GBTA Hole in Foot?

Brit’s Fish · May 11, 2021

I have had this Green Bubble Tip Anemone for about 6 months. When I got it, it was somewhat bleached and took some time to recover. It colored up again, regained its tentacles (they were barely little nubs for a while there) and started inflating and bubbling up again. Over the last two months or so, it’s been looking very healthy and my clowns have been hosting in it. The picture of it looking healthy below is post recovery - from a few weeks ago. I should mention that I do not directly feed it but it catches LRS Reef Frenzy almost every day when I feed the fish. Today, it’s almost completely detached from the rock & I’ve noticed that there is a small hole in the middle of its foot.
I did have a leather coral that basically melted in this tank about 2 weeks ago, for some unknown reason. I checked my parameters then, everything looked normal but I did a water change and vacuumed the substrate where the leather had dropped some brown “goo” from melting. Not sure if melting is the right word - I initially thought it was just shedding as normal but it never perked up after it started to slough off and I pulled it after waiting to see what it would do for 1&1/2-2 days. It basically fell apart when I was pulling it out.
Maybe a month or so before that, a new Duncan frag ended up having brown jelly so I pulled it immediately since I have other large Euphyllia in this tank.
All of my other corals and rock flower nems in this tank look normal.
I’m sorry - I know I should be posting parameters as well but I wanted to get this up while I start testing.
Is any of this remotely normal or do I need to act fast to help my nem? Not sure what to do!

Aldrinlights · May 12, 2021

I once saw someone having the same issue with an anemone and bristle worms, they ate a hole in it. They used a worm catcher and pulled around 8 out a night from the tank. I have also heard that a certain type of dottyback will eat the worms. Don't know if it is true or not though.

Worm holes in the foot are bad, an anemone can heal its foot, with careful monitoring so infection doesn't set in. Your only course of action is to take it out and place it in a hospital tank. Death is almost a certainty here if it can't get healed.

Good Luck... run carbon and test your water peram's dead anemones can throw a tank very quickly.

Brit’s Fish · May 12, 2021

Aldrinlights said:
I once saw someone having the same issue with an anemone and bristle worms, they ate a hole in it. They used a worm catcher and pulled around 8 out a night from the tank. I have also heard that a certain type of dottyback will eat the worms. Don't know if it is true or not though.

Worm holes in the foot are bad, an anemone can heal its foot, with careful monitoring so infection doesn't set in. Your only course of action is to take it out and place it in a hospital tank. Death is almost a certainty here if it can't get healed.

Good Luck... run carbon and test your water peram's dead anemones can throw a tank very quickly.

This actually makes so much sense because I do have a couple monster bristle worms in this tank. The nem looks better today but I am still going to be doing a nice water change & new carbon today. I have been trying to hunt the biggest bristle worm down for a few weeks now & will continue to do that. Ugh... I don’t mind them when they’re smaller but a couple of these guys are more like snakes.
The pic is a little dark but the nem is reinflated and reattached today.

Aldrinlights · May 12, 2021

Brit’s Fish said:
This actually makes so much sense because I do have a couple monster bristle worms in this tank. The nem looks better today but I am still going to be doing a nice water change & new carbon today. I have been trying to hunt the biggest bristle worm down for a few weeks now & will continue to do that. Ugh... I don’t mind them when they’re smaller but a couple of these guys are more like snakes.
The pic is a little dark but the nem is reinflated and reattached today.

I'm glad the nem is attached. It will definitely need to be able to completely heal to be unaffected more by those worms (If that indeed is the issue). If you find it disconnecting more, then you may need to sequester it somewhere either in the tank itself until it can heal (in a basket) or a seperate hospital tank where you can do medical chemicals.

Great work on bringing it back to its current condition though!