parameters to the same settings as my DT.. For what I hope to be a successful transfer back to my DT.

After your advice, and from what Ive read I decided to pull him out cause I know the damage a sick nem can cause... Came home to my first carpet lodged in a crappy PH I used at the time, totally nuked the whole tank.. Never want that to happen again! Been a bit skeptical about anemones since then, but hopefully my better understanding now will help out in the long run. Seriously, thanks a lot!:thumbsup:

 

[m0nkie]

no problem! happy reefing!

post updated pix once you start medicating!

 

[OrionN]

Yes. He seem to need treatment. If you have any antibiotic other than Cipro or Septra let me know and I can suggest dose while you wait for cipro

 

[OrionN]

How deep is your sand? Haddoni like a sand bed that is at least 3 inches IME

 

[The Reef Addict]

Yes. He seem to need treatment. If you have any antibiotic other than Cipro or Septra let me know and I can suggest dose while you wait for cipro

Thanks for your input! I appreciate your whole writeup on the cirpo treatment... Truly some great stuff!

I wanna say my sand depth is around 2.5 inches, I can definitely look into getting some more sand, any ideas on how I can add more without totally disturbing my tank?

And right now I have nothing, never needed an antibiotic for myself that I can recall. Is there anything you can recommend from a CVS/Walgreens that I can get w/o prescription? I might have to raid my parents medicine cabinet :lol2:

 

[Dkuhlmann]

With adding new sand you can first wash it to get the dust out and then use a piece of PVC pipe to pour the sand through to the bottom of your tank so it can deposit the sand without the sand blooms. Of course turn off all tank circulation first. Don't waste your money on "live sand" it's double the cost and in most cases isn't as live as your new dry sand will be within a week or so.

 

[akida]

Reef addict did you get cipro? I have tons of it and can send you some since I have a Fedex account depending where you live. Where are you located, presuming you didn't order any?