dying anemone?

[saltnewb]

Last night my white sebae anemone detached from it's rock and floated to the bottom of the tank. It is contracted all the way and has whit fuzzy stuff oozing out of it. Whats going on?

 

[attml]

If it has cottage cheese looking stuff coming out of it I am sorry to say that is not a good sign at all. How long have you had the anemone and what conditions were it in (i.e- age of the tank, lighting, water conditions, has it been eating?)

 

[saltnewb]

Im pretty new at the saltwater aquarium thing. The tank has been running for 3-4 months, and all of the water conditions are good except for a high level of phosphate that I'm working on. I have good lighting. I don't know how to tell if it's been eating though.

 

[attml]

Many anemones will get a good amout of their food through photosynthesis if you have enough light. For a sebae it more than likely would require a good amount of Metal halide lighting (which is the most intense style of lighting) to survive if you were not feeding it some type of meaty food a couple of times a week (mysis, silversides, brine, flake). If it is white it has expelled all of it's zooxanthelle (internal algae) which it creates as a food source during photosysnthesis. An anemone can survive with less than required lighting for a period of time (sometimes even long term though this isn't recomended) if it is getting supplemental feedings of meaty foods containing protien. If you haven't been feeding and you don't have Metal halides unfortunately it has probably consumed itself to the point of starvation is not going to make it. Your best bet is to pull the anemone out an smell it. If it smells really foul remove it from your tank it is done. If it doesn't smell bad and it isn't completely defalated try feeding it finely chopped raw shrimp or some mysis shrimp. Like I said it doesn't sound good if you are seeing the white stuff (it's internals coming out of it but I have seen some pretty ssick anemones recover). Good luck!

 

[saltnewb]

Thanks for your help. I guess I got some bad info from a LFS, I have a flourescent lighting fixture with a 50/50 bulb and a actinine blue bulb and they said that was fine for my tank. They sold me two other anemones, and some soft coral. So I guess from your last post I need metal halide lights quick before everyone else starves to death, Is this correct?

 

[jlem]

You don't need MH and depending on your light setup you will need a chiller as well which is another couple hundred bucks. VHO or Power Compact would work just fine for your tank without a huge heat problem. I would suggest either a 2-110 watt VHO kit or and 4-65 watt PC retro. This Website does not sell lighting so I will suggest going to Hellolights.com and ordering from them. Do you have a canopy on your tank? If you don't you could build one for about 20 bucks or a simple 1X4 light fixture for about ten bucks, and then just mount a retro kit onto that. You would only need a saw, some glue and some screws.
Since you have this site for info, I suggest never asking your LFS for any advice ever again.

 

[saltnewb]

Thanks for all the info!!

 

[mr. tuna]

seems dead to me.

 

[rwhite]

I dont have much advice to give about the sebae, other than ours took a walk and ended up getting sucked iinto a filter. Very sad, but luckily it didnt foul the tank. The point is if it does continue to move be wary of your intakes.
And I must commend all who responded. Not one person tore into the noob, just helpful advice. Makes me wanna