Anemone from a system with ich... Worth it?

E.intheC · Aug 31, 2012

I have an opportunity to buy a 13inch diameter blue carpet anemone. It's a Haddoni and looks very healthy in pics. The color is great.

The price is about half what they normally go for and it's been in captivity for about one year. I like that aspect because of how many anemones are lost within the first few weeks theyre in captivity. I feel like its a major hurdle that's been overcome already.

The guy selling the carpet is breaking down his tank, and said he had an ich infestation aprx 6 weeks ago. Obviously this wouldn't affect the carpet, but would you introduce an anemone that you know was exposed to ich?

Of course I would QT my fish (I don't have the ability to QT the carpet but I could QT the fish in a a separate system for eight weeks or more).

Thoughts?

allabout · Aug 31, 2012

If you wanted to go through the trouble of keeping all fish out of the DT for 8 weeks then I don't see why it would be a problem. Ich could be introduced with the nem but like you said, it won't affect inverts. Seems like you have a plan, keep fish out for 8 weeks, shouldn't be a problem I would think.

SeahorseKeeper · Aug 31, 2012

Has the tank been fishless for the last 6 weeks?

To be on the super cautious side, if you can QT the fish for 8 weeks and put the nem in the DT, I think you would be fairly safe.

3Twinklets · Aug 31, 2012

A healthy blue carpet is difficult to find and they are beautiful. If given the choice I would get it.

rajkovich207 · Aug 31, 2012

Ok I would like to take a stab at this, but please don't quote me lol! If I remember correctly the eggs can lay and wait for 28 days. Then they hatch and have only 48 hours to find a host or then die. IMO, and ime after fighting ich, i left the tank fallow for the bare minimum of 6 weeks and had no sign of it, and am around the 10 month free of ich. I'm not sure its necessary to leave it 8 weeks fallow, but if you decide to you should have zero problems!

E.intheC · Aug 31, 2012

SeahorseKeeper said:
Has the tank been fishless for the last 6 weeks?

To be on the super cautious side, if you can QT the fish for 8 weeks and put the nem in the DT, I think you would be fairly safe.

It has not. To my knowledge the fish were in the system. Some died due to the ich. Some survived. The current fish show no symptoms, and havent for six weeks, but could still be carrying ich.

3Twinklets said:
A healthy blue carpet is difficult to find and they are beautiful. If given the choice I would get it.

I agree on the first two points. It's a tough decision

ColaAddict · Sep 1, 2012

Acclimate the nem to your tank water and then rinse it good with your tank water before putting it in your system

Trex · Sep 1, 2012

I would jump at it -- though I have a soft spot for S. haddonis (( been keeping them for 15+ years )).
However, if you have a chance to pull the fish out first, and keep them out of the tank for 8 weeks, that would be ideal.

Remember, when putting the fish back in that an S. haddoni has the ability to eat all of your fish, including clowns. When putting the fish back in, I would irritate the S. haddoni until it withdraws into the sandbed.

BTW -- what fish do you have?
How deep is your sandbed?
What lights?
What size tank?

E.intheC · Sep 1, 2012

ColaAddict said:
Acclimate the nem to your tank water and then rinse it good with your tank water before putting it in your system

Thats a good idea. Very similar to the plan I have now.

Trex said:
I would jump at it -- though I have a soft spot for S. haddonis (( been keeping them for 15+ years )).
However, if you have a chance to pull the fish out first, and keep them out of the tank for 8 weeks, that would be ideal.

Remember, when putting the fish back in that an S. haddoni has the ability to eat all of your fish, including clowns. When putting the fish back in, I would irritate the S. haddoni until it withdraws into the sandbed.

BTW -- what fish do you have?
How deep is your sandbed?
What lights?
What size tank?

Is your name Todd per chance? If so, I was hoping you'd post on RC. Didn't know you had a screen name here! Glad to have you giving advice!

