Sebae help

jdrabek

New member
Against my better judgement I picked up a sebae and two true percs that were hosting in it at the LFS on Saturday. I would not normally purchase any inverts or corals from this store, but the clowns looked healthy. The sebae did not look that healthy at the store, but I did not want to separate the set, so I brought it home.

I am at work so I will give what tank parameters I can tell you:
55 RR tank w/ 30 sump/fuge, Octopus skimmer, 4 T-5 HO lights w/ individual reflectors, 4 Koralia 3's in tank, Temp is 79 +-1 throughout the day, PH is 8.1-8.3 throughout the day, 2" sandbed in the DT, and deep sand bed in the fuge w/ cheato. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes using RODI water. All other parameters I will have to post later when I get home.

I found a spot with moderate flow and dug an area out in the sand at the base of one of the rocks. I put the sebae in the tank w/ only actinics on and the koralias off. Its mouth opened up for a long time, but its tentacles were still inflated. Occasionally the clowns would pick at the tentacles. The mouth finally closed toward the end of the day, but its foot had not attached to the bottom glass or the rock yet. It seemed to be secreting some kind of mucus from around the foot, not a lot though. I tried feeding some mysis, but its tentacles are not sticky at all, and it would not take anything. The next day it was shriveled up but somewhat attached to the rock, so I turned on the power heads to see if it needed the flow for O2. It seemed to like the flow, but later that day it detached and floated around until it landed in a corner of the tank. I have tried to place it in a couple of other spots, but still no success. It opens up and closes constantly, and it still wont take any food. I was hoping that if it did not like the spot I placed it in that it would move, but I have not seen it try to move on its on yet.

My wife just called to tell my that it does not look very good, that it is all shriveled up. Through all of this I have never seen it expel anything out of its mouth.

I did not get a chance to perform a water change this Sunday, so i will do that when I get home and check parameters.

Should I take it out of the tank? Was thinking of putting it in the quarantine tank and trying to get it to attach to something and watching it for a few days.

I will take a picture tonight and post it.
 
It is more then likely just getting adjusted to the tank. One thing that might be causing this is your lights may be brighter then the stores so that could make it close up some as to not expose the zooxanthellae to light. I would not pull it out, just give it a couple of days. Try offering it some food.

Was your SG in the tank close to the SG at the store?
Was it sticky at all?
 
What color is the Sebae? It is fairly common to find bleached (( white )) and dyed (( yellow )) at LFS's, and IME they have a poor track record of recovery.

What lights was it under at the LFS and did you acclimate it to our lights?
 
The stores lights were T-12 NO, but it was only in a 10 gallon holding tank, and yes it was bleached (white). Only acclimated over 1.5 days.

SG is always 1.026 in my tank. Did not check the stores SG, but drip acclimated over the course of serveral hours.

No it was not sticky at all.
 
Should I try and relocate it again in the tank?

Any better ideas of getting it to attach?

Is a sand/rock interface the best location for it?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15591020#post15591020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdrabek
The stores lights were T-12 NO, but it was only in a 10 gallon holding tank, and yes it was bleached (white). Only acclimated over 1.5 days.

SG is always 1.026 in my tank. Did not check the stores SG, but drip acclimated over the course of serveral hours.

No it was not sticky at all.

Would need to acclimate it to your light longer then that. I personally am a fan of using window screening, and use 3 layers, with removing 1 layer each week.
 
Thanks for the help. I will get some screen to help acclimate it.

It is currently just sitting on top of the sand in the corner of the tank. Should I leave it and concentrate on light acclimation?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15591159#post15591159 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdrabek
Thanks for the help. I will get some screen to help acclimate it.

It is currently just sitting on top of the sand in the corner of the tank. Should I leave it and concentrate on light acclimation?

I would, a while back I picked up a new LTA, and I was lazy about putting the window screening up. It wouldn't settle in, very shortly after I put up the screening it settled in very nicely.
 
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I just got home and took a couple of crappy pictures, but I hope you get some of idea of the state of this sebae. I am getting ready to check all tank paramters and will post them later.

As you can see it is not even upright. Is that normal during acclimation? Any ideas based on the photos?
 
As of a few minutes ago.

Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~15
Ph: 8.12
SG: 1.026
Alk: 3.5 meq/L

I going to do the partial water change that I should have done on Sunday. I will check again to see if Nitrates and Alk were adjusted in the right direction.

Nitrates are higher than normal for this tank and alk is somewhat low.
 
I did want to add that it is not mushy in any way and reacts to being touched.

My mini carpet is doing fine. Its eating mysis and is sticky. I have had it for about a month.
 
I would be very carefull and watch it constantly. I went through many sebaes before getting a healthy one. Needless to say, I had a couple that looked and behaved like yours and none of them made it. They would not stay in place and would not eat. When they have short tentacles like that they are beyond starvation point. A healthy one will look more tan like and have long waving tentacles and when you acclimate it will tend to stick to a surface right away and dig itself in without any help. Good luck though and hope for the best, but take it out right away if you see any "slime" like things coming from its mouth. BTW don't do any water change now either. That will irritate it even more.
 
I agree no water change right now. Your alk level is fine. The alkalinity of natural seawater is approximately 2.5 milli-equivalents per liter.
 
As a side note to the "take it out if you see any slime" comment. If you see brown slime coming out, it is poop and poop is good.

If it were me, I'd dig a hole at the base of the rock it is next to and gently set it in there. Your substrate looks like it might be hard to dig into. If it manages to relax a bit, give it a few days and start feeding it mysis with an eyedropper. I fed mine every 3-4 days until it started to look good. It doesn't need alot, just a few squirts every feeding.

edit: I also agree with the no water change
 
I agree with rc4kinu and jason, dig a hole and surround the base of the nem with smallish rocks. Not only will this help it get comfortable, but it will help keep it from blowing around your tank from flow. As it becomes acclimated and attached, you can take one or two rocks away. This is what you want to shoot for color wise and you can see the foot is deep under the rocks/sand.
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Came home and my wife said it looked better today. I have not added the screen yet, but I left the hood up, so the lighting was not direct. I was told it opened up and the tentacles were nice and full and the clowns were playing in and around it all day.

When I went and looked at it, it was upside down. I flipped it over and its mougth was wide open. My wife said it never looked like that all day. Is it normal for it to behave so differently at night?

I dug another hole at the base of one fo the rocks and placed it and surrounded it with small rocks. The clowns are nipping and sucking on the tentacles right now. Its mouth has opened and then closed since I have been home. He does seem a little darker in color than from when I first brought it home, a little browner in color as above.

Will the clowns react differently around an anemone that is dyeing? Right now they seem to be trying to help it.

I am still hoping for the best.
 
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