S. Haddoni acting weird

[JohnnyW]

We have a S. Haddoni in one of our tanks and it is acting very strange. It has been in the tank for 2 or 3 weeks now. It seemed to have acclimated fine to the tank it is in as it was very sticky and ate eagerly every time. Within a day of getting it, it would spread out to about 8 or 9 inches across and the female A. Clarkii in the tank took to it within an hour after it was placed in there. Only the female Clarkii hosts the carpet as she doesn't let the male come near it. In the last few days it has shrunk down to about 3 to 4 inches across and the mouth has been open a bit with some white translucent tissue showing inside the mouth. What could possibly be causing this?
Right now, it is under a 75w 10k hqi MH and 6 white LEDs and 6 blue LEDs. The tank is a 24 gallon aquapod with the stock 165gph pump and a MJ900 for flow. The water parameters all seem to be fine.
SG: 1.024
Nitrates: 5
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
Phosphates: 0
Calcium: 450
Temp: 78-80

We usually feed it every other day to every third day. Usually feed it raw shrimp chunks, scallops, or other meaty marine flesh that we can find locally. I have yet to find silversides anywhere around here.

Here a few pics to possibly help out:
Front view #1

Front view #2

Top view #1

Top view #2

Figures, only a few weeks before I get deployed over to the sandbox, tanks start having issues here and there, and I am working to get everything back to normal again.

 

[jer77]

It is looking deflated with its mouth open like its trying to expell something, but it doesn't look like any food is stuck in there. Have you seen it eat and expell its waste before? Has it expelled anything else like a colored slime? Have you changed anything over the past couple days? They do seem to inflate and deflate depending on the light and salinity changes especially when its new. Does it seem to change depending on the light?

P.S. Good luck over there man!

 

[JohnnyW]

Ok, it has ate different types of food and usually a few hours after feeding it will expel waste usually in the form of a brownish slime if I remember correctly. I don't usually watch for when its pooping, ya know. Nothing has really changed at all. It has been the same fish in there, same lighting, same water params, same scheduled water changes, etc. Salinity stays pretty much the same as I top off with RO/DI water everyday for all of the tanks.
At night time it seems to shrink a little more, and the female Clarkii is still hosting it and sleeping in it at night. It used to wrap her up like a blanket at night, but now it just basically stays close to the same shape and cradles her. There really isn't any direct flow headed straight at it either, could that be a problem? I could upgrade the MJ900 to a 1200 and aim the loc-line at it if needed. It is pretty gently flow throughout the tank right now.
I haven't seen it expel any waste since it shrunk like this, could it be sort of constipated? What would possibly help it out?

Thanks for the good luck wishes. If all goes well, I will be back at the latest around Sept. 08.

 

[jer77]

I guess there are two things that could possibly help out right now.

First is to direct more flow to the anemone to help it breathe and to help ventilate it. This may help it to expell waste too. It may be fighting a bacterial infection, which is the worst case scenario, but I don't see any evidence of this from pic #2 of the underside of its pedal disc. Just to make sure can you get a pic of its underside? Or you can just check yourself to see if its tissue is rotting or mushy underneath. Haddoni's don't require high flow and can live in low flow areas in the oceans, so don't continuously blast it, just a gentle to moderate flow will suffice.

Also you could try to add more light if you have any or if you can. I know this may be hard to do on an aquapod. If it is expelling a colored slime then it may be zooanthellae which is not good. This is a good sign for more lighting. But I don't really think your lighting is the problem.

It also may be the nitrates, but all you can do for that is water changes. Also check for any fish picking at it or bristleworms attacking it from underneath.

It may just be going through some changes in the tank and acclimating itself and may turn better by itself too. That all I know so HTH.

 

[elegance coral]

I think jer 77 is correct. It most likely had a small tare in its foot when you got it and it has become infected. This is not good. I hate to give a military person bad news just before they go over seas, but I don't think its going to make it. Sorry.

 

[JohnnyW]

I can go and get a picture of it's underside probably tonight. When we purchased it, I checked it's foot and column for any tears and didn't find any at all.

I can probably get more flow over it easily, but lighting is a different issue. In my 29 w/250w 10k MH with a 50/50pc there are three BTAs spread out through that tank. And the other tank is another 24 gallon Aquapod, but it has a 65w 10k daylight PC and a 65w 460nm Atinic blue PC. Would it be alright in the PC pod, or should I keep it where it's at in the MH pod? Also, if it is infected at all, is there anything that could possibly help it?

 

[elegance coral]

I hope your right and there is nothing wrong with his foot. I would try moving it to the other pod. Thats allot of light for a new hadoni. If his foot is okay then he may just be having a hard time with all that light. He will need time to adjust to lights that bright.

 

[JohnnyW]

Will post some new pics in just a minute. I was able to scope out different sides of the column and the foot and still doesn't look to be any tears.
I removed the MJ900 and replaced it with a MJ1200 to give it a little more flow. If you aren't too familiar with the aquapods, there is a false wall with sort of a pseudo-sump in the back where there is normally only a cheapo return pump on one side. Back when I set it up, I modified it and drilled through the false wall, added a bulkhead with loc-line and the MJ900 to add more flow to the tank. There is also one of those hydor-flo rotating heads on the return from the cheapo pump so that the flow pattern is varied all around.
Within minutes after adding the MJ1200, you could see a difference in the Haddoni. It may well have been "constipated" because it started to poop just like my BTAs do in the other tank. There are some grains of sand in with the poop also. The 1200 added some flow, and I moved the loc-line just a hair so that more flow was headed at the anemone. You will see in the pictures that it is already looking bigger than it was earlier today.

 

[JohnnyW]

bunch of new pictures, keep in mind it's ****ed when i am holding it.

bunch of new pictures, keep in mind it's ****ed when i am holding it.

 

[JohnnyW]

 

[JohnnyW]

Sorry for so many pics, but I tried to get every angle that I could to try and get this guy back into good health.

 

[JohnnyW]

Comparing the pictures from earlier today and tonight, it seems to be looking much better with the added flow.

I don't want to place it in the PC pod just yet as I will have to frag some corals to make sure it has its space, but what I can do is slide the MH fixture further back on this tank to give it less direct light and the area it is in would be a bit more shaded. The light it's under is only a 75w 10k HQI and the white and blue LEDs. The lights are off now and the female Clarkii is sleeping in there, so we will see what tomorrow brings when the lights are on.

 

[jer77]

Ya I think Elegance Coral was thinking you has the 250W MH over the aquapod when he/she said to move it into the other one. 75W is more like it and should really be fine under this.

Looks much better now that it has more flow. Bet your much happier too!

Doesn't look like it has any infection which is good, but your pics are sort of blurry so I can't really tell with absolute certainty.

What are you feeding it? Remember it will like smaller bits of food rather than larger chunks, easier to digest and expell. Try to keep sand away from its mouth too.

Good luck with everything.

 

[elegance coral]

He's right, I did think you had a 250W mh over the tank. He should be able to adjust to the 75W. I wouldn't worry about moving him. Good luck, keep feeding him and hopefully he will be fine.

 

[JohnnyW]

I usually feed him small chunks of raw shrimp, scallops, or other marine based meat that I can find locally. I haven't seen silversides anywhere local so I have not tried that. Every now and then I make sure to give it a couple of mysis shrimp or plankton as well.

How big of a chunk do you think I should be feeding it?