FishForums.com - View Single Post

CMonroe · 12-27-2005, 10:15 AM

I have a 58gal aquarium (36"x18"x18"), 1.5" of live sand, about 25lbs of live rock, a fluval 304 canister filter with nitrate absorbing media, and two different course filter media levels (no charcoal), and a CPR backpack protein skimmer (not producing foam, yet). For lighting I have a 36" daylight tube, and a 18" 'marine' bulb.

The inmates: One tomato clown, one blue damsel, lawnmower blenny, sand-sifter goby, 1' long Sargasso shrimp (from seaweed that washed into Gulf of Mexico), 1 red leg hermit, three black hermits, 6 turbo snails, small piece of colt coral, small patch of polyps (don't remember the type), and a variety of small feather dusters, starfish, and some clams of some sort that hitchhiked in on the live rock.

The tank has been running for about six months, with the addition of the protein skimmer three days ago.

I haven't lost any animals, and everything seems to be thriving, except for the anemone. I believe it is a pink tipped anemone (but the tips appear purple at times, depending on the light), and it was doing great about 8 months ago, when I had it in a much smaller 20gal hex, but it moved around the tank a lot, and got caught in the filter, twice! I put a protective foam sleeve on the intake, and stopped it from getting inhaled again, but it never seemed to recover from the second incident. I moved them all to a larger 58gal tank after it cycled, and that was about 6 months ago. My nitrate level has been going up, and I admit that I wasn't doing the correct number of water changes, and now I have a algae bloom that is just terrible (1' of green algae on more than half of the open sandy bottom)

I'm trying to get that under control, but I don't know if it has any ties to the anemone's problem. It is just wasting away. Hardly ever comes out of it's base/foot, and when it does, the tentacles are very short. It's only about 1 cubic inch now, and that is only about 1/4 of it's original size. I've tried to get it to eat, but it's just listless. It used to have much longer tentacles (at least 2"), but now they are all short. I don't know if it just isn't 'inflating' them to their normal length, or if they are pinched off, and very slowly growing back. Is it possible the Sargasso shrimp is pinching off the tentacles? I haven't seen that happen, but it could happen at night I suppose. Has anybody ever heard of a shrimp injuring an anemone?

I'm probably going to improve the lighting to one of the compact fluorescent kits (w/ moonlights) after the first of the year, but is there anything I can do immediately to help the anemone?

Advice is always appreciated...

12-27-2005, 10:15 AM	#1
CMonroe Fishy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Age: 40 Posts: 26	Anemone question... I have a 58gal aquarium (36"x18"x18"), 1.5" of live sand, about 25lbs of live rock, a fluval 304 canister filter with nitrate absorbing media, and two different course filter media levels (no charcoal), and a CPR backpack protein skimmer (not producing foam, yet). For lighting I have a 36" daylight tube, and a 18" 'marine' bulb. The inmates: One tomato clown, one blue damsel, lawnmower blenny, sand-sifter goby, 1' long Sargasso shrimp (from seaweed that washed into Gulf of Mexico), 1 red leg hermit, three black hermits, 6 turbo snails, small piece of colt coral, small patch of polyps (don't remember the type), and a variety of small feather dusters, starfish, and some clams of some sort that hitchhiked in on the live rock. The tank has been running for about six months, with the addition of the protein skimmer three days ago. I haven't lost any animals, and everything seems to be thriving, except for the anemone. I believe it is a pink tipped anemone (but the tips appear purple at times, depending on the light), and it was doing great about 8 months ago, when I had it in a much smaller 20gal hex, but it moved around the tank a lot, and got caught in the filter, twice! I put a protective foam sleeve on the intake, and stopped it from getting inhaled again, but it never seemed to recover from the second incident. I moved them all to a larger 58gal tank after it cycled, and that was about 6 months ago. My nitrate level has been going up, and I admit that I wasn't doing the correct number of water changes, and now I have a algae bloom that is just terrible (1' of green algae on more than half of the open sandy bottom) I'm trying to get that under control, but I don't know if it has any ties to the anemone's problem. It is just wasting away. Hardly ever comes out of it's base/foot, and when it does, the tentacles are very short. It's only about 1 cubic inch now, and that is only about 1/4 of it's original size. I've tried to get it to eat, but it's just listless. It used to have much longer tentacles (at least 2"), but now they are all short. I don't know if it just isn't 'inflating' them to their normal length, or if they are pinched off, and very slowly growing back. Is it possible the Sargasso shrimp is pinching off the tentacles? I haven't seen that happen, but it could happen at night I suppose. Has anybody ever heard of a shrimp injuring an anemone? I'm probably going to improve the lighting to one of the compact fluorescent kits (w/ moonlights) after the first of the year, but is there anything I can do immediately to help the anemone? Advice is always appreciated...