Nursing a bleached sebae (journey of first 10 days)

marcwjj

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Tank is more than 3 years old. Recently the RBTAs has spawned too much and decided to destroy quite a few LPS in the tank, so I had to move out the RBTA and ordered a Sebae instead (I know, very logical line of thinking, right?) . It's a Fluval flex 32g, with 2 Fluval stock LED (42w each).

Water parameters are stable: ph 8.1, salinity 1.026, phosphate 0.11 (it was 0.4 for the first few days until I replaced the phosguard), Alkalinity 8.7, calcium 400, nitrate 5-10

Day 1: arrived completed bleached, won't attach to rocks or sandbed, tentacles not sticky, respond well to touches. I left it in a low flow area and found it upside down mouth into sand an hour later. So I moved it into the corner, where there's a circulation inlet , but the inlets and flow are small enough to be an issue.

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Day 2 - Day 7: the nem has stayed put in the same place, I tried to feed fresh squid / scalop / frozen mysis / plankton and it still refused to eat. My two clowns have finally found it on day 4 and made it their new home.. I did some research and thought that it may still be acclimating and not eating is expected?? However I was getting worried that the tentacles still being non sticky, and the lighting is definitely low for a Sebae. Also around day 6, it spilled out some white linked stuff that looks like guts but I forgot to take pics.

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Day 8 - installed a NICREW 30w spotlight 10 inches away from the nem and gradually tune up the intensity, and the next morning, it has moved to the middle of the tank. Could it be that the light was too strong? (phone app measures 200 PAR 10 inches away when the white channel is turned on at 40%). By the end of the day the little creature has caught the wave and flew to the other end of the tank
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Day 10 - Moved the nem back to a cave near the spotlight to give more lighting, and curfew'ed the clowns to a large breeder box to give the nem some breathing room during recovery (is this a good or bad idea??) . Interestingly the nem shrinks during the day when the lights are on, and inflates during evening time. It seems unintuitive but it clearly prefers less lighting based on the behavior observed. For example, when I shined a torchlight , the part where the torchlight hit deflated first. Tried to feed a piece of squid, still did not eat, and unsurprisingly the food got stolen by cleaner shrimp soon after. Its tentacles are still not sticky. I hope it likes the current spot , and plan to keep the strong spotlight during daytime and see how it goes.
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That's the first 10 days. I know it's difficult to nurse a bleached Sebae, but I'm staying optimistic and would appreciate any advices from the experts here!

My plan is that if it still refused to eat for another week or so, and if there's no signs of zooxanthellae coming back - then I would consider treat it in a HT with Cipro. However, I'd very much prefer and hope that it can recover in the DT so save it from further stresses, fingers crossed.

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KrisReef

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I thought this thread was about a "bleached" fish, :)face-with-hand-over-mouth::face-with-hand-over-mouth::cool:)

I am not experienced with these nems, but have had a little good luck with bubble tips, and clown fishes that host corals, or BTA's. The inverts have always thrived once the clownfish started tending a coral (plate coral) or nem. I know they can be rough but I would trust them to help a nem on the road to recovery more than my own nursing skills.

I also know that the Sebae is more delicate than a bubble tip and antibiotic treatment is a risky path to navigate.

I don't think it is good to try and feed them when they are not "standing up on their own foot." I generally don't feed mine but allow them to catch drifting fish food bits, and if a clownfish is tending them I trust the fish to bring it food that it needs if it is hungry.

Good luck with this effort!

@OrionN -Any help?
 

garygb

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H. crispa prefer to attach to rock, often at the level where the sand is, if there is sand. If no sand, still not a problem, they will attach to a hole in the live rock. Before trying to feed, the anemone needs to be securely attached. I wouldn't try to feed until it has been securely attached in the same spot for several days. Then feed a very small, pea size, piece of fresh shrimp or scallop (uncooked human grade). If it doesn't eat, try again the next day. As far as the zooxanthellae recolonizing the tissue, that can take several weeks. You'll first notice a light tan cast to the anemone, often it comes back in some areas more obvious than others, giving a mottled look. Prioritizing good water conditions for now is most important for your sebae's chances of success. Your specific gravity of 1.026 is good (salinity is measured in PPT (35 PPT equates to 1.026)). Temp should be 78-80F ish. As far as nitrates, I prefer lower, but it's probably not an issue at the levels you have. Do you run a skimmer? In general, a good thing to run, in my opinion.
 
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marcwjj

marcwjj

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Thanks for the suggestions! I will hold on feeding until it attaches its foot solidly first, and focus on water quality.

Unfortunately it’s not trending well in terms of ‘standing on its own’ today, managed to detach itself from the hole (which is a lot more effort than staying put IMO…) and flew freely in the tank to 2 different locations, I’ve lowerer the power head flow further.

Re. Skimme yes I have a nano Tunze skimmer at the back of the AIO tank up and running.
 

garygb

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You're giving it good conditions. You never know with sebaes. As host species go, they're not the easiest.
 
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marcwjj

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A few updates since last time:
Day 11 - unfortunately the sebae nem started floating freely and flew too close to the wavemaker. I also noticed wounds on its foot with white stringy stuff leaking, which is likely mesenterial filament, which would have explained the lack of stickiness on its foot and on its tentacles. I found @cairolip21 's post to be very relevant and decided to give it a try with cipro treatment in QT with egg crate.

Day 18 - cipro treatment works!!! the nem is getting better - the wounds are gone from the foot. was able to (sometimes) stick to a pvc end-cap and started to eat squid / scallop
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marcwjj

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I've moved it back (while staying in the same pvc end cap) to the DT last week , it has stayed put for a few days until it decided to move out of the PVC cup and relocated to a nearby rock since last night...

The good news is that it just very slowly took in a small piece of scallop (had to cover it with a box so the clown fishes don't steal its dinner away) .

Fingers crossed - still a long way to go for recovery..
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marcwjj

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An update after 4 months: the sebae anemone is still slowly on its way of recovery. It has stayed put at its spot (a well shaded area that’s under a patch of hammer corals). About 1/4 of its tentacles start to show brownish / greenish colors. And I kept hand feeding scallop/squid every 3 days. Extra care is needed for feeding to prevent emerald crabs / cleaner shrimp snatch away the food from its mouth but the clowns help defend its perimeter (because they spawn next to the anemone as you can see in pic 1) most of the times which is amazing to watch.

It’s also noticeable that the anemone prefers to avoid direct LED light on the white tentacles and only expose / inflate the brownish ones that have regained zooxanthallae to the better lit area.




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Seancj

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It looks like it may have finally found its spot! Glad to hear that it is slowly regaining its zooxanthellae.
 

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