HELP! My anemone is not sticky anymore!

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by MagReef, Jan 16, 2008.

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  1. MagReef

    MagReef Flamingo Tongue

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    Location:
    Central, FL
    My carpet anemone has always been fine. I check him weekly. He is his normal color and is still eating normally. He hosts two clownfish which are also acting normally. I made a PVC fixture last week to place my rocks and corals on. My anemone moved from the corner he was in with rocks beside him, to the corner of my PVC fixture that has the rocks on it.

    I just checked him today and he is not sticky.....Other than that he looks and is acting fine. Is he going to be ok or what should I do? He is not easy to move because he is about 18-20 inches in diameter with a foot about 5-6 inches in diameter. I hope he is not dying and that he is just readjusting.

    Oh and this may be bad, but when I redid the rocks with the PVC fixture, I got a new light fixture. It has 2 250 MH, 4 96 watt 10K, and moon lights.

    I am not sure if I caused too much change at one time or what. This weekend my water was fine, except for the pH was a little low, just one color lower than normal. Since I got the new lights I have had an algae bloom, but was told to expect that since the change.

    PLEASE help me save my most prized possession of the reef!!! He is my fav!

    Thanks, Cari
     
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  3. MagReef

    MagReef Flamingo Tongue

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    Location:
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    Update: I checked my water this morning and everything is good. The pH is back to normal, so everything is right back into its normal range. The hydrometer said .023 and I normally have it at .025, I put that back to normal as well.

    As for my anemone, it was a little stickier today than last night, so I am hoping that maybe it was just sick. My lights are on and it is looking more normal.

    Oh, I just thought of this, since I changed to the MH fixture the water is a little warmer than it used to be. I was thinking about getting a clip-on fan and blowing on the water and it is in the sump. Would this water temperature make a difference with the anemone? Well, I think there has been a lot of changes over the past week.......I think it is all the problem. Now I just need instructions as to how I can fix.
     
  4. baugherb

    baugherb Giant Squid

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    I would say it was because of the lighting change. Probably shocked him a little. Hope all ends up well....
     
  5. flounder

    flounder Astrea Snail

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    Carpet anemones tend to have a low survival rate in captivity irrespective of husbandry. How old is your tank? How long have you had the anemone? In the future, if it dies (lets hope not) I would defiantly recommend a bubble tipped anemone to replace if you set on anemones. Buy a thermometer to test temperature; under 80 degrees F is acceptable. Your anemone will react to increased light intensity by its own means, so that is probably not an issue; however I would recommend acclimating your new lighting system (which I am sure you paid a small fortune for) for any other cnidarians (corals)/coralline in your tank. Do this by gradually increasing photoperiod form 4 hours per day to your desired photoperiod, increasing it one hour per week. Other than that, try not to bug the anemone too much; testing stickiness is not something you should be doing in the first place, go by visual cues. Hope that helps
     
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  6. flounder

    flounder Astrea Snail

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    Do you have a chocolate chip starfish ?!
     
  7. MagReef

    MagReef Flamingo Tongue

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    Location:
    Central, FL
    For one, I did not properly acclimate my creatures to the new light according to the increasing one hour per week. The MH lights currently come on around noon and go off around 7. Is this too much? Esp since I just got the new lights last week????

    My tank has been set up since October of 2006 and I have had my carpet for seems like about a year. It has definently been a long time, close to a year at least. It was about 10-inches in diameter maybe, when I got him and now it is a good 18-20 inches. Although, at the moment he looks ticked.

    I put a fan in my sump a couple of hours ago and the water temperature hasn't even changed that much. My digital tank thermometer quit working, I guess from the salt water, so all I have right now is my stupid meat thermometer and I am not sure how accurate it is in the tank. It says like 86-88 degrees, it says that my tap water turned completely to the cold side is 82-84 degrees, so like I said, I don't think it is too accurate. I'll have to go to the LFS tomorrow and get me a new thermometer.

    Also, do I have to have a chiller with MH or what are some ideas to keep the water cool. It used to be around 73 or 75 when I had my thermometer in, if I remember right. I remember it was cool to the touch. I just don't want my anemone to die, I have had experience with that before and it killed everything else in my tank. Any solutions to help my friend out would be greatly!!!! appreciated!! Thanks.

    No, that is a very old picture of my tank, I got rid of the choc star once I found out it wasn't reef safe of coarse the LFS said it was.
     
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  9. flounder

    flounder Astrea Snail

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    Right now I would reduce the photo period to 4 hours. This will help reduce your systems temperature at least until you get an accurate thermometer. Test your water (alkalinity, pH, NO3, NH3, and NO2) and fix as necessary. Other than that, just visually observe your anemone for narcosis (dead spots) and don’t hesitate to quarantine it if it starts to die. Most likely, being the dynamic creatures that they are, the anemone is in a phase that will pass with time. Don’t move the anemone.

    In the long run if your temperature exceeds 82 F you may want to buy a chiller, but these are expensive to buy and operate. You could use a fan, but it will increase water evaporation. The easiest and most economical way to fix your temperature is to have the MH's run for a max of 7 hours. This is long enough to sustain corals, especially if you use your 96 watt’s

    BTW is you fixture coralife? just curious
     
  10. MagReef

    MagReef Flamingo Tongue

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    Location:
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    The fixture is made by Odessya. Also, someone told me to put the MH on for 2 hours and off for 2 hours and continue this for 8 hours. Is this a good idea? They said it would allow the water temperature to not get so hot. I was just wondering about the confusion of the normal dawn/dusk atmostphere. And, I had to put glass tops on top of the aquarium because I had 3 suicidal fish in one week. There is about a 3-inch gap in the back and a 1-inch gap in the front, I know that this is holding some heat in, but it's also holding the fish in. I made gaps to help with the release of heat. This morning the water was cool to touch and my anemone looked normal. I left the fan on all night in the sump, but I thought about putting it on a timer to come on with the MH.?????

    I checked all my levels yesterday and they were all within range, nothing high and nothing low. I dose with Kalk so that helps. I have a training class today so I can't go get my thermometer until tonight.

    I set the MH to come on for an hour today since I couldn't be home to monitor and the atinics are still on their normal come on about 11 and go off at 8. I was told to leave the atinics on longer to help with the growth of coraline algae, since it quit growing good because I needed new lights in my old fixture. This raises another question, what is the recommended useage of lights, both MH and atinic?

    Sorry, I am full of questions but I think sometimes these people that are in the LFS' don't really know what they are talking about so I quit talking to them and ask all my ?s on here. Thanks so much!
     
  11. flounder

    flounder Astrea Snail

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    Basically your questions come down to personal opinion and what seems to work best; therefore it would be nice to get additional 3reef opinion. IMO you should start with four hours of MH and gradually (over 3 weeks) increase it to 7 hours. It would be good to have your actinic not running while the MH is on. Your photoperiod should total 11-12 hours. I have never heard about the 2 hour thing that you described, but like i said, whatever works. I put my fan on the same timer as my MH, works well for heat reducing, but really I would not take any measures (other than light acclimation) until you know for sure that heat is a problem (buy thermometer)
     
  12. MagReef

    MagReef Flamingo Tongue

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    Location:
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    Update on Anemone

    Just updating!

    My anemone looks great. I took the glass tops off and replaced with eggcrate to keep the fish in and the air circulating, and it does wonders for the water temperature. I don't even have to run a fan in my sump anymore. I also put aluminum foil on top on the egg crate over the anemone and poked holes in it to acclimate him to the bright lights. He loves the MH now because he moved out from under the aluminum foil just enough to get more light.

    I'm so happy ;D;D;D;D!!!

    I love my anemone!