young long tentacle anemone issues

[jstdv8]

So my mom got a biocube recently and we filled the tank with water, LR and LS from my established DT.
She has a few sofites in there and a cleaner shrimp.
She also has a white long tentacles anemone that she got from ***** (I know, I know, but it was only 10 bucks and looked to be in fairly good health allthough I don't know alot about nems)
well, its been doing fine eating and all and moving all over the tank, in the two plus weeks she's had it it has moved up and down the entire time and is never in the same place the next time I go over to see it.
yesterday i go over to check the water parameters and I find him on the sandbed (near where I'd last seen him attached to the rock) and he looked like a pineapple sponge, and it wasn't attached to anything with its foot.
I thought it was dead as my mom had mentioned she thought it hadn't been looking good in the alst couple days.
I took it off the sand and palced it on a rock up high in the tank (lights are off at this point becuase it's night time) and it started to extend and open up.
I put some food on him and he looked like he was eating a bit of it and his tentacles appeared to be sticky.
Not sure why he was unattached and all pulled in like that.
2 things I can think of....
1.) mom's salinty has been low about .021 and I;ve been having her top off with saltwater, but it hasn't seemed to raise at all in 2 weeks, So I'm thinking I may have to do some water changes with higher SG saltwater.
2.) the flow in the tank doesnt seem to be that great, the GSP is waving around and the xenia is waving around, but I can't see any waving of his tentacles on teh side of the tank where the nem is.
ammonia nitrites = 0 nitrates = 5 and PH was 8.4
thoughts?

 

[meowzer]

Thoughts...hmmm...first of all moving around all over the tank is not normal.....the anemone is not happy
1 could be the new tank....anemones should never be put in a tank that is under 6 months old
2nd....what type of lighting is in this tank?

 

[jstdv8]

1.) Doesnt that kind of apply to things that are newly setup though? Everyhing in her tank came from my tank that has been running for a year. The water, the LR, the LS the corals, everything except the shrimp and the anemone.
It has PC lighting 2 x 18 w on a 8g biocube
So its 4.2 watts per goallon of PC lighting one bulb is 10k and the other is actinic.
I'm thinking if it was a lighting issue it wouldnt go away from the lights it would try to get higher, and it hs never been as high as it could go if it wanted.
I'm really thinking flow, don't know if they need alot, when I feed I can see the particulates going all around the tank, so I know its getting some.

 

[jstdv8]

i don't know if it matters but the nem is quite small, when it's fully opend its about the size of a half dollar. The mouth is not gaping. the nem is pure white with purple spots on the very tip of the arms.
I don't know what variety of nem it is exactly.

 

[meowzer]

Well now that you added the info...I'm gonna go with lighting issues
The watts/gallon is not a good way to measure light.....anemones need EXCELLENT lighting.....I would say a minimum of T5's
they can not survive (most do not) under pc's

 

[jstdv8]

Surely there must be people who keep anemones in these premade nano tanks.
the lighting at the LFS is worse than these lights and he had a RBT in there for about 6 months and it looked great. (even kept the bulbs, which seems kinda rare for some reason)
the lights at ***** are without a doubt crappy, but I can understand there would be an argument that those livestock don't stay in there long enough (usually) to go south before they get sold.
The other part is if it was a lighting issue why would the nem go away from the light instead of towards it?
That being said I should have her replace those bulbs since she got the tank used and the bulbs may be (probably are) used up.
Don't take any of this as argument, I'm just throwing things out there as points to ponder.
How about that low salinity? how fast can i bring it up without any damage?

 

[meowzer]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/381781/young-long-tentacle-anemone-issues#post_3327681
Surely there must be people who keep anemones in these premade nano tanks.
the lighting at the LFS is worse than these lights and he had a RBT in there for about 6 months and it looked great. (even kept the bulbs, which seems kinda rare for some reason)
the lights at ***** are without a doubt crappy, but I can understand there would be an argument that those livestock don't stay in there long enough (usually) to go south before they get sold.
The other part is if it was a lighting issue why would the nem go away from the light instead of towards it?CAUSE THEY ARE DUMB!!!
That being said I should have her replace those bulbs since she got the tank used and the bulbs may be (probably are) used up.
Don't take any of this as argument, I'm just throwing things out there as points to ponder.
How about that low salinity? how fast can i bring it up without any damage?

 

[jstdv8]

ok, i'll get her to order up some new ones. I read a few days ago about these PC lights that have reflectors built into the top side of the glass, supposed to get 40% more light out of them. I'll give them a shot since that's likley as good as she can go in that little tank.
I'd have her bring the nem back, but ***** doesnt take back saltwater stuff.
Any idea if I could get my hands on a PAR meter what kind of par I should be looking for for suitable lighting?

 

[gemmy]

The anemone was white when it was purchased? This is not a good sign, since it means the nem is bleached and has expelled all its zooxanthellae. There are several reasons it can do this the top ones are stress and poor lighting. The process can be reversed by ensuring the nem has the best care possible, which means strong lighting, stable water parameters (very sensitive to any changes), and good flow. It is not recommended to have clowns host the nem until it has replenished its zooxanthellae. Nems also like higher salinity around 1.025/1.026.
Nems roam when they are unhappy and many times when they will hide under rocks sometimes just because they are following the flow.

 

[jstdv8]

So there are no nems that are naturally white with little pink or purple dots on the end of the tentacles?

 

[gemmy]

Nope, they are bleached because the white tentacles with colored tips are more eye appealing to the hobbyist. I purchased a white sebae anemone a few months ago and with the proper care it is replenishing its zooxanthellae.

 

[spanko]

sounds like a sebae anemone to me Heteractis malu.
You might want to try something like this for lighting. Would have to ditch the stock hood though.

 

[jstdv8]

Ok, I looked up a seabee anemone and that's exactly what she has. Ans it showed a picture of a normal one with tan arms and a bleached one with white arems like my mom's.
Well, thats a start.
I'll get her to get some new PC's for starters.
And then I'll see about making her a set of LED's or soemthing to go inside the hood.
Thanks for the help
Yeah, thanks spanko, but its going to be at school and thats part of teh reason she went with the cube is because of the lid.