Help with changes in my magnifica

GatorGuys · Jan 12, 2019

I had a clownfish kill a BTA... literally loved it to death. Were the clowns in the tank first?

You might not need to get rid of the clowns - just give the nem some time to truly get acclimated before the clowns do their thing.

Ardeus · Jan 12, 2019

They like to suck on the tentacles, but I have never seen the anemone react badly to that.

Watch from 03:30

Ento-Reefer · Jan 12, 2019

Ardeus said:
They like to suck on the tentacles, but I have never seen the anemone react badly to that.

Watch from 03:30

That video is beautiful!! Your clown seems much gentler then what I am seeing. This is definitely new behavior from my clowns. I don’t know if this is the cause of my magnificas problem or if it is the clowns response to the nem not extending in that area.

Ardeus · Jan 12, 2019

It's slowmotion, they are not that gentle and there's 3 of them.

I would keep watching the progression for a few more days and not do anything drastic. If the area with short tentacles grows, then something is not right.

Overall, she doesn't look too happy, the tentacles are a bit too stubby, not just in that area.

Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 12, 2019

Ardeus said:
It's slowmotion, they are not that gentle and there's 3 of them.

I would keep watching the progression for a few more days and not do anything drastic. If the area with short tentacles grows, then something is not right.

Overall, she doesn't look too happy, the tentacles are a bit too stubby, not just in that area.

Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

I agree with you, the nem doesn’t seem happy. It was doing great until about one week ago. I am trying to figure out what has caused this decline. Thank you for your thoughts on this.

nolifer · Jan 12, 2019

Your correct about the the sun light mine would move towards the sun and return to the location it was placed in, or stick to the glass as it seemed to like the flat surface so I added a flat rock with other rocks placed around mine to try to contain the movement but also being placed towards the sunlight the tank would receive during the day. as for my clowns they would bite on the tentacles for the the first few weeks after that they would place it in there mouth and suck on it I'm guessing this was normal to get used to the sting etc. I'll post some pictures of mine. as long as it has plenty of flow and strong light and you feed it at least once per week and your salinity is stable and no ammonia is present it should be fine. mines took ages to settle in from my memory.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 12, 2019

@nolifer thank you for the pics and the video. Is that the normal coloration of your mag or was it slightly bleached when you got it? It seems very light.

Is that the normal amount of flow? I have mine in a lot more flow than that. I sure hope I figure out what is bothering my mag. It is so beautiful and I hate to see it like this.

nolifer · Jan 13, 2019

Ento-Reefer said:
@nolifer thank you for the pics and the video. Is that the normal coloration of your mag or was it slightly bleached when you got it? It seems very light.

Is that the normal amount of flow? I have mine in a lot more flow than that. I sure hope I figure out what is bothering my mag. It is so beautiful and I hate to see it like this.

these where taken from my early days of keeping the mag, It was in a bad way when I got it, the tentacles started to change to yellow ish colour after a few months of having it my flow was about 30x the tank volume. It was also added about 4 months after the tank was setup which I think with man made rock is to early. on the vid power heads where on feeding mode. I'll have a look in my pictures of how it looked before I passed it on so you can see the change then.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 13, 2019

Some photos for today. It looks worse. I cannot figure out what is going on with this anemone.

All other corals, clams, fish other anemones are doing great. I have a 7 stage RODI unit which gives me zero TDS all the time, so I don’t think it is something in my make up water. The clowns have been with the anemone since the first week it went in the tank so since this is a recent decline in health I am leaning towards they didn’t cause it?? I am grasping at straws here though. I am not going to do anything to it for a couple days as I don’t want to stress it any more then it already seems to be. I put the light directly above the nem back on the settings it was at before all of this started. Sometimes I think research can lead to making the wrong decision. I rented the par meter and decided I needed to up the levels a little in my tank, but I should have just left well enough alone. I don’t even know if the light is the issue here. The only other thing that was different is I started using phosguard about a month ago to help keep my PO4 levels at .05-.09. I was only using about a cup and changing it out weekly. I pulled that out just in case it was leaching aluminum over time. I just thought of this last night as a possibility. I am going to get an ICP test done as soon as possible, but that will still take 2 weeks to get the results. Maybe my 12-15 ppm nitrate levels are bothering it? I have an ATS that I have been trying to mature since September, but the screen only grows dark green slime algae thus far and isn’t really helping much yet. I change 25-30g twice a month and siphon the sand at the same time. I have begun to cut back a little on my fish feeding in an effort to reduce nitrate. My skimmer is a bit oversized for my tank and skims great. I run a 35 watt UV for 8 hours a day. Temperature is always 78-78.5. My Ph is always 8-8.2.

If anyone has any more ideas I definitely appreciate the help. I apologize for the long post, but I just wanted to make sure I included any info that might be important. Thanks.

My skimmer.

Ardeus · Jan 13, 2019

None of the minor things you mentioned are deal breakers.

Does it grab food and eat?

Ento-Reefer · Jan 13, 2019

Ardeus said:
None of the minor things you mentioned are deal breakers.

Does it grab food and eat?

Yes it eats. It has a very fast response. The female clown will take any large pieces of frozen food it catches, but can't eat to the nem. The nem does not let go once it grabs the food. I have started making sure the food I feed the fish is smaller pieces so the clown will stop feeding the nem so much. Maybe it was too much getting pieces like 3-4 times a week. I have only fed the nem intentionally once because I no the clown feeds it.

Ardeus · Jan 13, 2019

In that case I would just keep watching it and see if it's stable, on the way up or down.

There has been no deflation, which would be something you could treat.

jsvand5 · Jan 13, 2019

I’ve never seen a sick one accept food so you probably have time to figure it out at least. Maybe try a new type of salt for the next WC? No idea why it would matter but anything is with a shot.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 13, 2019

Ardeus said:
In that case I would just keep watching it and see if it's stable, on the way up or down.

There has been no deflation, which would be something you could treat.

Yes that is my plan for now, Do you happen to know if an anemone could have an infection, but never show any deflation at all?

Thank fully this magnifica has never deflated and never had an open mouth at all except to eat food. Thank you for your advice.

Ardeus · Jan 13, 2019

What I read about advise for new magnificas, is only act if they deflate. The deflation is a reaction to infection.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 14, 2019

Today the mag looked better. Fingers crossed here that it continues to improve. I’m not changing anything and just going to continue to observe and do my regular maintenance.

Ento-Reefer · Jan 15, 2019

I think I see more improvement today. It looks even more extended. I am so grateful that my mag seems to be getting back to a healthy state. Thank you to everyone that offered help.