RBTA Losing Tentacles???

[Sarah Grace]

I have had my RBT anemone for about a year and for the past month it has been shedding its tentacles. I thought maybe something was messing with it, but i watched it for awhile and it seems to twist the base and cut off circulation to the tentacle itself(if that makes sense) it has grown quite a few back but it still seems to be shedding its longer old ones. I have a green bubble tip also and it is doing well not shedding at all. I feed a mix of coral frenzy, reef roids,spirina brine shrimp and Hikari coralific delight. I mix into a thick gel together and syringe feed at least 2 times a week. My tank is 4 years old 90 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. My parameters are as follows
Ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
phosphates 0
magnesium 1300
Calcium 450
Salinity 1.025
I have the following inhabitants
Blue hippo tang
Mated pair of clownfish that are currently hosting my patch of mushrooms(sadly will not go near my anemones)
Yellow Watchman Goby with his pistol shrimp
Pajama cardinal
Fire shrimp
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Porcelain anemone shrimp (hosting my GBTA)
3 emerald crabs
Assorted hermit crabs and snails.
Maybe 2 peppermint shrimp but i haven't seen them in a while.
Assorted corals
Lots of rotifers and copepods.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Intersting, lets see what some people think #Reefsquad

 

[jsker]

Any change in flow?

 

[Sarah Grace]

No changes in flow,but it did recently shift down about an inch from its original location.

 

[Maritimer]

Hi, Sarah Grace - and welcome to Reef2Reef!

The only thing I can see in your parameters - and it's a big maybe-nothing - is that your nitrate and phosphate are showing as zero. The anemone's zooxanthellae (along with any corals you've got) do require _some_ nutrient, so low-but-present is probably a bit better than straight zeros. (I also see a decent growth of GHA, so that may be pulling your nutrients out of suspension almost as quickly as they enter your water column...) Also curious about the temperature in the tank . . .

I haven't encountered this problem before, so when someone who's defeated it chimes in - listen to them, not me!

~Bruce

 

[Sarah Grace]

The temperature stays about 79-81. my ph stays at 8.0. i bought the emerald crabs to help get rid of the GHA but they like to eat everything but that, i try to pick it off my rocks manually as much as possible. I haven't had much luck with getting my nitrates to be anything but zero for about 2 years. so any suggestions would be great. I notice that i don't get much growth on macro algae especially my chaeto, it stays super dark green and healthy but it doesn't grow. my corals are the same they stay healthy and bright but don't seem to spread as quickly as they should, with the exception of my mushrooms which have popped up on almost every rock since i bought them. I do get phosphates on occasion but i usually change my gfo when i see it get pretty high. I have been trying to get purple coraline algae to start on my rocks, but i seem to only get the green coraline algae that was on the live rock when i bought it. I have small spots of the bright red and purple but the green is still dominate.

 

[Sarah Grace]

This is it this morning, i put an arrow pointing to the tentacle that will probably be shed, it seems to do this and then that individual tentacle deflates and falls off. You can see the new tentacles as well and it seems to be growing more "bulb like" tentacles back. Since i brought it home it has always had long flowing tentacles unlike my green bubble tip.

 

[ReefQueen]

I had a nem doing this when it was in a higher flow. Once it was moved to where it wasn't getting blasted the tentacles twisting stopped

 

[Christopher Davis]

I had the same thing happen out of no where? I hear it's called Budding? Or something like that I got worried and took the anemone out of the tank it was in and transferred it under t5HO. It happend to me under a kessil? Not sure if there is any correlation there. Today the anemone is massive and is doing great. It's the one on the left that did it. It's a Bali RBTA and it's got super long tentacles!

 

[Sarah Grace]

Your anemones are beautiful. I have mine under 4 10000 daylight T5HO and 4 actinic T5HO. Its a little less stressful to know mine isn't the only one that has done it, hopefully it stops before long lol.

 

[Christopher Davis]

Your anemones are beautiful. I have mine under 4 10000 daylight T5HO and 4 actinic T5HO. Its a little less stressful to know mine isn't the only one that has done it, hopefully it stops before long lol.

Thanks try feeding your nem it might be Hungary! Here is my other Bali RBTA

 

[Sharkbate]

This has happened to me , but I found my anemone shrimp would cut the tips and even eat some of them , this happened when he was first introduced to the tank . Occasionally I will see a Nem tip on the Sandbed now but the Nem is big and fine . As long as it's still eating and has colour
And has plenty of extended tentacles I wouldn't worry to much at this point . ( it does freak you out though at first). Give it some raw prawn once /twice a week to keep the energy levels up .

 

[Bdog4u2]

As mentioned above high flow is the issue most likely. I moved mine near my mp40 because my clownfish hung out over In that area and within a few weeks mine started twisting all up. it moved on its own and is fine now and has probably split 3-4 times since then

 

[LiveRockmia]

Any updates on this? I have the same exact thing happening rite now with a what used to be super healthy bubbletip anemone. Its shedding tentacles at a fast rate, but i also see new ones growing in

 

[LiveRockmia]

Any updates on this? I have the same exact thing happening rite now with a what used to be super healthy bubbletip anemone. Its shedding tentacles at a fast rate, but i also see new ones growing in

 

[Alistairn1]

Mine also has just shed 3 tentacles in the past month, my parameters are pretty similar as Sarah Grace but I do have traces of Phos/Nitr,
I have turned my flow pattern well away from the BTA but this seemed to just allow it to extend further!! It hasn’t moved, lost colour or stopped eating so I can only assume that due to these tentacles requiring water for extension that it “filtered” something it doesn’t like ? Either way I have not tried to move it as it seems otherwise happy. One to watch and learn on as these little wonders never cease to amaze

 

[PaddSter]

I think I am encountering the same case with nem.
Hot it couple of months ago. Always looked like this. Wasn't sulking or anything but due to long tentacles looks a bit "empty" :$

Also recently I have moved the power head by couple of inches few times in the past week or so.

Eating like a pig. Not pooing much, unless its very shy nem and pooing only during night
Today I have noticed it lost tentacle after I got home.
Got a bit freaked out but.. watched for a bit and everything seemed okay. Went to cook diner and noticed there are 2 tentacles on the sand bed. Weird.. nem looks alright otherwise.

Should I just leave it alone and keep feeding?

Parameters zero except phos and nitrate.
Also magnesium 1500, calcium 500 and alk 8.0-8.2

 

[coralkurd]

Same thing happening to me now with a rainbow anemone

 

[jordan10]

high flow mine do it to

 

[.O KASEI O.]

Mine just did lose a few tentacles today. It was a big and healthy then decided to split itself. 1 stayed at its original location and the other decided to go in back of a rock. I looked in back and can see it sticking to the back wall and the rock then twisting. The tentacles that touch the wall end up twisting off. So now I've got two nems from 1 and a bunch of bright orange tentacles still inflated floating around. Should I go after it or leave it alone? My parameters are
Ph: 8.2
Alk 9
Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0.13
Cal:490
Temp 78