Anemones Keep Dying

[Nate92]

Hi All,

I have a relatively young, but stabilized, tank. It's currently home to 9 fish, a pistol shrimp, a slew of hermit crabs and turbo snails, and seven corals (SPS, LPS, and softies). Everything is doing well with one exception- I can't keep anemones alive. I had one last about a month, another last a week, and just recently, one last two days. The most recent one seemed perfectly healthy- however, when I woke up this morning, my water was really cloudy and there were anemone chunks in my powerhead. Any idea why my anemones might be dying but everything else is doing well? My water parameters are included below. Thanks a ton!

Salinity- 1.029
Ammonia- 0
KH- 9.4dKH
Nitrate- 0
Phosphate- <.25
Water temp- 81


-Nate

 

[BestMomEver]

How old is your tank? Many times, anemones don’t do well in a tank younger than a year or so. If it makes you feel better, we had a 500 gallon tank that had been set up for years. Back then we had metal halide/t5 lights. We kept every kind of coral in that tank but for some reason could not keep clams or anemones. We would buy them and a month later they died. We finally gave up. Fast forward 17 years and I have a small tank with anemones and clowns and a larger tank with a thriving clam. My best guess is you need time. I wouldn’t try again for a good while.

Anemones in powerheads is fairly common. See if you can get a sponge cover for your powerhead. Do a decent sized water change.

As per parameters, lower your Salinity to 1.026 or so. And you might want to add some nutrients......

 

[Ron Reefman]

Nate, there are lots of possibilities, not the least of which could be the quality of the anemones when you got them. Having nems die in just a week and then in just a few days may not be your fault at all. I've picked up nems off the beach (not even in the water) during the Red Tide event along the shores of SW Florida last summer and they survived in a plastic peanut butter jar for 6 weeks doing just 3 or 4 100% water changes a day with water from my DT. And those nems are now in my DT.

You don't mention your Ca or Mg levels, not that I think those should be serious issues given your corals are doing OK. And you didn't mention what kind of nems you had? Did they each come from the same LFS or online supplier? I'm not asking for names, just if it was one supplier or 3 different suppliers?

 

[reef lover]

Def lower salinity and temp a bit.

 

[Nate92]

Thank you!!

How old is your tank? Many times, anemones don’t do well in a tank younger than a year or so. If it makes you feel better, we had a 500 gallon tank that had been set up for years. Back then we had metal halide/t5 lights. We kept every kind of coral in that tank but for some reason could not keep clams or anemones. We would buy them and a month later they died. We finally gave up. Fast forward 17 years and I have a small tank with anemones and clowns and a larger tank with a thriving clam. My best guess is you need time. I wouldn’t try again for a good while.

Anemones in powerheads is fairly common. See if you can get a sponge cover for your powerhead. Do a decent sized water change.

As per parameters, lower your Salinity to 1.026 or so. And you might want to add some nutrients......

 

[Nate92]

Nate, there are lots of possibilities, not the least of which could be the quality of the anemones when you got them. Having nems die in just a week and then in just a few days may not be your fault at all. I've picked up nems of the beach (not even in the water) during the Red Tide event along the shores of SW Florida last summer and they survived in a plastic peanut butter jar for 6 weeks doing just 3 or 4 100% water changes a day with water from my DT. And those nems are now in my DT.

You don't mention your Ca or Mg levels, not that I think those should be serious issues given your corals are doing OK. And you didn't mention what kind of nems you had? Did they each come from the same LFS or online supplier? I'm not asking for names, just if it was one supplier or 3 different suppliers?

Great feedback- thank you very much!! They all came from my LFS. Perhaps I’ll try a new supplier when I decide to give it another go. Thanks again!

 

[ReeferReefer]

How old is the tank?

 

[Nate92]

Almost five months now. When I originally posted, it was around three months.

 

[Ron Reefman]

What kind of anemones were you getting?
You might try a rock flower or maxi-mini anemone. They are both very hearty and they rarely move around so powerheads aren't an issue.

 

[GK3]

Almost five months now. When I originally posted, it was around three months.

Lower your salinity and temp. Wait another 5 months or so then try again.

5 months is pretty young to be adding nems. They don’t do well unstable conditions (which you are probably still getting from time to time) and you may not have enough nutrients in the water yet.