Some sebae help?

[spankey]

Guys,

I have 3 tanks going right now. One is a two year old grown in SPS reef tank, the other is a 12 gallon well stocked aquapod. For Christmas I set up a standard 30 gallon for my son.

The inhabitants include 2 percula's 1 green chromis and a yellow choris rasse... All were getting along great. I decided to add a nice purple tipped sebae to the tank.

Everything went well, and then I noticed that the sebae would not attach to anything? Foot itself is what I mean? I have my share of BTA's and they usually grab hold withing a few hours. This thing was in the tank for a month and never footed... Now here is the strange part of the equation..... Tonight my wife is complaining of a fish smell in the rec room. I said its the skimmer needs to be emptied (It really did) So I told her I will take care of it when I return home from work.

I get home and the basement stunk to all nastyness. Any rate, I clean the skimmer cup and replace it. I then look in the tank and one of the clowns are missing! Hmmmm I then look at the anenome and its all closed up around itself and does not look good. ITs stomach was still intact. I have heard they will turn them selves inside out when they croke. So I then look and the top of the water has a film on it? Now I am concerned.. I start to panic. I lifted the anemome out of the tank and sure enough its gone. Un responsive and looks like its starting to somewhat melt. Gone.

Here is the even bigger part of the strange things that are happening. I tested the tank, Zero nitrates, zero ammonia!!! I can't find the clown as there isn't allot of rock in this tank and I would hope to see it around behind it. Nothing!!!!

Is this what happened? The sebae started to die and affected the tanks quality, parameters? To me I have lost BTA's to powerhead intakes and this is really what kept me from them after that. But the son really wanted one, so I caved!

Can anyone explain why this thing never foooted? Is that normal and when they die, do they rot the tank with no traceable detections with test kits.

Really weird?

Thanks
Spankey

 

[spankey]

Also I forgot to mention, I had a rock completly coverd with pom pom xenia, its gone as well? So, either the xenia melted and effected the tank, or the aneome did? There are two sps frags in the tank and they are looking fine? Strange isn't it!!!!!

Spank.

 

[davocean]

That was way too soon to add a nem.
It's actually alot fish to have in that short of time IMO.
Nems need an established tank, 6 mo min, and even that's pushing it.
They also need stronger light than a BTA

 

[spankey]

400 watt halide and this tank was totally setup using sand, rock and water from my sps reef. NO cycle time involved. Just to clear that up...

 

[raoul]

I think I would have still waited a little longer to put in the anemone, just to make sure, but I'm very cautious and conservative. But that's just me, others do it thier own way.

It's possible that you got an unhealthy anemone to begin with.
You called it a sebae, but there's a few different types of anemones that go by that common name - were you ever able to get a scientific name? Most commonly it's associated with H. crispa and M. doreensis ( probably others I just can't remember them all right now).

We have a crispa that was labeled sebae. In my experience, here in the midwest, we have a very hard time getting healthy crispas in - they're very poor shippers, and this can lead to problems in our tanks.

What color was yours? If it was white, it was bleached. Even with perfect care given, there's not guarantee a stressed anemone will make the transition.

I don't have any ideas about your other questions, sorry. It does seem strange though that some stuff is affected and others not by something, maybe the nem was a casualty and not the cause.

Anyway, sorry for your loss.

 

[spankey]

It was the light that did them in! I didn't aclimate the tank from 139watts of T5 to 400watts of halide! Even though the tank looked dimmer with the halide vs the T5's it nearly trippled the wattage and I forgot to aclimate them. That is why the tank tests perfect....

But as for the sebae, it would never foot even when I had the T5;s.

 

[spankey]

It was the light that did them in! I didn't aclimate the tank from 139watts of T5 to 400watts of halide! Even though the tank looked dimmer with the halide vs the T5's it nearly trippled the wattage and I forgot to aclimate them. That is why the tank tests perfect....

But as for the sebae, it would never foot even when I had the T5;s.

 

[raoul]

Usually if these guys don't take hold, they're unhappy about something or not healthy enough. Could be lights, but could be something else too. We had to nurse ours back to health, and as it got healthier it began digging its foot into the sand and holding on.

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8944772#post8944772 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raoul
Usually if these guys don't take hold, they're unhappy about something or not healthy enough. Could be lights, but could be something else too. We had to nurse ours back to health, and as it got healthier it began digging its foot into the sand and holding on.

I agree. There is likely another problem if it would not attach at all. Now, as to what that could be, who knows. Many variables are involved in the settlement of anemones, but I would check flow, proper substrate for settlement, etc.