Carpet nem stressed, or dying?

telsonman · Apr 6, 2017

I was given this carpet nem about 2 weeks ago. He looked much better when I got him, he was very flat with the proper curves. His tentacles would stick to my finger, etc. The foot though was ballooned up, as you'll see in the picture. Cut to yesterday. His foot a few days ago flattened, and the host clown moved sand around it. The upper half though seems ballooned up now, and looks more like a starfish. His mouth stays open about the size of a dime, maybe smaller. He wasn't prolapsing during the day, but when I took the picture below, the lights were out and he had some prolapse. I googled pics of dying nems, and he doesn't look like the pics to a point. Its mouth isn't gaping, nor does it have massive prolapse. Part of me thinks its stressed from a new environment. Previous owner had a very filthy tank.

If its dying I'll just go ahead and get it out of my tank before it jacks my levels up.

water parameters are:
Ammonia .25ppm (was 0 but I had a chromis that I expected to die to kick it sometime last night)
Nitrite 0 (expecting some from the ammonia)
Nitrate 10ppm
Temp 77.9-78.1 (controlled by APEX)
PH 8.0 (swings up to ~8.2 every 12 hours, per APEX)
Lighting is a Reef Breeders 48" photon v1

His spot is in this section between the overflow and the corner, under a powerhead, so he doesn't get high flow.

Pic from about a week ago

And last night

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

telsonman · Apr 6, 2017

This is what it looked like yesterday when I got home from work.

Elegance Coral · Apr 6, 2017

I would do a large water change quickly to get that ammonia down.

The anemone doesn't look all that bad, other than being very very bleached. I would feed it often. Like every day or every other day. As often as it will eat until it recovers.
HTH
EC

telsonman · Apr 6, 2017

It was that color when I got it, and the guy said it always has been. Under blue lighting, it has a glow to it.

Elegance Coral · Apr 6, 2017

It's bleached. It should not be that color.

Reef Stu · Apr 6, 2017

Is your tank new? It's either new or you are the best at keeping your tank clean [emoji1]. If it's new, and you have ammonia. I would say your biological filter is not adequate yet. So feeding "often" will spike your ammonia levels. Also looking at the picture, the tank seems small. If so, It will be hard not to spike ammonia. What are you using for your bio filter? I don't see any Live rock. Good luck

telsonman · Apr 6, 2017

Its a 75g tank with 70lbs of rock. Plus sand. Plus an eshopps R-100 sump and an Octopus 150int skimmer.

Reef Stu · Apr 6, 2017

Ok. Your tank is bigger than mine [emoji1]. I don't think one fish dying the night before would be the cause of your ammonia. I've never had an ammonia spike. I have unexpectedly lost a fish and he became clean up crew food (never found it). I think Bio filter is going to be where your problem is. Still not sure how old your tank is. Hope he pulls through. Best of luck.

Liquid360 · Apr 6, 2017

I disagree. I suspect you'll lose it, but feeding it isn't the answer. By the time the zooxanthellae have begun dying off it's usually a lost cause

Elegance Coral · Apr 6, 2017

Liquid360 said:
I disagree. I suspect you'll lose it, but feeding it isn't the answer. By the time the zooxanthellae have begun dying off it's usually a lost cause

Liquid360 · Apr 6, 2017

I suspect it's not only bleaching and is likely too far gone. You're free to your opinions.

davocean · Apr 6, 2017

I and many others have brought back bleached nems just as much as yours, lacking the zooxanthellae they need to process light into energy the only solution is feeding it, but small foods that are easy to digest w/out stressing it, like mysis, squirting towards it a couple times a week.
As long as your params are up to snuff and stable it could come back to health.

telsonman · Apr 7, 2017

Well I checked the water again last night.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
So I'm good there. I am beginning to think the nem is just acclimating. It was a lot flatter yesterday, and seemed to conform to the sand more. I attempted to feed it mysis. It responded. Didn't close up like it should, but it definately pulled the arms inward. I need to figure out the best way to bring it back from being bleached.