Large Carpet Nem help, possibly dieing?

[Outatime]

Thank you Martin, sorry I don't have a par meter to test but he is sitting under a AI Prime at the moment, maybe I need to lower the primes closer to the surface of the water, think they are about a foot off the water right now. Tank has a 2.5 inch sand bed....unless the pistol shrimp has anything to say about it ;-) seems to be attached to the corner of the tank right now

 

[MartinM]

I would get a PAR meter . It's not something I'd attempt reefing without.

The anemone is still looking for somewhere to be happy. If you haven't maxed out the whites on the LEDs, I definitely would. IME Anemones don't appreciate heavy blue, especially shallow water species like carpet anemones.

Grab a PAR meter and check things out, and keep the water chemistry stable, I'd run activated carbon.

Can you get a video, btw?

 

[Outatime]

Hi Martin, ok so the carpet nem is doing crazy things tonight, I found it floating about the tank , I tried to move it to a empty corner under the light but it's filling up with water...not deflating but inflating. I tried a little mysis with reef roids and it curled up a little then inflated. I am looking into a par meter to see what I have. Sorry I have a video I took but I am on starlink internet and it takes forever to upload.

Worried it won't attach I had to turn all pumps off inc pump, if doesn't feel sticky either...worried for it. :-(
Will have video asap.

Just wondering if you could have a look at my AI light settings, I will try upload them. Thank you

 

[MartinM]

Hi Martin, ok so the carpet nem is doing crazy things tonight, I found it floating about the tank , I tried to move it to a empty corner under the light but it's filling up with water...not deflating but inflating. I tried a little mysis with reef roids and it curled up a little then inflated. I am looking into a par meter to see what I have. Sorry I have a video I took but I am on starlink internet and it takes forever to upload.

Worried it won't attach I had to turn all pumps off inc pump, if doesn't feel sticky either...worried for it. :-(
Will have video asap.

Just wondering if you could have a look at my AI light settings, I will try upload them. Thank you

This is what they do when they're not happy and they want to move. It's often very difficult to get haddoni's to acclimate and be happy initially. However, I think it's not sick or in immediate danger of dying, so keep trying.

What I do is a find a spot I feel it will like (they want their foot in the sand but attached to something, like the underside of your rock scape or a rock buried in the sand) and I press it down on the rock, sometimes for several minutes, until the foot attaches. Then, I fill around the foot with sand and bury it. IME you want to find somewhere with enough water flow to gently move it but it doesn't need to be more than that, and IME they don't like strong flow unless it's intermittent (like a tidal surge would be). If you have a few spots that seem good, pick the one that gets the most light. And while they're wanting to move they won't eat, so don't worry about that. It might take a while to get it to settle down, the key IME is to keep trying. If you don't 'help them' I find they eventually die, but if you do, they often find a spot they like If they're not sick (and yours doesn't appear to be sick).

Don't overlook building a special spot for it. I assume you have a sand bed of at least 10cm?

If you haven't already, add some carbon and order a PAR meter Also keeping it protected from pumps will be a challenge, see what you can do there because IME if they get damaged during the acclimation phase, they die. Keep us updated!

 

[OrionN]

I agree with Martin. When an anemone really does not like a place and could not move out of it, it just do the most drastic thing it can which is float away.
I would do a large volume water change. Often they sail away because they don’t like the water, not so much the light and the current.

 

[Outatime]

Thank you guys, so soon as Martin posted last I checked and sure enough it started digging itself into the sand where it sits right now. I did do a water change the night before actually.
I also checked my water too and my nitrates up a little at 10.7ppm,
Phos: 0.07
Alk: 7.5
Ph: 7.7
Cal: 525
I don't think that's too bad is it?

I will add some carbon tonight. I do have a little red hair algea growing slowly on the back? My sand bed is about 2.5 inches right now... should and can I add more sand?


Thank you again

 

[Outatime]

Light off was this morning, light on last night as it was digging.

 

[MartinM]

Definitely move more sand into the area where it's digging, 2.5" isn't enough sand really. Water changes are always a good thing, but 10ppm nitrate probably isn't a problem But Ca is a tad high and pH is too low, though.

