Help!! Torn foot??

[zonatus]

I purchased a rock flower anemone from my lfs last friday and have been nothing but pleased since I got it. I drip acclimated it for an hour and placed it on the rocks where it attached after a few hours.

This is what it looked like then. However, I just got home and saw it looking absolutely dilapidated.

On closer inspection, it seemed like there was a huge hole in its food and was falling apart.

I gently put it on the sand and piled it around its foot but it still looks pretty rough.
I’ve tested ammonia and nitrates, ammonia is at 0.25 and nitrate is less than 10, closer to 5. The only other livestock I have at the moment are two mollies, a mushroom, a harlequin serpent star and some hermits. There are lots of bristleworms as well. I’ll do a water change, but this seemed very sudden. What should I do?

 

[GoVols]

To me the anemone looks bleached out.

I hate to say it, but if it's breaking down and falling apart, you need get it out of your reef

 

[zonatus]

That doesn’t make sense though. I just have power compacts, not very bright at all, and it’s placed in a low part of the tank

 

[zonatus]

It’s still alive and stuck to my fingers

 

[GoVols]

It’s still alive and stuck to my fingers

Is it falling apart?

 

[zonatus]

The foot is, not the rest of it

 

[GoVols]

#reefsquad

 

[zonatus]

I’m going to try and keep it one more day. I don’t have any particularly sensitive livestock. It stopped falling apart, it was just the part on the rock. I moved it to the shadier area my mushroom is in

 

[Dsnakes]

That doesn't sound or look good. I've got a few rock flowers and they attached in a matter of seconds to the rock. Was it that color when purchased? Not all are super bright, but that one seems like it should have more color for sure. I would keep a close eye on it.

 

[redfishbluefish]

How old is the tank? With that light of a bioload, I'm betting a very young tank with insufficient bacteria ....ammonia burn.

 

[zonatus]

It was that color when I got it, yes. And it’s a fairly young tank, only setup for a month. I’ve had the live rock kept alive for two years though, I was just setting the tank up again after I broke it down. I guess I shouldn’t have been too hasty.

 

[zonatus]

Removed it this morning. It was completely gone, so much had come off that I could see the floor through its mouth. I remember why I stopped having a reef tank for so long.

 

[reef lover]

It happens...don' let it discourage you.