Anemone not doing so well :-(

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chazlightning

Registered Member
Sep 19, 2005
1
0
0
a friend gave me a 55g tank about a month ago. he had this tank with a carpet anemone in it for just over 3 years. i'm new to all this, and think i may have killed this poor thing. i was getting major algae all over my sand bed and the glass. i tried many ways to clean the glass and filter the sand but it was so bad i couldn't see the sand anymore. so i put the fish and anemone in a smaller holding tank for a few days while i emptied the tank and cleaned all the algae off the glass and replaced the sand. got the tank back up and running for a few days and was ready to put the fish back in last night.
all are doing fine except for the anemone (large carpet. just over 12inches in diameter) and a pumping xenia i have/had (didn't make it). while putting the anemone back in it was really clinging to my net. so i gently tried to coax it off the net and a few of it's little sticky nubs stuck onto just one of the xenia for about 3 seconds. when i got home from work today the xenia was totally dead.
would the anemone have stung the coral?
if so would that have killed it?
now, this morning the anemone had moved across the tank and is now sticking to the sand bed and the glass and is about less than half the size it was yesterday and seems to be all tensed up and not moving at all. usually the little nubs are moving around a little bit. i read somewhere that when an anemone is dead or dying that it does not stick anymore. it's definetly stuck to the glass. it has not lost any color.
i have a clarki clown fish that lives with it. he is still hanging out with it but not as much as before.


so here is my question(s). (sorry for the long story)

is my anemone dead?
how long should i observe it to determine if it is? i don't have my other tank set-up now so i can't move it out.
How long do i have, if it is dead, to remove it before it kills everything else in the tank.
and finally, will the clown fish freak out if his buddy is gone?

thanks for any help with this. i know i am a newbie and should not have an anemone nut it was sorta just dropped on me here. i'm trying my best.
 

FragMaster

Poke it with a stick!!!!!
Sep 21, 2005
15
0
0
49
Cincinnati, Ohio
Ok 1st. Did you do a LARGE water change? As is more than 25 percent?
If so the inhabitants will go in to a little shock for a week or so but nothing to major.

2nd: did you actualy replace the sand bed with new substrate or simply rinse it off in fresh salt water and replace it? ( I hope you rinsed it in fresh salt water and replaced it! )
When (IF) you replaced the substrate with all new, you depleted your reef of its beneficial bactreria by a LARGE AMOUNT.

You should have just vacumed up the algae and the little bit of substrate it was stuck to.

Large nusaince algae problems are usualy due to to many nutrients in the water cause by over feeding ,lack of maintenance, and to long of a photo period.
It can also be caused by old bulbs. As the bulbs age thier color shifts to a less desireable quality than your coral would like. This breeds algae and unstable conditions for your coral. You should run some phosphate remover in your filter for a week or two as well to help remove any phosphate which is rocket fuel for algae.

ALSO if you tried every thing you could to control the algae grow, did you check to see if too much natural sunlight was hitting your tank from a near by window ? This will also cause algae break outs.


It sounds like your anemone will be ok in time. If it were dead it would be loosing coloration rapidly and look like a wilted peice of romane lettuce! LOL!
I am sure it is just in shock from the new parameters and substrate as well as the move.

3rd:
DEFINATELY!!!! If your carpet anemone even touched it for a fraction of a second, it was a fraction of a second to long! It is definately what killed your xenia.
Anemones in general pack a pretty big stinng in relation to other corals.
Most times killing the part of the coral it touched or killing the entire coral.
ESPECIALY one of that size! WHEW!!
But if he has already re atatche dhim self he shoul dbe ok as long as the bacteria in your tank hasnt sustained a huge blow large enough to cause another cycle from the substrate/water change.

Hope this helps you in some way!
Duane
 
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