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View Full Version : anenome upside down - please advise


beef
05/10/2003, 01:51 AM
About a month ago I purchased a "sebae", probably heteractis crispa, anenome from the lfs. Put it in my tank and it seemed to settle into a desirable position after 3 days. Since then it has done pretty well, although it wasn't your standard white (bleached) sebae it apparantly had some zooanthella loss and it has darkened up a little. It eats well and isn't picky. The diet is a combo of some silverside and mysis shrimp pieces, sometimes soaked in selcon. He currently is fed 2-3 times a week.

Anyhow he's been in the same spot for the better part of three weeks, at the base of a steep liverock wall, with his foot in the sand and in between some rocks. Yesterday morning when I woke up, he was upside down. Not sure how he got that way maybe he fell while trying to climb the rocks looking for a new spot? I left him alone for a day and a half and no movement. So when I got home from work today I decided to at least flip him over. Just a couple of hours after the lights went out I checked him, and again he is upside down. He has not moved, he's just upside down. I'm not sure what to do or if this may be a symptom of a larger problem. Any ideas?

Just to avoid some of the obligatory questions...I realize this is my first post, but I've kept anenomes before and have done tons of research on their care requirements over the years. I'm not an expert of course, but pretty well versed in the basics. My seabae is in a 90 gal with 30 gal sump/refugium. The tank's bio-load is pretty low, just a few lps, mushrooms, pair of clowns and a foxface (well I guess that pig creates a bio load problem all by himself ) :) The tank is fairly well established, got a good 4-6" dsb 100+ lbs of live rock and a refuge that is teeming with pods and other critters, courtesy of IPSF and Inland aquatics. I am also running an AquaC 120 skimmer and I drip kalk. Water params are good nothing detectable in Amm, Nitrite, Nitrate, or Phos. Tank has been running for over a year. Lighting is 2X 250W 10K MH, 2X 55W 6700K PCs and 2X 55 Watt Actinic PC.

Thanks!

pantera4203
05/10/2003, 02:12 AM
Hey Beef,
Welcome to RC.

I had a friend that had a bubble XL in his tank. It was kind of the same problem. When he first got it, it stayed in one spot for about 2 weeks and then same thing. It liked to be upside down!
He placed it in a horseshoe shape rock work proping it up. It stayed there.
Best
Brandon

beef
05/10/2003, 10:44 PM
I decided to leave him alone for the night and see if he moved anywhere. When I got up this morning he was still upside down in the same spot, and severely shriveled. I decided to filp him over. Right after I flipped him he regurgitated a fairly big piece of sponge. The spot he had been in was below a rock that had some hitchhiker sponges on it, and I noticed the sponge above the anenome had drastically receded during the last couple of days. I assumed the anenome may have been releasing some chemical the sponge didn't like. Anyhow, I can't image that the anenome would puposely eat a sponge, would it? The anenomes mouth was gaping :( for a little while after regurgitated but now it is closed, and the anenome is expanding a little. Any thoughts?