In Need Of Ritteri And True Percula Expert!!!

[Brandon Szatkowski]

LEt me give you the low down.

I have a 110 gal. reef

pH 8.2
Temp 81
Salinity 1.023

I purchased a ritteri anemone around 2 months ago and it has been doing fine, that is not the problem. The problem lyes when I bought a pair of True purculas 3 days ago. I acclamated them and let the lights off for the whole fist day. Around 3 hours after I put them in the tank they went into the anemone and spent the night there. Day two rolled around. When the lights came on the ritteri was srunk into a ball and the clowns were in the top left corner of the tank just swimming little in circles. The female ate that day but the male did not. Day 3! The anemone was back in action this day, but w/o the clowns.........THEY WERE IN THE SAME SPOT. Today they did not eat and the female looked to have a film like skin substace peeling off of it. Well I just got home and found the female dead on the bottom!!!!!!! The male looks to be getting the same filmy substance. Should I give him a fresh water dip? What should I do? Additional info. I did a water change yesterday, and the other fish in the tank are a paddlefin wrasse,Aust. flame hawk,and a yellow tang.

Thank for reading this and please help,
Brandon

[Carlos]

What are your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates?

how did you acclimate the fish?

It sounds like your fish got velvet but I could be wrong. I would try to medicate the male in a different tank.

Bringing new fish to the aquarium can be tricky. The fish that are currently in our tanks are used to the bacteria and parasites that live in our tanks. In a sense, their immune system is at a balance with the parasite where the immune system is strong enough to fight off any local parasites.

When a new fish is broght into the aquarium, these new fish lack the balance of immunity and therefore they suffer until their immune system can catch up. That is why new arrivals sometimes get sick while fish already in the the tank do not even glitch.

One way to overcome this is by using a Q-tank, or what most people do, purchase their fish from a reputable LFS. If you know the store where the fish comes from, you most likely will know how long the fish have been in the tank and how good they are eating. That information is crucial to the success of the new fish in your tank. The strengh of their immune system and its ability to catch up is crucial to their survival.

Besides medicating the fish, make sure you are feeding them a very varied food. Also, add vitamin supplementation to the food. Supplements such as Selcon and Kent Marine Zoe are excellet sources of vitamin C which in turn strengthens the fish' immune system.

Sorry about the female clown. Best of luck with the male. Please keep us posted.

Carlos

[Brandon Szatkowski]

Well the male died this morning.... back to the drawing board... and thank you for the advice, I will be sure to use it in the futrure.

[Dragonlady]

It is normal for Heteractis magnifica to ball up at night. As long as it does not stay balled up all day, it is probably fine. They open up during the day to bask in high intensity lighting. The clownfish dying probably had nothing to do with the anemone, as ritteri anemones are a natural host for them. However, it is possible that invertebrates such as anemones can carry parasites from their former host fish. Your clownfish could have already had a parasite before they were introduced to the anemone. Try a freshwater dip or quarantine your clownfish. Try to identify any symptoms such as rapid breathing, flicking, rubbing, erratic behavior, visible spots, or something hanging from the gills.
Hint # 1:
Tank raised clownfish are much hardier than wild caught clownfish, and will go into an anemone even if they have never seen one before.
Hint # 2
Make your powerheads inaccessable to your ritteri by combining sewing fishing line with fiberglass screening( Get it at Home Depot. and WalMart ). Many anemones have been turned to mush by getting entangled in powerheads. Ritteris like to move to the highest point in the tank. Trick it into thinking it is at the highest point in the tank by not letting it touch a higher surface area.