Black Sailfin Goby/ anemone/ hypochondriac tank owner

[dracena]

I have a 54 callon corner reef tank with about 30 lbs of rock atm. The way I set it up, I don't see how I could fit in a full 60 lbs.
I bought a Black Sailfin Goby about a week ago and was told it was reef safe. Everything I can find about it states it is reef safe. I catch it biting at the glass and rocks for algae and that is fine but, I also have caught him biting my coral! I have a magnificent green mushroom that he has all but killed. It hasn't opened properly since the 2nd day I had the goby in the tank. He is also biting at my candy coral, snails and other fish. I have a 2 tangs, blue and yellow, a gold stripe maroon clown safe in his LTA (I think its splitting got it last week same time as the goby) and an old cleaner wrasse I got a few days ago because the blue's ick was out of hand... again. I dont understand the ick, the blue and yellow came from a fish only tank that was copper treated last time they broke out and were pristine when they got in this tank. I also have a hawk fish I've had to quarantine indefinitely for cauliflower virus.
I'll fill out an inventory later but, I have all the necessary inverts and then some. The tank looks really happy other than the mushroom being harassed and my poor parasitic blue and yelows who have had it with the cleaner wrasse and shrimp. I have a few mushrooms, pulsing xenia, star polyps, hammer coral and a couple leathers.
There are so many negatives with this tank it is driving me crazy but, its so pretty.
Any ways, I labeled a few issues. The goby was key. He a is beautiful yet frustrating creature.
I also haven't had good luck with anemonies. I had a few bubbles, two of which floated into the filter, one of which I spent late nights making sure he avoided the filter until I took it back because sleepless nights over an invert... yeah no thanks. I got a long tentacle instead who opened up bigger than I saw at the store. It is a foot long end to end and I lost my inch and a half clown inside it. For the first few days he looked great, dug his foot under a rock in the sand and spread out. (4 inche deep substrate) 2 days ago he came out and started moving... he has only made it like 4 inches but, I don't know why, it looked so happy. I think it might be splitting because the mouth is oblong and the now exposed foot looks like its splitting in half. Yesterday he was huge and standing upright from the foot and today he is half the size and maybe digging back into the sand. His tentacles look happy.
I'd feel so horrible if I lost another anemone. I just hope its splitting.

 

[fishygurl]

Originally Posted by Dracena
http:///forum/post/2706000
I have a 54 callon corner reef tank with about 30 lbs of rock atm. The way I set it up, I don't see how I could fit in a full 60 lbs.
I bought a Black Sailfin Goby about a week ago and was told it was reef safe. Everything I can find about it states it is reef safe. I catch it biting at the glass and rocks for algae and that is fine but, I also have caught him biting my coral! I have a magnificent green mushroom that he has all but killed. It hasn't opened properly since the 2nd day I had the goby in the tank. He is also biting at my candy coral, snails and other fish. I have a 2 tangs, blue and yellow, a gold stripe maroon clown safe in his LTA (I think its splitting got it last week same time as the goby) and an old cleaner wrasse I got a few days ago because the blue's ick was out of hand... again. I dont understand the ick, the blue and yellow came from a fish only tank that was copper treated last time they broke out and were pristine when they got in this tank. I also have a hawk fish I've had to quarantine indefinitely for cauliflower virus.
I'll fill out an inventory later but, I have all the necessary inverts and then some. The tank looks really happy other than the mushroom being harassed and my poor parasitic blue and yelows who have had it with the cleaner wrasse and shrimp. I have a few mushrooms, pulsing xenia, star polyps, hammer coral and a couple leathers.
There are so many negatives with this tank it is driving me crazy but, its so pretty.
Any ways, I labeled a few issues. The goby was key. He a is beautiful yet frustrating creature.
I also haven't had good luck with anemonies. I had a few bubbles, two of which floated into the filter, one of which I spent late nights making sure he avoided the filter until I took it back because sleepless nights over an invert... yeah no thanks. I got a long tentacle instead who opened up bigger than I saw at the store. It is a foot long end to end and I lost my inch and a half clown inside it. For the first few days he looked great, dug his foot under a rock in the sand and spread out. (4 inche deep substrate) 2 days ago he came out and started moving... he has only made it like 4 inches but, I don't know why, it looked so happy. I think it might be splitting because the mouth is oblong and the now exposed foot looks like its splitting in half. Yesterday he was huge and standing upright from the foot and today he is half the size and maybe digging back into the sand. His tentacles look happy.
I'd feel so horrible if I lost another anemone. I just hope its splitting.
as far as the tangs getting ich that should be expected by putting both a yellow and blue tang in a 54 gallon.. those are open water swimmers they need lots of room to swim. if you HAD to get a tang you shouldve gotten a kole tang or a tomini tang. Even those when full grown should probably be in something bigger.. but not as big as a blue hippo and yellow would need. Ich is often times stress related now that youve had it in your tank your fish will all be susceptable of it unless you take all the fish out for a month to 6 weeks.
As far as the goby im not really sure of which you are talking about, so i cant help you there, if its like a blenny then its just trying to find algae but sometimes blennies can bother your coral and you may have to get rid of it if it bothers them too much.
Do you have any mesh or anything covering your filters to catch the anemone if it goes there? What type of lighting do you have?
What are your water parameters?

