Rock Flower balled up and not settling.

[starypotter]

Hi everyone,
I got two rock flowers anemones on the 24th of August. The white one and the one that's balled up. The large rock flower I've had for over a year, the small orange one in the middle for a couple months. For some reason this orange and white one is very unhappy in my tank. Ioriginally put it in the sand at the other end of the rock but it wouldn't take hold. I then moved it onto the rock since it was just blowing around on the bottom. It moved itself a bit, settled for about a day, then the next day was on its face in this crevice. I flipped it over but otherwise left it. I also have a condy anemone that's doing well.
I fear that the foot may have been damaged, but I also don't want to want to keep moving it without some better advice.I acclimated this one and the white one at the same time the same way. This one stuck to the acclimation container and it took probably five minutes for me to tickle its foot to get it off. I did try a touch of an ice cube but when that did nothing I quickly gave up and just went on to brushing the foot with my finger, holding the container at an angle and pouring water over it. I've also fed my corals and anemones a couple times since then using grocery store shrimp. I can't remember if this anemone accepted any though.
I could grab some parameters in a bit, and I've got water going for a water change.
tank is 75 gallons 40 gallon sump 80 total volume

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Maybe @Ron Reefman can help. My wife and I are starting a rfa garden. Ron suggested pvc end caps. Ours seem quite happy in them and they don't blow around. You might give it a shot.

 

[mta_morrow]

What @hdsoftail1065 said!

 

[Ron Reefman]

My first guess, and it's strictly a guess, is that somehow this one has been injured... maybe the foot if it won't hold on to anything. However, I have seen RFA's take a week or more to acclimate to new surroundings. I had 4 I got at RAP last summer and the prettiest one took close to 3 weeks to really get comfortable and show it's full face.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It could be an injury to the foot, or it could just be finicky.

I bought 4 at RAP several months ago and 3 were just fine. But the one really pretty one, the one I really wanted, just would not cooperate. It wouldn't open all the way, it wouldn't stay put... even climbed out of a pvc end cap twice! It took 2 weeks before it settled down, and even now it always seems a bit restless. It moves around inside the pvc end cap it's been in for the past couple of months. For me, 98% of my RFA's just settle right into a pvc end cap and are right at home.

Check out this thread as there is a lot of good RFA information there, including the do's and don'ts of putting RFA's in pvc end caps. And feel free to ask questions or share info there. That's what it's for. And I even have a couple of marine biologists who study anemones starting to get involved in the thread.

Ron Reefman's Rock Flower experience

I've been in love with anemones even before I was started in this hobby about 15 years ago. I really got crazy about them when I started to collect some while snorkeling in the Florida Keys (with the proper license) about 12 years ago. I totally fell in love with the very colorful Rock Flower...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[starypotter]

I unfortunately do think its foot has been damaged somehow. It was balled up on its face and holding on to a rock, a hermit crab walked by and it grabbed on to the hermit crab too. When the hermit crab kept going, it held onto the hermit crab and ripped itself away from the rock, leaving some of the anemone behind. I also saw my six line stop by to nip at its foot. I've put it in a pVC and will do a water change tomorrow. I might put it in an isolation container to keep it from my six line. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Dsnakes]

I unfortunately do think its foot has been damaged somehow. It was balled up on its face and holding on to a rock, a hermit crab walked by and it grabbed on to the hermit crab too. When the hermit crab kept going, it held onto the hermit crab and ripped itself away from the rock, leaving some of the anemone behind. I also saw my six line stop by to nip at its foot. I've put it in a pVC and will do a water change tomorrow. I might put it in an isolation container to keep it from my six line. Is there anything else I can do?

That seems really odd. Maybe the wrasse was snagging a pod off it’s foot?

 

[Ron Reefman]

@starypotter, after you put it in a pvc end cap, try this:

Take a small container, a Tupperwear container, a bowl, even a big beer mug, whatever you have and fill it with enough tank water to be deep enough to cover the end cap and RFA. Place the RFA in the container.

Now here is the important part: at least 2 times a day (I do it in the morning and at dinner time) empty the container and refill it with tank water. If the water in the container is clear and looks clean, I've dumped it back in my tank. The RFA isn't like a fish and making the water a mess with poop. But if the RFA is injured and there is any concern the water may be contaminated, dump it down the drain and refill it with tank water. If you try to feed the RFA while in the container, dump the water down the drain and refill it.

I've kept anemones in a big peanut butter jar for 6 to 8 weeks doing 2 water changes a day of about 75% and doing a single light feeding once a week. If your RFA heals it will attach to the end cap. If it doesn't heal, at least you haven't contaminated the rest of your tank or allowed the other critters in the tank to bother it while it's trying to recover.

Good luck.

 

[starypotter]

Sadly the anemone didn't make it. I didn't see your most recent post until I checked in now, but even this morning I believe it was dead. We had put it in an acclimation box to protect it but the damage had been done. The anemone had been curled up on it's front for some time and I had seen the wrasse nipping at the foot numerous times but it never really *clicked* that the wrasse was nipping at it. We removed it from the tank tonight and will be doing a water change in the morning.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@starypotter , sorry for your loss, but in this hobby things like that do happen. Every time something dies or disappears in my tank, my wife just quotes me back to me, "That's life on the reef, survival of the fittest."

 

[starypotter]

It is very sad, thank you. I wish I had been able to save it but now I have some more tips and will know what to do if anything happens again.