Help! Something's Up With My Poor Anemone!!

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

Hey guys, so I bought this green bubble tip anemone about two months ago and it was doing great! The tentacles were nice and full, and its green color was gorgeous.

All that changed about two weeks ago though.

I had just finished cleaning the tank with my usual salt mix (regular instant ocean mix), and it was fine for a while. About 2 days later, I noticed that it had deflated a significant amount. I was a bit worried, but didn't pay too much attention to it because I've heard that anemones sometimes do that for no reason and are fine afterwards.

The thing is, I've been intently observing it and it's been regularly deflating almost every day since then. It's fully opened a few times in these past two weeks, but it would close up again as soon as the lights turn on in the morning.

This morning, however, I saw that the anemone appeared to be falling off of the rock now, and I'm more worried about it than ever.

Is there anything I can do for it? Is it dying? I'll try my best to revive it if I can..

Here are my recent params:
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrate - 5.0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
pH - 8
Alkalinity - 11°dKH
Calcium - 340ppm
Phosphate - between 0.03 and 0.06 mg/l
Magnesium - 1410ppm
Temp - 79°F
Salinity - 1.026

I tend to feed this guy every Thursday/Friday, and it was eating pretty well. I haven't been able to feed it this week though because of how deflated it is..

Also, I'm not sure if it's worth the mention, but in the last water change I had, I took out a bag of purigen that was in my filter and haven't put in a new one yet. The purigen's been there since I bought the nem, and it's the only real change I've done in the tank since then.

And just a little note, the tank's been running for 4 years now, so no need to worry about it being a young tank.

Alright guys, sorry for the long read, but I just wanted to give as much info as I could. Really hope you guys can help me out! I'll be incredibly sad if the poor thing passes on.

DMG Reef · Feb 9, 2020

Your water chemistry looks fine. But the most important thing for anemones is quality lighting. What light are you using?

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

Kattkrazie said:
Your water chemistry looks fine. But the most important thing for anemones is quality lighting. What light are you using?

Hey thanks for the reply man.

I currently have an AI Prime HD. Here's the current setup I have for it.

I chose this setup because this guy from my LFS told me that this would be pretty good for a mixed reef. I've been to this place quite a few times in the past and feel pretty comfortable with them. However, I'm open to the idea of using another setup if this one doesn't seem suffice.

DMG Reef · Feb 9, 2020

I don't have any experience with that light, so hopefully others will chime in. If I'm reading your settings correctly, are you only at peak lighting for 4 hrs. with the rest being ramp up and ramp down? If so, that's probably the problem. My anemones get 10 hrs. of peak light.

fishguy242 · Feb 9, 2020

hi his foot seem intact ,has looked like this for two weeks ? no changes

Phil D. · Feb 9, 2020

would recommend same, longer photoperiod, also when it perks up to feed once every two week. Also, get rid of red and green on the lighting, only grows algae.

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

Kattkrazie said:
I don't have any experience with that light, so hopefully others will chime in. If I'm reading your settings correctly, are you only at peak lighting for 4 hrs. with the rest being ramp up and ramp down? If so, that's probably the problem. My anemones get 10 hrs. of peak light.

Yeah, it's actually only 3 hours of peak time..

I had a feeling that that wasn't enough light for it, but I'm still fairly new to this light and am still figuring out what the best setup for it is.

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

fishguy242 said:
hi his foot seem intact ,has looked like this for two weeks ? no changes

Yeah, its foot is fine. Nothing's wrong with it.

And yes, it's looked like this for about two weeks and hasn't changed. The green color is still there, it's just not opening up.

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

Phil D. said:
would recommend same, longer photoperiod, also when it perks up to feed once every two week. Also, get rid of red and green on the lighting, only grows algae.

How much longer of a photoperiod? Like, how many hours?

And do red and green lights really only cause algae? Some people have told me to bring them very low, while others (like the LFS) have told me to out them where they're at now.

fishguy242 · Feb 9, 2020

has the foot also been detached the whole 2 weeks or is it trying to move?

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

fishguy242 said:
has the foot also been detached the whole 2 weeks or is it trying to move?

No, the foot started to detach this morning. Up until now, it's stayed in the same spot (a little higher than where it currently is in the picture).

weamdog · Feb 9, 2020

I wouldn't be too concerned. An anemone in stress will crawl up under a rock and just disappear. Clowns are really stressful on nems as well, they will tend to love them to death. My BTAs swell up their base and deflate a lot once the lights go out, almost like their processing the days catch. But I think the others have also indicated a good point, he may need more light especially being at the bottom of the tank where the par is low. If it doesn't get better, you may want to put those tomatoes in time-out while it recovers.

Ahh, see where he is detaching which is not a good sign. I'd change light and time-out for the clowns. If the nem starts having its mouth gaping open then you may want to quarantine it because it may be on its way out. Since they have a slow metabolism, it could take a week or so for it to die and that gets nasty. If it starts melting, you want to get it out ASAP.

fishguy242 · Feb 9, 2020

hopefully it will move to a spot it likes

Katrina71 · Feb 9, 2020

I vote too much clown love.

TheShrimpNibbler · Feb 9, 2020

1Meshy said:
How much longer of a photoperiod? Like, how many hours?

And do red and green lights really only cause algae? Some people have told me to bring them very low, while others (like the LFS) have told me to out them where they're at now.

Lower levels of red are good for coral growth, but blue is the most important. Green doesn’t really do a whole lot for corals IIRC. Red helps grow algae a lot, so try to keep both red and green low. Don’t cut them out entirely though.

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

weamdog said:
I wouldn't be too concerned. An anemone in stress will crawl up under a rock and just disappear. Clowns are really stressful on nems as well, they will tend to love them to death. My BTAs swell up their base and deflate a lot once the lights go out, almost like their processing the days catch. But I think the others have also indicated a good point, he may need more light especially being at the bottom of the tank where the par is low. If it doesn't get better, you may want to put those tomatoes in time-out while it recovers.

Ahh, see where he is detaching which is not a good sign. I'd change light and time-out for the clowns. If the nem starts having its mouth gaping open then you may want to quarantine it because it may be on its way out. Since they have a slow metabolism, it could take a week or so for it to die and that gets nasty. If it starts melting, you want to get it out ASAP.

Ah, jeez. Hearing that does not make me a happy camper!

Alright, I'll do my best to remove the clown then. Thing is, I don't have an extra tank for it.. Do I have to get a mini one for the time being?

As for the lighting, what do you recommend would be the best?

1Meshy · Feb 9, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
Lower levels of red are good for coral growth, but blue is the most important. Green doesn’t really do a whole lot for corals IIRC. Red helps grow algae a lot, so try to keep both red and green low. Don’t cut them out entirely though.

I see. So would you say.. keep the greens and reds at around 10 or 5 instead of the 30 I have now?