Bubble tip anemone doesn’t look good

mginani · Mar 9, 2019

I added an bubble tip anemone to my tank about 6 weeks ago. It immediately went behind my rocks in the back of my tank and decided to make that place his home. My clownfish hangs out back there all day with him. In my opinion, he seems to be looking worse and worse. That said, this is my first experience with an anemone so not sure if this is normal. He has planted his foot very low in the tank and then seems to be stretching up for light. All fish and coral are doing well in my tank including sps. Only thing I can think is that I do keep a lot of flow- 2 Gyre 250s in a 4 foot 80 gallon tank. Alk is 7.8, Ca 430, Mg 1300, ph 8.17, temp 79, Phosphate .03, nitrate 10. I keep maxspect recurve Leds.

Any thoughts?

KTTX · Mar 9, 2019

My BTA moves around from top to bottom from time to time...all is well.

True test is feed it raw peeled shrimp meat...if it eats more than likely all is well.

reef lover · Mar 10, 2019

Is the mouth gaping?

mginani · Mar 10, 2019

reef lover said:
Is the mouth gaping?

I don’t notice a gaping mouth but tentacles looked shriveled.

ThePurple12 · Mar 10, 2019

+1 on feeding. If its tentacles aren't sticky, turn off all the flow until it eats

reef lover · Mar 10, 2019

Try offering small food often and see if hell take it..small foods so it doesnt take a lot of energy .

mginani · Mar 11, 2019

reef lover said:
Try offering small food often and see if hell take it..small foods so it doesnt take a lot of energy .

Well, I fed him some mysis shrimp and he closed up around the food, so I assume he’s eating it.

Eagle_Steve · Mar 11, 2019

mginani said:
Well, I fed him some mysis shrimp and he closed up around the food, so I assume he’s eating it.

If he closed up around it, that is eating. As for the tentacles, I have some BTAs that stay bubbly, some that stay fat and elongated, and others that are stringy. All are clones form the original. It is heavily debated, but flow, light, and just the nem itself all determine how they look. Biggest thing to check is the mouth. As long as it is not gapping or it's guts are outside, it should be good.