What’s wrong with my nem?

crystal181 · May 3, 2019

I bought the entire tank setup with this guy about 6 weeks ago. Tank was up and running for around 8 years. He’s been moving around like crazy this past week or so. He’s getting these white marks on him. I also have 2 clownfish that host him. They are not currently because he just moved from the side or the tank on the bottom to the rocks in the middle of the tank and they are not happy.

Arricefe · May 3, 2019

Hi Crystal, did you set the tank the same way it was before? Same wavemakers, same lights? I had a Nem that roamed around until it found the spot it liked, from my readings they look for the right amount of flow and light.

KorD · May 3, 2019

agreed. it could be aggravated by the lights if they somehow changed brightness, or from the flow if it is different. What are your parameters looking like? If the tank was reset up it could be going though a cycle and that could have made it mad also.

crystal181 · May 4, 2019

Ammonia and nitrites are 0 nitrates are 10-20. It is different lighting. She had leds that hung from the ceiling so I used some older on top lights that I believe have T5 bulbs. Maybe I should suck it up and hang the leds? There may be a bit more flow also, the power heads she had were old and not producing enough flow so I bought new ones. It stretches out as big as a dinner plate sometimes.

Jon Fishman · May 4, 2019

It’s hard to tell from a picture sometimes, but it looks good to me. Are you changing things around whenever it moves somewhere you don’t want it, or are you letting it do its’ thing?

I would be inclined to say, cover your powerheads etc if they aren’t, and ride it out. I also would say figure out exactly what your lights are, and if they in-fact aren’t up to par....... then address that. I started my Anemone on a cheap fixture with one T5 white and one blue, and weak LED strips that I got with my used setup, and it did great.

Mike.P · May 4, 2019

I would say it looks healthy... The moving around is normal, after the tank being moved to a new location. Even with having the same exact setup, it won't be 100% like it was at the other house. It'll settle down once it finds a spot that it likes, and the clowns will come back over. Just give it a little bit of time.

Jon Fishman · May 4, 2019

Also, if you have an anemone happy on a rock for months on end, and pull that rock out of the tank, toss it/them in a quarantine tank or just a bucket with an airstone/heater/light and leave it overnight..... when you put it back in the tank, even if it’s the same place the rock was and he is still attached...... It may let go and wander after reintroduction.... Or he may not...... Bottom line, Anemones do what they want...