A happy clown....and a problem

[klongo]

Two weeks ago I purchased a gold striped maroon clown and a GBTA. The LFS told me to put the GBTA right into my tank and I have the clown in QT. The GBTA immediately moved to the deepest darkest spot in my tank and I hadn't seen him until two days ago when he started moving out. He looked terrible! This morning he was out on my sand bed so I scooped him up and put him in the QT with the clown. The clown immediately began hosting the GBTA :jumping: The GBTA this evening looks much better, his tentacles (?) have unshriveled, he's plumper. He might even make it.
My problem is that he's in the QT with NO lights. How long can he survive without lighting being a problem? I think that the butterfly in my main tank was picking on him in my display and that may be why he stayed in the dark so long. I'm trying to catch the butterfly but with all of my rock it isn't going to be easy

 

[emeralcrab]

So why does your QT not have any light? Even reg PC lighting would be better then nothing untill you get them out of QT.

 

[xdave]

I'd put the anemone back in the dt. No need to quarantine it. He might look terrible to you but that doesn't make him sick. He probably would have looked better even quicker in the dt since they rely on light.

 

[klongo]

The QT has regular fluorescent lighting, 20 watts in a 10 gallon tank. I know that the anemone MIGHT have been ok in the DT, but I really think the butterfly was picking on it and I didn't want it to die. I still need the marroon in QT for another two weeks! I only put it in the QT to save it from the butterfly. Now they seem so happy together....

 

[darknes]

What are your water parameters in your display tank? What kind of lighting do you have on it? Some anemones take a while to adjust to new tanks.
I honestly think the anemone will be fine for up to a week in your QT without any good lighting. I would also try to spot feed it a little.

 

[klongo]

My display has T5s on it with individual reflectors. Should be plenty of light except that the anemone was hiding in a cave for two weeks!
All parameters are fine except that nitrates are a tad high from 3 weeks without a skimmer. They've been coming down and were at 40 when I put the anemone in the tank. They're down a bit more now.
CA 430
Alk 9.4
pH 8.0
Temp 80
Nitrates <40
Ammonia <.2 (test kit is positive, but barely)