newbie - check up please, doc?

[drive]

the concerns i have are these:

1. the rose bubble-tip anemone has bleached quite a bit since it was purchased and introduced three weeks ago. every effort has been made to accomodate its lighting requirements (single 65-watt dual bulb with a 10000K white and actinic 7100K). as you can see from the pictures that the RBTA was pinkish before, it is now pink-tipped and a ghoulish transluscent green as well. i've been feeding it three-four times a week with bits of shrimp in hopes of helping the little slimeball make it. furthermore, i have the idea that acquiring a clown (maroon or tomato) for the RBTA will help it convalesce.

2. the yellowtail damsel that resides in the tank has a disproportionate left eye. by that i mean its left eye is covered by a giant bubble and its right eye lacks this bubble. what is it? would i be better off without this fish in the long run?

3. is there anything more i can do to clean up the fishy poop on the bottom of the tank? there is already 6 turbo snails, 3 blue-legged hermit crabs, one emerald crab on janitorial duty. however, it appears that the load of 2 domino and 1 yellowtail damsel is too heavy a burden.

4. oh btw, the tank is a 26 bow with a 280 emperor and a powerhead, no protein skimmer. the bio-wheel's been removed since that's the general consensus on reefcentral.com. its been floating in the tank for about a week. is that a ok? or it there a more preferred method to approach this?

that's it for now. sorry about being verbose. brevity is art. yada yada.

pictures for you to see...

anemone 3 days after we got it:

anemone as of 2 minutes ago:

yellowtail:

thanks again for the help

[ June 25, 2004, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: drive ]

 

[jackson6745]

1) You should get metal halides 1x150w along with your pc's would be great on a 26 bow
2)flush the little bastard
3) More flow, siphon the crap off durnig water changes
4)If it were my setup I would add a sump/refugium (skimmer + macros). If you don't have the room for a sump, a hang on refugium and an aqua c remora skimmer.

HTH,
Rich

 

[House of Laughter]

Drive,

What Jackson said -

You should skim if you can, Lee's makes a really cheap one at the very least you will get something from that - water changes and siphon the crap off/out -

The damsel had bubble eye, I would go to RC and read about medications for that.

Lights are what the anenome needs - they have photosynthetic zooanthelea and needs lights to do that - bleaching like that is typical of an anenome when it has insufficient light -

On a happy note p aside from the bleaching it looks healthy - you'll need better lighting.

Also, are you testing for Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia etc?

How old is the tank?

House

 

[ShaunW]

Just my two cents. I think that the anemone looks better than when you got it. The whiteish coloration on the bottom part of the tenticles is bleach out in the first picture. However, you luckly had it come back because the greenish tint is the photosynthetic zooanthelea coming back. If you had better lights it would look even better.

Additionally it doesn't look like a true RBTA. But a pink tip one. Was it ever fully red. This is what mine looks like.

[ June 26, 2004, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: solbby ]

 

[ShaunW]

OH, by the way, very cool anemone you got there drive.

Get yourself a clownfish right away

, but beware of the marroon ones. They are very agressive and will mess up the surroundings around the anemone once hosted. Mine is a total pain!!!

RC magazine had a really good article about clownfish and anemones about 6 months ago. Check it out.

 

[DallasNYC]

I love my maroons. I don't have an anemone, so they host in a colony of green bumpy mushrooms. Yes they do make a big mess of things around thier home. But it's fun to watch them pick up hermit crabs and toss them across the tank.

I agree with everyone else. The rose looks healthy in the 2nd pic, you just need more lighting.

 

[thunor]

diffrent question;two important itams for anemones;what is the temperature of the water.no species can tolerate too high a temperature water,72 degrees tops. the alges inside them die and eventually this invert.next question--is it eating?

 

[Acropora]

Originally posted by thunor:
diffrent question;two important itams for anemones;what is the temperature of the water.no species can tolerate too high a temperature water,72 degrees tops. the alges inside them die and eventually this invert.next question--is it eating?

You must mean 82 degrees.The bubble eye on the Damsel is a sign of stress.What are all your water paremiters?Anenomes require pristine water and intense metal halide lighting.That means for starters L.R. and good protein skimming. If you have an accumulation of detritus or waste on the bottom of the tank it should be siphoned out with your 20% water changes.It sounds like you have jumped into getting an anenome too quickly.Read as much as you can about reef tanks and the requirements of Clams and corals.You and your tank inhabitants will be pleased that you did.

 

[drive]

thanks for all the help!

to answer some of your questions:
are amonia level is around 0.2
nitrate: 20
nitrite 0 - 0.5
pH: around 8.3

this is based on the test strips i have.

is the anemone eating : yup. i feed him a piece of silverside every one or two days.

the temp stays at about 78-80 degrees. on really hot days it can get up to 82.

we have about 25lbs of live rock i think.

we now have a skimmer (thanks to Wasabi!) which i will putting into the tank tonight. i will also do a 10% water change.

i got a percula clown this weekend and it is in the tank. been in there for 4 days, but has not approached the anemone. it's really small though and looks like it has a tough time swimming against the flow.

the two domino's have been taken back to the fish store and the yellowtail was unfortunately flushed.

yeah, i totally jumped into getting the anemone too quick. i think it's doing a lot better now though.

thanks again for all yor help. Especially to Wasabi for the skimmer and all the info. i really appreciate it.

 

[House of Laughter]

Drive,

Ammonia is high., nitrates are high and anenomes are sensative to both of those parameters. I wuold be extremely careful and monitor over the next few weeks. Additionally, your DkH-alkalinity is also important and shuld be around 8.0

As for the percula, if you bought it at your local PetCo or Petland Discounts, don't sets your hopes too high on it hosting with the anenome - typically, small little Percs like those are often tank bred and not"hip" to the wild and the habits they are supposed to exibit - down't mean it won't happen, but be aware of this.

Hope that helps, and good luck -

House