wandering long tenachled anemone

[jsv62707]

ive had my red sea 250 tank (65 gallon) up for about 3 months. About 6 weeks ago, i jumped the gun and got a long tenachled anemone (i also read the article posted on the site). i fell for the line by the petco sales guy saying the anemone had a better chance of survival in my tank then the petco tank since he didnt have the right lights. im pretty detail oriented and water is my business so my water chem is pretty good. i change 10 gallons every 2 weeks with RO-DI red sea mix. my water for the last 2 months has been

ph 8.4, sg 1.0255 +/- .0005, NH4 = <0.25, NO3 <5, NO2 <5, Ca = 350-380, KH = 7-8

i feed him about twice a week, small krill. the thing is healthy and is growing. however, the thing is always on the move. i thought he was stressed at first since he was moving, but he keeps growing and looks great. the problem is when he hydrates and pulls up shop, he hits everything in the tank. if it pulls up shop at night, it causes havac on my corals (no casualties yet, but they get stressed). ive tried the following.

turn the pumps off until he re-settles. he usually lands on the sand, between the LR and glass. this usually lasts 2 or 3 days.

put him back into the LR by hand. it usually settles in the rock for a while (few days, maybe a week), but then he decides to push out. the stem or foot will get almost a foot long when he wants to move out.

suggestions?

[leebca]

Hi,

Moved your post out of the Saltwater Fish aquarium Forum to the Reef Forum where they talk more about invertebrates. Your post should get better 'action' here.

[zhenya]

turn the pumps off until he re-settles. he usually lands on the sand, between the LR and glass. this usually lasts 2 or 3 days.

put him back into the LR by hand. it usually settles in the rock for a while (few days, maybe a week), but then he decides to push out. the stem or foot will get almost a foot long when he wants to move out.

suggestions?

I have one suggestion, stop placing this anemone on the rock work. Macrodactyla doreensis anemones are sand dwelling species and require sand bed that is at least 3-4 inches in depth.
If you leave it alone for a couple of days on the sand it may find a suitable spot where it can burry it;s foot and attach to either a rock or the tank bottom.
You can also try placing a large PVC ring on the sand with a smallish, preferably flat piece of rock inside the ring just under the sand surface. Place anemone in the ring and see if the animal attaches itself.
Wandering anemone in the reef tank is not a good sign and many of your corals may become soom extict... ;)

[jsv62707]

thanks, ill try it.

[jsv62707]

he moved again this morning. So i revomed the sand, put a quart crystal for a base on the bottom, placed a thick section of sand in the tank corner it usually migrates to. attached is a picture of it on the spot and a shot of my tank from the front.

[jsv62707]

i may have messed up a bit in doing this. yesterday, i noticed my lion fish wasnt eating and my yellow eye tang was hiding. i checked the water and had nitrates are between 5-10 mg/l. all the other chems were normal. i did a 10 gallon water change last night and am preping my water to do another one tonight if needed.

when i added the extra sand, i didn't use aragonite like i did before, i put down a thick layer of live sand i had on hand with a piece of quart, overlayed by 1-2 inches of the original. im thinking the live sand may have caused the spike. the only other thing i did different was scapped some of the encrusted green algea off the back of the tank. i did small patches the two previous nights. i suspect the live sand though.

also, in the bottom of my filter sump, i have the white "ciramec" sp barrel that have been called nitrate traps. they are totalyl submerged so they havent been a problem, but ive thought of taking out 50% of them tonight when i re-test the water and maybe do another 10 galon water change. im hoping if the live sand caused the nitrate spike, its cycled out so ill leave it alone, for now. i only put in in the corner of the tank where i thickended the sand for the anemone.