anemone died, mushrooms paled, and leather shriveled (1 Viewer)

[Carlos]

My sebae anenome died, and a few mushrooms are pale, but some look fine, right next to them, and my finger leather is a bit shriveled, evrything else look great. I tested my water and all is good. I have a 34 g, mh 250 w light... any ideas as to what could have caused this? My anenome since the beginning went in a cave, out of the light, it stayed there all the time, a few times I pulled it out, and it went right back to where it was.

 

[Llama]

How old is the tank? What did your water test at? I have no experience with this type of anemone so I can't say much for that other than it wasn't happy if it was hiding the entire time.

Give us some more info on the tank history and setup.

 

[Llama]

Also, what showed signs of stress first?

 

[Carlos]

I have had the tank for 6-7 months, bought it second hand, running, and was previously there for about a year. all the coral have looked very good for a very long time, just now have they been looking a little troubled.
amonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrite was a little high, 20 ppm so I am changing some water today, ph 8. It's a Solana so it has the chamber on the back with all the setup, skimmer, and pump. I never thought there was anything wrong with the anenome because it was there so long, the clown was always in it.. and it just looked goo, execpt it lost its purple tips. As for the mushrooms, and leather, the same, they would blow up huge just a few days ago. and a bunch of the mushrooms still do. Could over feeding the anenome do harm? I used to put a bunch of mysis shrimp in him, because the clowns would go eat from there, and I imagine it was a feast for him too. As for what showed signs of stress first... not sure, it has been all at the same time pretty much. The cave the anenome was in, is very big.. not squeezed in there or nothing.

 

[Llama]

The death of the anemone could be bothering the other corals. Are they close together in the tank? Anything else near there that is not being bothered? The anemone could have died from a lot of things. They tend to be very picky. My three anemones seem to like silversides much better than mysis though. (future reference in case you decide to try again)

Oh yeah, do you have any other corals in the tank that would be considered more sensitive than the ones being bothered?

 

[Carlos]

the anemone is far from just about everything else, like I said it was in a cave at the bottom, and everything else is on the rocks over the top. the closest thing to the anemone is a sun coral, but it's doing fine. everything else is relatively far from where it was, and the mushrooms are very far. Actually the finger leather is pretty close. Strange thing about the anemone was it looked fine, and went down hill within 3 or 4 days. thanks for your help.

 

[Llama]

Is everything still in the same state? No changes better or worse?

 

[Carlos]

the leather looks a bit better. The shrooms look the same.

 

[Llama]

What's your temp swing throughout the day?

 

[Carlos]

Actually leather pops those little fuzzy thing out on a part, but looks a lot smaller than it used to..??
Temp is between 77-80, with a heater and chiller, when the light is on the chiller keeps it down.

 

[Llama]

I just realized that you said that nitrite was a little high. How high is a little high? Any nitrite can be a problem.

Personally I would test the water once more, then get the LFS store to test and compare the two. Then do a decent size water change and see how it goes from there.

 

[Carlos]

it was nitrate I meant, it's at about 20 ppm.. but I'm going to change about 10g tomorrow, as one last effort to see if I get any recovery... I will also take a sample to test at aq world. Also, when I tested it and read 20 ppm, I changed about 6g, and maybe got a little recovery(looked like) at that time, but could have been just my impression. The leather really looks like its going to die now, so we'll see what it comes out to.

 

[Kemah]

Any updates? is the leather still hanging in there? what type of water and salt do you use? Are there any other supplements that you add to the tank?

 

[jdeveaux]

Just reading through this... have you dosed any chemicals or added any new filtration material?

Be careful about how quickly you drop the nitrates. Soft corals tend to adapt to nitrate levels so if you lower it too quickly it could cause continued stress.

Leathers have a tendency to slough their outer layer every now and then so it might be OK and just ridding itself of dead tissue. Mine does it every month or so and it looks hideous for days but then it springs right back.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Carlos]

Kemah-Well I buy water from aq world. I add phytoplanton and a few others I will get the names of when I get home.
JD- I have not made any changes lately, in anything, the leather was looking great, and just started to shrivel, I know what you mean about the outer layer, but thats not whats happening, it looks all wrinkled up, like and old persons wrinkled skin, and is slumping forward.. I usually change 5g at a time, so I wouldn't think that about the nitrate levels... I have always bought water from the same place.. who knows?? other corals look great besides the shrooms, and half look good and the other half look bad, and they are all on the same rock...figure it out?? just waiting to see... thanks for the support guys.

 

[Wiggywiggy]

Any update? I had a situation with an Elegance and colt coral didnt care for each other..colt withered and died one day from the time i left for work until the time i got home in the evening. Elegance soon followed. Both were great before and while this happened the others in tank softies and leathers looked horrible. I got the remains out for both and did a couple of medium water changes and everything popped back..just thinking maybe there was something else in your tank that died you werent aware of..?
Also, check your lighting. Some people will recommend changing bulbs every 6 months or so..depending on how long it was in use before you acquired it, it may be throwing some unwanted spectrum out there...just a thought.

Good luck.