bubble tip anemone has not opened in several weeks

[robf]

I have an anemone that was open for several months (my tank has been running since Jan) but closed up about 3 weeks ago and hasn't extended it's tentacles since. I have stable water parameters that I test regularly and I haven't made any changes to my lighting. I do have a clown fish that used to spend a lot of time in him but now just seems to hang around him. My tank is a 55 gallon bow front with t5 lighting (6 bulbs on hangers). Right after I introduced the little guy he traversed the tank from end to end, found a spot under a piece of LR and has stayed in the same place since. He used to be open and inviting and now he just hangs upside down puckered up with a few tentacles partially extended.

Here is my water params:

Temp 80.2
Gravity 1.025
pH 8.13
Ca 440
Alk 3.0 meq/8.4 dkh
Mg 1360
NO3 0
PO3 0

I have been adding 3 drops of luigi's iodine solution to my tank about every week and a half. I have a sump and a large skimmer and run biopellets in a BRS reactor and carbon/gfo in another. I use only RO water. Everything else in my tank seems healthy and I am stumped. I have sps and lps corals as well as a few small fish. 6 striped wrasse, clown (med sized), blenny (med sized), mandrin (small), coral banded shrimp (1 1/2 inches), several snails. When I use my scraper I always find copepods. I only feed the tank 1x per day as the pods seem to be abundant food for the rest of the meals. I'm fighting a green hair algae outbreak that is mainly on my LR. Under the tank is an 8 gallon fuge and 12 gallon sump for my heater, reactors and skimmer. Something has changed to make this little guy not want to extend. I'm stumped as to what it might be. Any suggestions?

 

[uall8up]

What about not getting enough light? Have you tried to target feed him?

 

[tangs are awsome]

to hot in your tank need to cool it off some I would double check the phosphate as well 95% of the time it is phosphate that is the main culprit. Try better lighting and or more flow. But first cool it off shoud be 76 or lower. Stop with the iodine that is feeding the hair algae. You have a phosphate problem I promise. You need ro di water that is reverse osmosis with a dionizing unit this takes the phosphate out of your water. cut the lights back to 4 hours a day use a phosphate sponge and get a better test kit. try to test your ro water at the valve you might be supprised. I did this for a year and after loosing a lot of coral and many anemonies I found it was my water all along. I changed all of my filters and added a di unit problem has gotten better but still fighting with the algae. Its been a month since I broke down my tank, scrubbed all of my rock, changed substrate, added phosban, down scaled the lighting and I did this with 100 gallon tank and about 100 lbs of live rock.. If it is not phosphate. the hair algae is sucking out of the water the nutrients that the bubble anem needs to live. good luck.

 

[turbo21]

to hot in your tank need to cool it off some I would double check the phosphate as well 95% of the time it is phosphate that is the main culprit. Try better lighting and or more flow. But first cool it off shoud be 76 or lower. Stop with the iodine that is feeding the hair algae. You have a phosphate problem I promise. You need ro di water that is reverse osmosis with a dionizing unit this takes the phosphate out of your water. cut the lights back to 4 hours a day use a phosphate sponge and get a better test kit. try to test your ro water at the valve you might be supprised. I did this for a year and after loosing a lot of coral and many anemonies I found it was my water all along. I changed all of my filters and added a di unit problem has gotten better but still fighting with the algae. Its been a month since I broke down my tank, scrubbed all of my rock, changed substrate, added phosban, down scaled the lighting and I did this with 100 gallon tank and about 100 lbs of live rock.. If it is not phosphate. the hair algae is sucking out of the water the nutrients that the bubble anem needs to live. good luck.

Atemp of 80 is perfectly fine. you can run your tank up to 84 degrees before you have any problems. i have been running my tanks at 80 for the last 10 years this way without ever having an issue

 

[turbo21]

When did you last change your bulbs, your carbon, and were you feeding the nem?