 

[dracena]

I got my water tested today and everything is peachy. I thought my anemone was going to die this morning but he looks Beautiful now. I also got a shipment of 1500 copepods and amphepods with a mandarin, Purple lobster, Neptunes Shaving Brush, Mangrove shoots, and various plant algae that my tangs are enjoying to the best of their ability.
My tangs are perfectly sized for this tank 2-3 inches (I'll post a pic), have plenty of room and we plan on getting a larger tank when they need it. Maybe I threw you off when I said giant cleaner.
That piece of coral the Goby was attacking is pretty much dead. I hate letting things die but on the financial side, it was just a tiny frag. He has left the mushroom alone and is now taking his aggression out on the new plants I got them to eat. I'm surprised he hasn't bothered the mandarin who's been hanging out in the goby's usual shady spot under the hammer coral. ... as I type this I see he has now bothered my Leather. Such a beautiful fish... Shame he may be going back to the store at this rate.
I'm not sure of the lighting specs, thats my Boyfriends department. Blue flourescent and metal halide, I'm not sure exactly but, everything is blooming.
As for the amenome, the first bubble I lost was in my 12 gallon nano, it really wasn't expected. Our Sebae Clown was in the fish only tank because he had gotten too aggressive towards the smaller fish in the nano. We left his anemone in the nano because he was firmly planted at the time and the fish only wasn't cycled enough. The fish only tank had an ich episode and then the heater malfunctioned and 2 tangs survived. Sadly, our cleaner wrasse, coral beauty angel and our 2 year old sebae didn't. We took the sebae anemone back to the store and eventually bought a less aggressive maroon clown with a green bubble and put it in the 12. That bubble had a date with the filter and mortality OVER NIGHT. I didn't understand. It had settled and opened beautifully and the clown had settled in. We tested the water that day and it was fine. We tried a long tentacle in that tank the following week and it didn't make it either but it wasn't the filter. It's possible it got torn when the store packed him up. We still aren't sure but, the foot was definitely damaged.
We waited until we got the 52 gallon set up and cycled, got all the coral and fish in and happy to get the new bubble. It settled and opened up for the day but the next morning we found him ravaged by the overflow box. We tried one more, and out of paranoia, I watched it at night. For two weeks, I watched this creature settle in a place, open up and chill for a couple days with the clown, then venture off into the depths of my tank. Two nights I had gotten comfortable with where he settled and went to bed myself. BOTH nights I woke up within a few hours and checked the tank to find it dangling a tentacle with death or a few hours away from getting there. The last day I had the anemone, it was scooting along the glass towards the filter and I had to gently nudge it away. I put it on a rock and it hung out and relaxed for awhile before letting go and floating so we bagged it and took it back.
We got the LTA that dwells in the sand and it can't float. Makes me happy.
What is this creature attached to the mushroom? It twitches on occasion.

Maroon clown in the new LTA

My tangs, goby and cleaner

What is this thing? I took it out of the original 12 gallon and put it on the glass in the 52 gal. It lived in the sand against the glass and never came out. I figured it was harmless, it went back under the sand. The back is a hard shell with an interesting pattern, I'm sad I'll never see it again.

My clown in the bubble I had to take back to the store.

