Please Help! Anemone is dying! :( (Pics :( )

[kari maureen]

So my Condi Anemone has been acting very puny lately ever since I did a 20 percent water change on my 55 gallon. My tank has been set up for over two years, and when I was put in charge of it, it was time for a water change. The nitrates are out the roof (even after the water change, at 140)... My water is fine... 1.023... My nitrites are non-existant... My ammonia is 0, and my pH is perfect... The only thing I can tell is my anemone is upset at the water change. I made sure the water was the exact same as in my tank, 1.023, and I added it very slowly through a period of 2 days.... At first I thought it was my clarkii clownfish, since I caught him nibbling at his tenticles, but now, hes just completely rotting away at the base... His arms are falling off slowly... Do I just flush him? I don't want him to kill off my tank, but I don't feel comfortable flushing a live creature. Any advice anyone?? Sorry the pictures are not the best, I took them in a hurry on my camera phone...

I just changed his diet from Krill to silversides... and I have been using DT on him for a week or so.. nothing seems to be making him better

 

[reefmate75]

how big of silver side are you feeding him! he looks constipated, how often r u feeding? and thats great to see a clown hosting a condi BTW! mine looks like that one some times i think its due to overfeeding...they buld up alot of waste to expell and will often deflate like that to do it, whats your water specks, lighting and is that clown hosting or beating it up?

 

[chano]

If it is rotting away at the base and tenticles are actually comming off its dead most likely. Is it still attached to the rock? If it is can you take the rock out of the water to smell it? That is a sure fire way to tell if it is dead pull it out of the water you will know by the smell. Nitrates that high alone could be enough to kill most inverts from what i understand. (correct me if i am wrong someone) also another good way to tell is see if the tenticles are sticky. If they are not it is dead or very close to it at a minimum.

 

[kari maureen]

I'm feeding him half a silverside every 3 days... and now that you mention it, I haven't seen him digest in a while!! Right now, he JUST fell off the rock, his base is VERY white, and my clarkii's host in them.. I just added the big clarkii (she was about to be flushed, I preferred my chances of the two not getting along over someone flushing a perfectly fine fish...) and she kicked the smaller clarkii (who was beating the anemone up) out of the anemone, and has been hosting in it since. I've yet to see her bite at his arms like the smaller one did. I'm going to wash my hands right now so i can pick him up... I have abou 30 or more pounds of live rock in the tank, and a protein skimmer with a kickin filter. For the lighting... I bought it with the tank when it was pre-set up.. So I couldn't tell you the exact lighting.. All I know is its coral ready, and my frogspawn has grown AMAZING well with it (its HUGEEEE)