help with sebae anemone

[jmoney]

Hi guys,

I've had a beautiful sebae anemone for about 8 months now and for some reason he has decided to move into a cave for the last 3 weeks, he seems a bit smaller, and I'm still able to get food to him and a little bit of light is creeping down through a crack... Will the anemone let itself die or is there some other reason for whats going on.

There has been no changes whatsoever in water quality or my water params they are all still perfect.

 

[dudley moray]

how old new are your lights?

 

[Toddrtrex]

To expand on "dudley's" question, what type of lights do you have?

"perfect" doesn't tell a whole lot, really need the numbers -- really useful to have real numbers when something out of the blue happens. I have seen people say that their parameters where perfect in the past, but when pushed, and finally answered found that their salinity was too low -- for example.

 

[jmoney]

lights are 48" 2x150 watt MH, 2x 96w PC coralife aqualight pros, they are as old as the anemone. I got him a week after the lights and he has always been propped up right beneath one of the MH just soakin it all in.

Water params as of this morning
ammonia--0
nitrate---1
phosphate--0
nitrite---0
calcium 445ppm
magnesium 1500ppm
temp 81
specific gravity 1.026

 

[Toddrtrex]

What color is the anemone?

 

[jmoney]

white with purple tips

 

[clowns101]

are u sure that it is a sebae anenmone it could very well be condy anemone.condys tend to find a spot they like then move after awhile then thay never find a spot and just go into a cave.form my experince.

 

[jmoney]

positive its a sebae

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15222715#post15222715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmoney
white with purple tips

A white Sebae is a bleached one. Was it white when you bought it? If so, I am surprised it lasted this long.

For the future, avoid white anemones, especially white Sebaes, their track record is awful.

 

[Fishboy9227]

He should be a nice light brown with purple tips.

 

[jmoney]

it was light brown before it moved into the cave, so is there nothing I can do to help him out...just rechecked my water params and they are the same as what I posted earlier

 

[romsoccer12]

shouldnt 8month old lights be replaced?

 

[jmoney]

they are still goin strong there is no change in color or anything

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15225405#post15225405 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmoney
they are still goin strong there is no change in color or anything

It might be the bulbs, just because all the other parameters wouldn't explain this. I wouldn't have thought it was the bulbs at first, but can't see anything else to cause it to bleach.

And while the bulb look the same to your eye, I have a feeling you would be surprised if you switched out one of the bulbs for a new one. I know I was surprised when I switched out some of my oldish bulbs in the past.

 

[jmoney]

got new bulbs just about an hour ago ill keep u guys posted

 

[jer77]

Just for reference, Sebae should look like my avatar (H. crispa anyways).

And, Toddrtrex, I don't think it bleached recently, I think it was white with purple tips, or at least light brown, throughout the time its been in jmoney's tank. If I'm reading it right.

jmoney, if you just replaced your metal halides be careful not shock the anemone anymore than it is. I'm worried the anemone was hiding for other reasons than lack of light.

Hiding usually means too much light, but I have found this is hard to do with 150W MH's with a Sebae. I'm surprised that nothing else has changed at all in your tank. I looked at your gallery pictures and I can say the anemone in the jungle of odd looking algae is a sebae, H. crispa. I'm just surprised by the massive, untamed growth of all that algae. I'd suggest removing some of this at least from around the anemone, if its still like that, to give it space. Sebae need some open space around them to open their oral disc, to respire and absorb light. If there is anything inhibiting it to do this it may shrink. Anything that could sting or give off noxious chemicals, like some algae, could effect the anemone.

Also, the other main reason a Sebae will retract IME is something is irritating its foot where it is attached to the substrate. So if you have ruled out the light and made some space for it, checking its pedal disc and foot to see if there is anything disturbing it. Sebae tend to just live relatively open all the time and rarely shrink and hide unless something is wrong. Yours looks like its getting its color back which is a good sign. I hope you can figure out what irritating it. My bet is it has something to do with where its burrowing its foot.

 

[jmoney]

all that algae is gone algae fix marine got rid of that long time ago the tank is crispy clean with better flow

 

[jmoney]

he has moved out of the cave now and seems to be doing a bit better will post a picture later on today

 

[jer77]

That's a good sign that its moving out into the open. Sebae's are pretty tough anemones in my opinion. Once they are established they can take a lot before they die. I've put mine through lots of drastic salinity changes, lack of light, long periods of no water changes and other things but it survived.

So just keep an eye on it, but I think it should continue to get better.