Carbon Dosing Anemones Shriveling

GeoSquid · Jan 10, 2022

Anyone have issues with their nems from carbon dosing?
I have 5 BTA's that shriveled up once I started carbon dosing. I have a mostly softy tank and the nems were big and splitting here and there. The corals look better than ever though. PH, Alc and Calc are all the same as before I started dosing. I started the carbon dosing with Biopellets for about 2 months - nems shrank after about the second week. I was using a DIY reactor that seemed to work the pellets with a nice slow tumble. Started out using about 25% the recommended amount of pellets and increased slowly every couple weeks to 80% by week 8. But...my DIY reactor filter would clog about once a week and it seemed more work that dosing. I switched to vinegar about a week ago starting with 20ml for ~150 gal water volume best guess for my 180 gal. Nems are still shriveled up but corals still looking great.

dvgyfresh · Jan 10, 2022

Been my experience to with nopox , I do not use anymore due to the anemones , my prize creatures lol maybe look into other ways of nutrient export like macro algae?

Nemguy123 · Jan 11, 2022

Yes, carbon dosing and anemones don’t mix nems are prone to infections when bacteria builds up in a system and all forms of carbon dosing increase bacteria load and this in return can cause infections in anemones. Uv helps but pretty much nems like it more sterile then other inverts so Uv sterilization and using activated carbon are usually good when you have anemones in your system. Water changes are good for nems too to help knock down the bacteria load in the system

pecan2phat · Jan 30, 2022

Does this theory apply to the maintenance usage of bottled bacteria?

GeoSquid · Jan 31, 2022

I can tell you my Nems are still having issues. I carbon dosed for a little less than 2 months and stopped a few weeks ago. Two nems disappeared and 3 are still shriveled, one of them turned completely pale and is the size of a nickel. They were all 4"- 6". All the corals were looking better than ever during the process. I hope they recover. I've never used bottled bacteria.

YOYOYOReefer · Jan 31, 2022

hmm i have a dozen healthy RBTAs and use nopox on a doser

Rickybobby · Jan 31, 2022

Oh wow great post. I have a one year old tank and I dose nopox when needed. Brought my bubble tip nem home on Friday. He has a great spot he’s holding onto very close to my clowns but hasn’t fully opene and extended but is eating when I spot feed. Only thing I’ve done is carbon dosed. Tank 5-10 nitrates .03 phos 1.026 78f alk 8dkh. Interesting I will stop doing and do more water changes and just bite the salt bullet and see if he starts to improve. Thanks

GeoSquid · Jan 31, 2022

YOYOYOReefer said:
hmm i have a dozen healthy RBTAs and use nopox on a doser

I did a lot of research before starting carbon dosing and didn't come across any information about it causing Nem problems. I've had them in the tank for at least a year or probably longer and they were good size, very colorful, eating and spreading. The only thing I changed was starting biopellets and adding them very slowly. They don't seem to be recovering very quickly either.

GeoSquid · Jan 31, 2022

here are some pics.

YOYOYOReefer · Jan 31, 2022

what are you Nitrogen and Phosphate readings prior to and after nopox. Its possible you went from high levels to low and are swinging? the cyano in your tank makes me think you have hi phosphate levels. Perhaps nutrient rich to nutrient poor quickly causes nems shock? do you have a skimmer , did its output increase substancially when you started the biopellets?

dvgyfresh · Jan 31, 2022

Sorry to hear about that , may need to get some cipro on hand if the nems continue to decline

GeoSquid · Jan 31, 2022

YOYOYOReefer said:
what are you Nitrogen and Phosphate readings prior to and after nopox. Its possible you went from high levels to low and are swinging? the cyano in your tank makes me think you have hi phosphate levels. Perhaps nutrient rich to nutrient poor quickly causes nems shock? do you have a skimmer , did its output increase substancially when you started the biopellets?

The cyano started about a week after I started carbon dosing. It's getting less and less now. Honestly, I don't have a Nitrogen or phos test kit. I've been keeping saltwater tanks sine 1990 and I've never tested for either of those, just Alk, Ca and Mg. I have an algae scrubber on this tank and I can usually tell how high my nitrates are by what kind of algae is growing on it. I wasn't getting GHA but mostly dark slimy stuff, which is usually an indication of high nitrates. It's always been like that on this tank and I also usually just go by how much algae is growing in my tank also. I had some brown hair algae that seemed to be getting worse. I'm sure a few snails would have taken care of it, but I have a couple triggers in this tank so that's not an option. I thought I would start carbon dosing very slowly and see if it helped the algae....and it was starting to work pretty good right when the nems started shrinking. The skimmer did start increasing production about 5 weeks into carbon dosing but not a big difference. It's been producing the same even though I stopped dosing a few weeks ago. I may have shocked the nems but all the soft coral, which I though would have a problem with a fast drop, seemed to be looking better than ever.

Spare time · Jan 31, 2022

GeoSquid said:
The cyano started about a week after I started carbon dosing. It's getting less and less now. Honestly, I don't have a Nitrogen or phos test kit. I've been keeping saltwater tanks sine 1990 and I've never tested for either of those, just Alk, Ca and Mg. I have an algae scrubber on this tank and I can usually tell how high my nitrates are by what kind of algae is growing on it. I wasn't getting GHA but mostly dark slimy stuff, which is usually an indication of high nitrates. It's always been like that on this tank and I also usually just go by how much algae is growing in my tank also. I had some brown hair algae that seemed to be getting worse. I'm sure a few snails would have taken care of it, but I have a couple triggers in this tank so that's not an option. I thought I would start carbon dosing very slowly and see if it helped the algae....and it was starting to work pretty good right when the nems started shrinking. The skimmer did start increasing production about 5 weeks into carbon dosing but not a big difference. It's been producing the same even though I stopped dosing a few weeks ago. I may have shocked the nems but all the soft coral, which I though would have a problem with a fast drop, seemed to be looking better than ever.

Not having a nitrate or phosphate test kit with carbon dosing is a terrible idea

markwayts · Jan 31, 2022

GeoSquid said:
Anyone have issues with their nems from carbon dosing?
I have 5 BTA's that shriveled up once I started carbon dosing. I have a mostly softy tank and the nems were big and splitting here and there. The corals look better than ever though. PH, Alc and Calc are all the same as before I started dosing. I started the carbon dosing with Biopellets for about 2 months - nems shrank after about the second week. I was using a DIY reactor that seemed to work the pellets with a nice slow tumble. Started out using about 25% the recommended amount of pellets and increased slowly every couple weeks to 80% by week 8. But...my DIY reactor filter would clog about once a week and it seemed more work that dosing. I switched to vinegar about a week ago starting with 20ml for ~150 gal water volume best guess for my 180 gal. Nems are still shriveled up but corals still looking great.

I've never had trouble but if it was my tank i'd spot feed my nem's every other day. When they are full and fat they adapt to changes a lot better.