I hope it stays put!

 

[OrionN]

Thank you guys, so soon as Martin posted last I checked and sure enough it started digging itself into the sand where it sits right now. I did do a water change the night before actually.
I also checked my water too and my nitrates up a little at 10.7ppm,
Phos: 0.07
Alk: 7.5
Ph: 7.7
Cal: 525
I don't think that's too bad is it?

I will add some carbon tonight. I do have a little red hair algea growing slowly on the back? My sand bed is about 2.5 inches right now... should and can I add more sand?


Thank you again

The pH is a little low. Water changes will help. Boost alkalinity will help. pH reading is notoriously erroneous however so don’t hang your hat on that alone.

 

[Outatime]

Hi All

Just an update to this thread, my nem is doing so much better, sticky and eating now, I didn't realise how slow they can feed after I saw a time lapse video, seems some just snatch up food and some take there time , my two clowns keep moving shrimp that i give it off the nem which is annoying but otherwise he is doing great, was still moving about a bit but seems to be in a good place for the time being. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Aaron75]

Hi All

Just an update to this thread, my nem is doing so much better, sticky and eating now, I didn't realise how slow they can feed after I saw a time lapse video, seems some just snatch up food and some take there time , my two clowns keep moving shrimp that i give it off the nem which is annoying but otherwise he is doing great, was still moving about a bit but seems to be in a good place for the time being. Thanks again for all the help.

Did you ever get a par meter? I got an ITC Parwise and it really seems like a great value if you're still looking.

 

[OrionN]

How is your beautiful anemone? Hope it settle down and is doing well now.

 

[Outatime]

Hello, thank you, yes doing well, sticky and eating although never actually caught it eating but it vanishes and holds onto the food, only thing is it moves about still, it's in the middle of the tank on the wall at moment and been there for several days. I do need to still pick up a par meter though and test it. But overall seems much better. Thank you again.

 

[Outatime]

Not home at the moment but this is my tank cam photos...yes I need to work on the algea issues.

 

[exnisstech]

Hi All

my two clowns keep moving shrimp that i give it off the nem which is annoying

I've only had this blue one for 2 1/2 months but it has not moved since I originally placed it where it is which may just be dumb luck. Just a suggestion but since you have a pair of clowns maybe let them feed it? I have never fed this one directly. I have a single clarkii that takes care of the feeding and the nem is doing well and has grown. I wish the tank was larger as in would love to add a red one. Yours is beautiful.

 

[Outatime]

Thank you, yeah mine will sit down weeks then up and move and kill a few corals on the way.

It's funny I don't feel like the clowns help at all, I put bits of shrimp around it and they just pull it off and it floats off down the tank...maybe they know something I don't!

That is a amazing blue nem, would love one like that to contrast mine....can you have two carpets in a tank together....btas I have seem to get on ok.

 

[MartinM]

Thank you, yeah mine will sit down weeks then up and move and kill a few corals on the way.

It's funny I don't feel like the clowns help at all, I put bits of shrimp around it and they just pull it off and it floats off down the tank...maybe they know something I don't!

That is an amazing blue nem, would love one like that to contrast mine....can you have two carpets in a tank together....btas I have seem to get on ok.

It’s not a problem but IME you want to run carbon if you do that.

 

[californiarob]

I would get a PAR meter . It's not something I'd attempt reefing without.

The anemone is still looking for somewhere to be happy. If you haven't maxed out the whites on the LEDs, I definitely would. IME Anemones don't appreciate heavy blue, especially shallow water species like carpet anemones.

Grab a PAR meter and check things out, and keep the water chemistry stable, I'd run activated carbon.

Can you get a video, btw?

saw this post and wondering why the activated carbon?

 

[MartinM]

saw this post and wondering why the activated carbon?

IME and anecdotally from other hobbyists, carpet anemones seem to be very allelopathic, and carbon seems to help that. I definitely notice them 'wilting' when the carbon needs to be changed.

 

[Outatime]

Thank you Martin, I am curious as I never know how much to use but on my 130.4 Waterbox how much carbon should I run? Thank you