What cause anemones dying

[jyilailong]

I have lost 2 of my buld anemones recently and my rose anemone is dying. My Ballet Dancer Coral (Parazoanthus gracilis) on a piece of rock is also getting lesser and lesser.

Need advise on what causing these to happen (The anemones start behave strangely about 2 weeks back)?

Tank setup:

2 ft tank

1 X 35 watts PL plus 1 X 15 watts

Cannister filter with surface skimmer

Tank temperature = 28 to 29 degree (Fan)

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 0

Tank mate:

Sea apple (The suspect)

Bubble Coral - Healty

2 X Hammer - Healthy

Red Sea Mat/Button coral - Healthy

8 small flag Mushroom on a pc of rock - Growing bigger

Added in Calcium, Iodide, Strontium and Trace element weekly. Feed with brime shrimp once a week.

[RockyBoy]

anemones need strong light

[weileong]

nitrate can be zero with the canister filter?

How often do you change water and how many % of water volume do you change each time.

No skimmer?

Also how old is your tank already?

[jd_n]

Lightin will be one contribution to the death of ur anemones.

Addictives could be the nxt contribution.

Did u perform a test with reputable test kits before u dose calcium, strontium, iodide.......etc.

Hope tat u r dosin becoz the need to do so and not juz plain blindly dosin.

Dosin of Trace elements weekly is not essential...they can be replaced by water change. I would only dose trace elements like once in half a year.

[victorp]

Yep, anemones need very strong lighting, preferably MH lights.

[tineng]

nitrate can be zero with the canister filter?

How often do you change water and how many % of water volume do you change each time.

No skimmer?

Also how old is your tank already?

yes you can, i've done it and tested using Salfiet test kit....though i used it wrongly and try on other tanks that i know hav e high nitrate and the result seems to be consistant...

but lots of work and you clean your filter 1-2 times a week....but NO SKIMMER????.....

[Golden Tooth]

I have lost 2 of my buld anemones recently and my rose anemone is dying. My Ballet Dancer Coral (Parazoanthus gracilis) on a piece of rock is also getting lesser and lesser.

Need advise on what causing these to happen (The anemones start behave strangely about 2 weeks back)?

Tank setup:

2 ft tank

1 X 35 watts PL plus 1 X 15 watts

Cannister filter with surface skimmer

Tank temperature = 28 to 29 degree (Fan)

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 0

Tank mate:

Sea apple (The suspect)

Bubble Coral - Healty

2 X Hammer - Healthy

Red Sea Mat/Button coral - Healthy

8 small flag Mushroom on a pc of rock - Growing bigger

Added in Calcium, Iodide, Strontium and Trace element weekly. Feed with brime shrimp once a week.

Hey bro.. Anemones requires strong lightings, water movements n parameter stability but it's still difficult to maintain them. Another problem is when choosing them in lfs.

BTW bro., that Sea apple is a

[RockyBoy]

There is a marine tank at National Cancer Center main lobby with a huge anemone covering almost 1/2 of the tank. The light is very strong.

[jyilailong]

Thank for all advise given.

Yes, the cannister filter should not be enough to keep the NO3 low. My tank is having a 2 to 3" of DSB and about 15 kg of live rock. That should be the reason that keeping the NO3 near to 0.

Light may be one of the problem, but it cannot be the main cause of my bulb anemones dying (I've kept them for more than a year under the same lighting).

Then .... is must be the water...... It can be over dosing of Calcium, Iodide and etc or poison release from sea apple or chemical warfare....

Quickly I've done a 20% water change yestersday and plan to do it next weekend again. Hope to see an improvement.

By the way, How a MH look like? Having confusion on MH, VHO, T5 and etc???

[terryansimon]

anemones are one of the most hardiest form of life found within the sea itself...the only reasons I can think that lead to its demise would be sustained bad water conditions, insufficient lighting, attack by predators and insufficient food.

as much as anemones are photosynthetic, you wouldn't do them a lot of harm by feeding them a small piece of shrimp every week.....or like me, every other day.

I doubt it can be due to overdosing of any products. then again, the overdosing of iodine can lead to a lot of fatalities/casualties. (=

lastly, MH lights or Metal Halide lights are a type of light that has a boxy fixture around it. search around the forum for people who may be selling it and you may consider getting one. alternatively, you can get someone like dr_evil to DIY for you.

[untouchables]

my suggestion is to take out the sea apple, do water change and see how the anemones fare.

[auberon]

Hi, used to keep anemone too but had the same problems. Had about the same set-up as yours. Didn't really check my water parameters much only the s.w. density. The only think I could think off at that time was the water density was giving me the problem. Since using a fan to cool the water causes the to evaporate the salt density increases. It seems at these times that my anemones shrink and turn inside out. Only if I maintain the top up, they seem to survive. but one tends to miss a day or two... then sayonara anemone.

Maybe someone can confirm this....

[jyilailong]

Thanks. Removed the Sea apple yestersday and next round of water change will be on coming satursday. Now is to observe how the anemones behave.

By the way, what will be the right MH (in term of watts, K and etc) for a two feet tank? What is the price range? Any of the fish store selling? I'm staying at Sambawang area.

[Kaf]

Don't think you need to go to MH if yours is a LPS and softies tank, unless you going into SPS and clams. That would means you need to invest in chiller as well since MH produce too much heat.

For 2 ft I think 4 x T5 will be enough.

If you really want to get MH then probably 1 x 75 watts with 2 T5 or 1 x 150 watts with 1-2 T5.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Kevin