Bubble Tip Anenome Not Opening

kdtorgy · Nov 11, 2020

I have a reef aquarium which is about 6 months and one of my buble tip anemones is not opening up and has not for several weeks. We have two and the first one we got (3 months ago) is doing fantastic. We added another one about 6-8 weeks ago and did fine at first but moved around a lot. It has settled under an arch so does not get much light but has not moved. It opens more during peak light intensity (but not much opening) and is pretty much closed up at other times. We do a 10 gallon water change every two weeks (140 gallon tank). Here are the water specs:
pH 8.4
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
Hardness 300
Ca 450
PO4: 0
Alkalinity 10.4

Any suggestions?

Reefer5640 · Nov 11, 2020

It may not be liking where is at. Any way you can move the rock it’s on to be in area with a little more light

kdtorgy · Nov 11, 2020

Reefer5640 said:
It may not be liking where is at. Any way you can move the rock it’s on to be in area with a little more light

I can’t. It’s on an arch and the rock is glued down. It moved a lot when we first put it in. If it doesnt like where it is now wouldn’t it just move again? Any way I can get it to move?

Reefer5640 · Nov 11, 2020

No not necessarily. I’ve had them sit in the same spot until they die or I intervene. You can try to get it to move but I’ve found it’s pretty hard to do without just causing more stress. Can you get a pic by chance?

kdtorgy · Nov 11, 2020

Reefer5640 said:
No not necessarily. I’ve had them sit in the same spot until they die or I intervene. You can try to get it to move but I’ve found it’s pretty hard to do without just causing more stress. Can you get a pic by chance?

Lights are low now. I’ll take one tomorrow and send.

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

Reefer5640 said:
No not necessarily. I’ve had them sit in the same spot until they die or I intervene. You can try to get it to move but I’ve found it’s pretty hard to do without just causing more stress. Can you get a pic by chance?

Here's a pic. that part of the rock wasn't glued down so I was able to flip it and get the anemone up the top side where there is way more light.

Reefer5640 · Nov 12, 2020

Well it definitely looks ticked but the good news is it’s still got a strong foot hold. Can you see it’s mouth? Is it puffy, flat, open or gaping open? Best thing you could have done at this point is to flip that rock over so that’s good.

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

Reefer5640 said:
Well it definitely looks ticked but the good news is it’s still got a strong foot hold. Can you see it’s mouth? Is it puffy, flat, open or gaping open? Best thing you could have done at this point is to flip that rock over so that’s good.

Here's a pic after I flipped the rock.

Uncle99 · Nov 12, 2020

You post all but nitrates.
Your phosphate is zero.....do you mean absolute zero or trace.
And whats the 300 number...

You can flip the rock as many times as you like, he moved cause he was unhappy.
Is there anyone who might bug him....like a peppermint?

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

I'm new to this so the company that installed the system has been maintaining the water up until now. I'm not sure if the phosphate is absolutely 0 or near 0 and I'm not sure about the units on the hardness. I'll check. We have blood shrimp, a banded coral shrimp and several different species of crabs, snails and fish but I have never seen anything bug the anemone. We do have two maroon clowns but since this anemone is not open, they just ignore it

Uncle99 · Nov 12, 2020

Not sure if you do, but if you feed the nems, both shrimps will steal that food.
I’d watch that CBS

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

Uncle99 said:
Not sure if you do, but if you feed the nems, both shrimps will steal that food.
I’d watch that CBS

I haven't directly fed the anemones. Sometimes the clowns will feed the healthy one and it's doing great. If the sick one does not have tentacles extended, can I still try to feed it?

Uncle99 · Nov 12, 2020

kdtorgy said:
I haven't directly fed the anemones. Sometimes the clowns will feed the healthy one and it's doing great. If the sick one does not have tentacles extended, can I still try to feed it?

No, I would not feed him until he recovers.