 

[robf]

When did you last change your bulbs, your carbon, and were you feeding the nem?

carbon and gfo has just been changed. I just started using the carbon and gfo (about a month). I change them every 2 weeks. The lighting is 6 mo old everything bought new. It's controlled by a reefkeeper and runs a dusk to dawn program that seems to be working with my sps ok. My test kit for phosphate test kit is Red Sea brand and not expired. I'm very carefully following the directions and since the initial cycle have not detected any phosphates. I have a deep sand bed in my fuge with macro algae. Today the guy is even tighter. I tried to feed him some brine shrimp but he's so balled up I doubt he got any. Should I try to remove him from the rock? Will he die and contaminate the rest of the tank or should I just leave him alone and wait?

 

[robf]

One last point. I was not directly feeding the nem regularly. I would give him a piece of thawed scallop every couple of weeks. But the clown seemed to be bringing him food and I figured the lighting would provide additional food. Any thoughts?

 

[3Twinklets]

My anemones do not like carbon

 

[robf]

My anemones do not like carbon

Could that be it? I did add carbon and gfo about a month ago.

 

[robf]

On close inspection I noticed about 4 very small Aiptasia were on the rock about 1/2 inches from it. I nuked them with lemon juice and a syringe. Since the bubble tip was under a hanging rock and still puckered shut I moved the rock a bit to expose him to more light. He still only opens a small amount but seems to be a tad bit better. Still worried.

 

[robf]

I've been feeding him mysis, cyclops and scallop bits every day and he seems to be doing a bit better. Perhaps he was not getting enough nutrition. I don't really know for sure but he is partially open now though not fully extended.

 

[tangs are awsome]

Glad to see your bbta is doing better. I like to see variety of food as well. The tank temp being 80 is a bit warm but what ever works for you. I would like to run carbon in my gfo but have heard different stories about it. I would like to know if your nem stays open with the use of carbon. Keep me posted please. I have a hair algae problem that will not stop. I am going to look into an algecide but am apprehensive about adding chemicals to my reef tank. Hope all works out for you. Keep a close eye on the phosphates as well.

 

[robf]

Will do. In the end. The Carbon may be the problem. The problems with the BT started about the time I added GFO/Carbon to the tank. I did this because I was having hair algae grow though it may be a natural part of the tank cycle as the tank just finished going through a yucky cyno phase. The tank is about 6 months old but the LR was active from a tank I bought on Craigslist. I've been getting on the job experience fighting all this but also understanding that some of this just takes time to let the natural stasis happen. Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking about lowering the tank a few degrees. I have it a bit hot to encourage growth but my Reefkeeper acts to protect me from spiking temps. I have had a few but the RK turns my lights off and turns on fans to keep my tank from going up from here.

 

[robf]

Anem is doing a much better. He's a lot smaller than when I bought him but he looks normal and healthy now. I'm feeding him 3x a week in the morning. I believe I may have had water quality issues. I had a problem reading my PO4 test kit. It's Red Sea and the sample really isn't any of the colors on the wheel. After I purchased a Hanna Checker for phosphate I realized I had a PO4 problem. It no doubt has been fueling my algae problem as well. Upon researching the matter I think it comes down to not changing my DI resin when it expired. You can get much more than you bargain for when you let it run out. When your meter starts reading less than zero look out. The resin is potentially leaching some terrible stuff in your RO tank.

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

to hot in your tank need to cool it off some I would double check the phosphate as well 95% of the time it is phosphate that is the main culprit. Try better lighting and or more flow. But first cool it off shoud be 76 or lower. Stop with the iodine that is feeding the hair algae. You have a phosphate problem I promise. You need ro di water that is reverse osmosis with a dionizing unit this takes the phosphate out of your water. cut the lights back to 4 hours a day use a phosphate sponge and get a better test kit. try to test your ro water at the valve you might be supprised. I did this for a year and after loosing a lot of coral and many anemonies I found it was my water all along. I changed all of my filters and added a di unit problem has gotten better but still fighting with the algae. Its been a month since I broke down my tank, scrubbed all of my rock, changed substrate, added phosban, down scaled the lighting and I did this with 100 gallon tank and about 100 lbs of live rock.. If it is not phosphate. the hair algae is sucking out of the water the nutrients that the bubble anem needs to live. good luck.

Agreed. 80 is way to high