New to salt water! Need major help!!!

[AshleyMurphy]

We have had our tank up and running for about 2 months. We started off with live rock, sand and hermit crab. It was doing wonderful so we added 2 snails, long tentacle anemone, 3 shrimps and 2 clownfish. Everything was doing wonderful but the clownfish wasn’t bonding with anemone so we bought another one and it was about 3 times the size and one of our clownfish bonded! Over time we added 2 dansils and a cardinal fish. The first anemone slowly found its way up inside a rock so we rarely ever see it. Shortly after, one of our clownfish became headless and something ate it (this clownfish wasn’t bonded to an anemone).

A week later, we bought a carpet anemone, long nose hawk fish and a goby. Within 24 hours, our 2nd long tentacle anemone that has always been rooted into the sand, we found it upside down. A couple hours later, it was sucked up into the jet and died a day later.

We returned our long nose hawk fish thinking that was the reason it all happened but now the carpet anemone has not rooted to anything. It also has a big bump on the top of it .. like the foot is on top of it. 90% of the times it’s shriveled up.

What are we doing wrong!? Help!!!!

 

[Bbfishb81]

Anemones should be added to tanks more then 6 months old, they are s little more sensitive. Do you run carbon? Anemones will fight, usually with chemical warfare, so if you are not running carbon to aborobe the toxins, they might be fighting. Both carpet and long tentacle like to attach to the bottom, under the sand. With too little sand or, not enough room, they dont root well.

 

[SPR1968]

As already said, anemones need stable good water conditions and generally need an established tank of at least 12 months old so I would take it back to the shop if you can. The carpet anemone is also difficult to care for.

Before you add anything else check all your water parameter and maybe post them on here

 

[Hermie]

Pictures of tank? Tank size?

Sounds new and a lot of animals added at once; better to add slowly over time, one or two animals here and there and monitor their progress individually.

 

[Auquanut]

Hello Ashley. Welcome to R2R! Sounds like your tank is still a little immature for nems.

Before you add anything else check all your water parameter and maybe post them on here

^^ Great advice. Maybe a picture too?

 

[BeejReef]

Welcome Ashley...

Whoahhh.. slow down a little
Nems are very hard to begin with and usually 6mo at a minimum. Plus, you're adding a lot of livestock as well.
Pretend your tank is like that adorable bouncy baby in your profile pic. You're giving your tank a fork and a steaknife to eat dinner. It's not ready yet.

 

[AdamB]

Welcome to R2R! Sounds like your getting good food for thought on your tank.
The key to successful Reefing is to go slow and understand that your going to have failures. Part of the learning curve but it’s so rewarding! Good luck !

 

[foxt]

Welcome to R2R!

It can all be a bit daunting in the beginning. As others have said, the key is to go slow, and to not change a lot of things all at once.

From your description, it sounds as though the bump you are seeing on the anemone is it's mouth. It could be gaping open, puckered up, or just turned inside out. All of these are signs of something wrong with it, but not all of them are fatal.

If I followed correctly, you had an anemone get sucked into a pump or powerhead. That could be a cause of some of the problems. Did you change any water after that happened? Did the anemone get shredded at all? If so, it can release small anemone parts into the water which will create problems for everything in the tank.

Back to some first steps though. If you can describe your system a bit, and even post a few pictures, we can be more helpful. Also, do you test any of the parameters of the water, such as ammonia and nitrate?

 

[AshleyMurphy]

Thank you everyone for the feedback!

We will give it time before adding more fish or anemones!

We took the water to get it tested today and they think the nitrates are high so we have a protein skimmer that we are going to try (65 gallon tank).

Welcome to R2R!

It can all be a bit daunting in the beginning. As others have said, the key is to go slow, and to not change a lot of things all at once.

From your description, it sounds as though the bump you are seeing on the anemone is it's mouth. It could be gaping open, puckered up, or just turned inside out. All of these are signs of something wrong with it, but not all of them are fatal.

If I followed correctly, you had an anemone get sucked into a pump or powerhead. That could be a cause of some of the problems. Did you change any water after that happened? Did the anemone get shredded at all? If so, it can release small anemone parts into the water which will create problems for everything in the tank.

Back to some first steps though. If you can describe your system a bit, and even post a few pictures, we can be more helpful. Also, do you test any of the parameters of the water, such as ammonia and nitrate?

 

[UCF Alum]

I’m concerned that sucked up nem released toxins.
Happened to my uncle. Nem caught in wave pump, nuked the whole tank.

 

[ruskimax]

You've come to the right place. These guys helped me so many times, just always ask questions and dont listen to anything the LFS tells you. Good luck!