 

[fishygurl]

Originally Posted by Dracena
http:///forum/post/2707663
I got my water tested today and everything is peachy. I thought my anemone was going to die this morning but he looks Beautiful now. I also got a shipment of 1500 copepods and amphepods with a mandarin, Purple lobster, Neptunes Shaving Brush, Mangrove shoots, and various plant algae that my tangs are enjoying to the best of their ability.
My tangs are perfectly sized for this tank 2-3 inches (I'll post a pic), have plenty of room and we plan on getting a larger tank when they need it. Maybe I threw you off when I said giant cleaner.
That piece of coral the Goby was attacking is pretty much dead. I hate letting things die but on the financial side, it was just a tiny frag. He has left the mushroom alone and is now taking his aggression out on the new plants I got them to eat. I'm surprised he hasn't bothered the mandarin who's been hanging out in the goby's usual shady spot under the hammer coral. ... as I type this I see he has now bothered my Leather. Such a beautiful fish... Shame he may be going back to the store at this rate.
I'm not sure of the lighting specs, thats my Boyfriends department. Blue flourescent and metal halide, I'm not sure exactly but, everything is blooming.
As for the amenome, the first bubble I lost was in my 12 gallon nano, it really wasn't expected. Our Sebae Clown was in the fish only tank because he had gotten too aggressive towards the smaller fish in the nano. We left his anemone in the nano because he was firmly planted at the time and the fish only wasn't cycled enough. The fish only tank had an ich episode and then the heater malfunctioned and 2 tangs survived. Sadly, our cleaner wrasse, coral beauty angel and our 2 year old sebae didn't. We took the sebae anemone back to the store and eventually bought a less aggressive maroon clown with a green bubble and put it in the 12. That bubble had a date with the filter and mortality OVER NIGHT. I didn't understand. It had settled and opened beautifully and the clown had settled in. We tested the water that day and it was fine. We tried a long tentacle in that tank the following week and it didn't make it either but it wasn't the filter. It's possible it got torn when the store packed him up. We still aren't sure but, the foot was definitely damaged.
We waited until we got the 52 gallon set up and cycled, got all the coral and fish in and happy to get the new bubble. It settled and opened up for the day but the next morning we found him ravaged by the overflow box. We tried one more, and out of paranoia, I watched it at night. For two weeks, I watched this creature settle in a place, open up and chill for a couple days with the clown, then venture off into the depths of my tank. Two nights I had gotten comfortable with where he settled and went to bed myself. BOTH nights I woke up within a few hours and checked the tank to find it dangling a tentacle with death or a few hours away from getting there. The last day I had the anemone, it was scooting along the glass towards the filter and I had to gently nudge it away. I put it on a rock and it hung out and relaxed for awhile before letting go and floating so we bagged it and took it back.
We got the LTA that dwells in the sand and it can't float. Makes me happy.
What is this creature attached to the mushroom? It twitches on occasion.
src="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhoto&albumID=2944205&imageID=41077578" border="0" alt="" />
Maroon clown in the new LTA

My tangs, goby and cleaner

What is this thing? I took it out of the original 12 gallon and put it on the glass in the 52 gal. It lived in the sand against the glass and never came out. I figured it was harmless, it went back under the sand. The back is a hard shell with an interesting pattern, I'm sad I'll never see it again.

My clown in the bubble I had to take back to the store.

i cant see the pics..
and no, you didnt throw me off, imho i think that both blue and yellow tangs need a lot of swimming room.. your tank is a corner, so it doesnt have as much footage as a normal 55 gallon im guessing..
Most people that say they are going to upgrade.. dont.. due to most likely cost reasons.
I think you should return the sailfin goby since it has proven that it is bugging your corals.
also can you describe the things in the pics? since i cant see them.. or maybe try posting them a different way?