Reefer5640 · Nov 12, 2020

Just to touch on what @Uncle99 was saying, I wanted to explain my thought process so I don’t give you the wrong impression. I have had on a few occasions over the years a nem that moves a lot for various reasons and finally gets stressed enough it settles in a spot that’s dangerous for it (ie: under a rock or in a cave without light). Sometimes they just need a little help to back into the light/flow. With that being said, I wouldn’t keep moving it if it hides again. If the other one is thriving I wouldn’t think it’s a water quality issue. If the other one is doing just okay then it could be due to water quality and one was just healthier than the other (or was healthier from the beginning or had longer to adapt to your tank). Also, hard to tell for sure but It looks a little bleached. Could it have possibly been trying to get to a lower light due to being introduced to a spot that had too high of light than the other one? Personally I’m leaning towards something like your CBS is picking on it at night or when you’re not looking and further stressing it out.

Also, as for the hardness level. I didn’t think people tested for hardness in saltwater. It’s more of a freshwater thing. It’s my understanding that because we test for Ca and Mg separately we don’t need to test for hardness. I believe in fresh water you test for alk and in addition hardness to get an idea of your calcium carbonate. In saltwater we gauge this by looking at KH, Ca, and Mag all individually. Maybe someone with a better understanding on all that can chime in.

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

Reefer5640 said:
Just to touch on what @Uncle99 was saying, I wanted to explain my thought process so I don’t give you the wrong impression. I have had on a few occasions over the years a nem that moves a lot for various reasons and finally gets stressed enough it settles in a spot that’s dangerous for it (ie: under a rock or in a cave without light). Sometimes they just need a little help to back into the light/flow. With that being said, I wouldn’t keep moving it if it hides again. If the other one is thriving I wouldn’t think it’s a water quality issue. If the other one is doing just okay then it could be due to water quality and one was just healthier than the other (or was healthier from the beginning or had longer to adapt to your tank). Also, hard to tell for sure but It looks a little bleached. Could it have possibly been trying to get to a lower light due to being introduced to a spot that had too high of light than the other one? Personally I’m leaning towards something like your CBS is picking on it at night or when you’re not looking and further stressing it out.

Also, as for the hardness level. I didn’t think people tested for hardness in saltwater. It’s more of a freshwater thing. It’s my understanding that because we test for Ca and Mg separately we don’t need to test for hardness. I believe in fresh water you test for alk and in addition hardness to get an idea of your calcium carbonate. In saltwater we gauge this by looking at KH, Ca, and Mag all individually. Maybe someone with a better understanding on all that can chime in.

Uncle99 said:
No, I would not feed him until he recovers.

OK. Thanks for the tips. Greatly appreciated. Beautiful reef by the way!

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

We got the other anemone about a month before this one. The other one is absolutely thriving. Getting larger by the week. Color is beautiful and open when the lights are one. The healthy one was put near the bottom of the tank and has never moved (got it at the end of June). We got the sick one at the end of July. It was put on the top of the rock and moved a lot for the first several weeks, almost always under the rocks. It has been in this spot for at least 6 weeks and has not looked good for quite some time. I can't be certain but I think it started looking ill before we got the BCS (beginning of September). I'll keep an eye out to see of the BCS is pestering the sick one.

Concerning water testing, I'm still having the installer maintain the water level until I get a better handle on this. New to reef aquariums and want to be sure I know what I'm doing before I go it on my own. I have a refractometer so I can test salinity. I know the other compounds commonly are calcium, magnesium, phosphate, nitrates and ammonia. Can you recommend a good testing kit or instrument for these. I'm color blind so colorimetric tests won't work for me.

Thanks again for your input. Greatly appreciated

Mical · Nov 12, 2020

First off, all the above advice is spot on, all I can add is continue keeping the rest of the tank happy and just observe the sick nem. I'm suspecting being high in the tank when introduced has stress it and it's trying to recover.

Nems can be quirky but RBTAs are pretty hardy and do things you can't imagine and survive. So just let him settle and it'll find a place just don't move or prod it to move you'll only stress it more. I started with 2 now have 16+

kdtorgy · Nov 12, 2020

Mical said:
First off, all the above advice is spot on, all I can add is continue keeping the rest of the tank happy and just observe the sick nem. I'm suspecting being high in the tank when introduced has stress it and it's trying to recover.

Nems can be quirky but RBTAs are pretty hardy and do things you can't imagine and survive. So just let him settle and it'll find a place just don't move or prod it to move you'll only stress it more. I started with 2 now have 16+

I did flip the rock over so it's now on the top side facing the light instead of the bottom side away from the light. Should I leave it facing the light or flip it back over so it gets more shade?