I have a huge soft spot for my clowns (Saddleback Pair) and a soft spot for Haddons as well. My tank should be good; I have an AI Sol Blue for lighting, sand bed is about 3inches in the middle, it's a 60 gallon cube with minimal live rock, and 2x MP10s for flow. Most of my equipment choices were designed around the clowns and their carpet host. As for fish; right now just the clowns. I really don't have a plan for adding anything else. I'm sure I will add some fish who will reside in the upper levels/open water of the tank, but nothing is set in stone yet. I'm actually more concerned with my clowns getting aggressive as their bond gets stronger.

mainereefer · Sep 1, 2012

I would get it if the price was right, to go threw the trouble of qt......

Trex · Sep 1, 2012

Yep, that is me -- haven't posted there in a while.

I thought your screen name was familar, but wasn't 100% sure.

Things sound good, and I will be watching this thread.

E.intheC · Sep 1, 2012

I decided to buy the anemone.

The carpet looks very healthy and the fish in the tank looked great. If he didn't tell me you would never know he had crypt in his system almost two months ago.

Right now she's drip acclimating. I'm going to do a lot of water changes in the bucket, making sure to take my time and "rinse" off the nem very well. It's crunch time with the clowns though. Should I disturb them and take them out of the sixty and put them in a QT container for a number of weeks? I'm worried about stressing them out, and it will definitely be a hassle. But if it's worth it I will.

E.intheC · Sep 1, 2012

I forgot how stressful transferring the Haddoni from bucket to tank really is!:neutral:

But, I've done it twice in the past and used that experience to help me out. Really it just calmed my nerves. Lol. The mouth is as tight as can be and it only took about two minutes for the foot to dig in. Hopefully she won't detach :angel:

peter505 · Sep 1, 2012

Pictures please!

E.intheC · Sep 1, 2012

I've been trying to take pics but the royal blue LEDs and my iPhone (plus my inability to take a pic of anything) is not a good combination.

Kind of an odd problem to have, but my saddles are already treating the Haddons as their home. It was literally five or ten minutes after introduction. Once the foot dug in, it was love at first ... "rub"!? :kiss: I am a bit worried about this, but the anemone truly does not seem bothered. Yet. I'll be watching them. Trouble is, when I try to move them away, the clowns get scared and use the carpet as refuge. :tsk:

3Twinklets · Sep 2, 2012

The clowns treating the Haddoni as home is great! It will make the transfer stress on the anemone that much easier. I have 7 clowns and 1- 16 year old Haddoni in my tank and the Haddoni has never eaten a clown. Other fish you bet, but not a clown.
I also have LEDS and photos come out terrible. I cannot pick up the colors of the corals. Great buy!!

E.intheC · Sep 2, 2012

3Twinklets said:
The clowns treating the Haddoni as home is great! It will make the transfer stress on the anemone that much easier. I have 7 clowns and 1- 16 year old Haddoni in my tank and the Haddoni has never eaten a clown. Other fish you bet, but not a clown.
I also have LEDS and photos come out terrible. I cannot pick up the colors of the corals. Great buy!!

I wasn't really worried about the Clown pair finding the haddoni and treating it as their home, because they've done it before. I hoped it wouldn't be so sudden, as (obviously) I was stressed out about the transition.

But, so far so good. I'm going to post some pics. However, I have to remind folks that I SUCK at taking pics and I apologize in advance. :lol: Also, I had to move corals all over the place, stir up the sand.. move rocks around a bit.. so my tank is a disaster right now, except for the anemone...The first pic was about 1 hour after intro into my tank. It worked out that the LEDs were starting to dim on their own, and it was very heavily set on the B+RB side of things:

This second set of pics does not even come close to showing the color, but shows the overall health and the mouth of this beauty. The two pics are taken with tank lights out completely, and the flash from my phone. Again; color is not anything close to real life. (And the glass is dirty from last night's ordeal :tongue