 

[invertcrazy]

Something is wrong with your pics, can't view them.
As FishyGurl said your tank is too small for the tangs. They may be ok now but in 5 or 6 months they will not have enough swimming space and will probably be getting on each others nerves.
Do you have algae in the tank for the goby to eat? If not you can pick up a pack of nori(algae sheets) and a clip and stick it to the glass.
A floating or roaming anemone is a unhappy anemone. IMO either your lights or your water params are not right. If you are going to keep anemones you must put a nylon mesh or a sponge over your powerheads and intake tubes to stop the anemone from getting sucked up. Sometimes anemones will roam for a couple days looking for a comfortable spot.(water current and lighting T5 or Mh) and lta's do float and roam just like bta's.
And one more thing, you said you got a less aggressive maroon when the sebae died. Maroons and tomato clowns are two of the most aggressive of the clowns. Just something to remember.
Hope this helps and welcome to the boards

 

[dracena]

I thought it was Sebae and Tomato Clowns who were more agressive. Of course my Sebae was only harassing smaller fish. My maroon clown is the smallest fish in the tank and he was being nipped at before we got him an anemone.
The tangs are 2-3 inches long. I've noticed, as you can see in the pic, they prefer to swim close together. There is enough room for them to avoid each other but they don't. They seem more interested in competing for the wrasse's attention. Sometimes the blue gives up and heads to the cleaner shrimp. The blue is such a strange fish. His personality changes daily.
I'm still trying to understand the LTA. The first few days, it dug it's foot in and opened up nicely. After that, it came out and has been sitting on the substrate. It expands and kind of drifts within a 4 inch area. It keeps expanding its foot and not going anywhere. I dug a hole in the sand in front of the rock he was originally under and wafted it that way and pushed some sand to secure the foot. He isn't latching on but he doesn't look upset. He doesn't go very far when it drifts. It seems to prefer having an exposed foot for some reason. All that strangeness aside, it still looks healthy. It's open and billowing on the water flow. I tried feeding it krill but it doesn't seem to like it and the clown is nowhere near as good at feeding home as the sebae was. I'm going to get squid or fresh shrimp next to try.

 

[dracena]

I keep saying I think its splitting but, its behaved like that since we got it. The mouth getting oblong and not wanting to settle anywhere. Yesterday, I noticed a tear right where the foot meets the body and today it is a little bit bigger. He doesn't look 100% but he has been going from healthy to sickly looking several times during the day. I looked up a time lapse video of a rose bubble splitting and it was really gross. I imagine it looks gross for most anemone's and I'm not sure if i should be concerned.
I cant think of anything in the tank that would have bitten the anemone and I doubt it had enough force to get torn on a rock. Yesterday, even with the tear, it was standing straight up on its foot like a tree with it's tentacles out and healthy. Today, its shriveling.
I'm so very confused.
I'll be done with anemone's for a long time if this one dies.
I just noticed my cleaner shrimp picking at the split.
Grr...

 

[oceansidefish]

In order to help you we need the following...
1. Water Params
2. Lighting specs
3. Age of tank
4. Sump fuge skimmer etc.
Anem's can be very picky on water and age of the tank. If it's less than 6 months old that may be a likely problem. You should wait at least that long to establish a consistency in water params.
Also you should have never put a BTA in a 12g nano. Thats is why it dies IMHO. You may also have flow issues nitrate issues so on and so forth. Also would not trust you LFS to test water params.

 

[dracena]

The tank is 3 months old. I know it's too soon for an anemone but my maroon clown was getting beat up by the other fish pretty bad and he needed protection. We cycled it with the lighting, live rock and 2 damsels for a month before we put anybody in. We put the tangs in first because they weren't doing well in the 20 gallon we had that was fish only. We put the clown in later because he came from a 12 gal reef nano. At 2 months we put in the corals from the nano and they were doing fine and got the BTAs, one made it to the filter and died, the next I stayed up for days making sure it didn't until we took it back and got the LTA. The LTA settled for a few days before coming out. It's looked like it was splitting since the day we got it, it was like a foot in diameter and oblong. I think it came out so it could have more room to split. It's got 2 feet now so I know it is.
I had nitrite problems because my filter padding is getting dirty fast. I lost my mandarin and found out I have to change it weekly if not more often. The water is fine aside the nitrites which stay good as long as I keep up with the padding.
I've heard anemones split when they are happy but, I've also heard they split from stress. It makes more sense to me that they would just die from stress rather than reproduce.

You tell me the lighting params.
I'm not schooled on the depth details of my boyfriends hobby, he just doesn't have the time to ask the questions.
I know the chems and how to work the filters. There is a 10 gallon sump BTW.
I watch the tank enough to catch behavior.

My tangs have plenty of room so people need to stop freaking out on me about them.