Weird anemone issue

[ReefHunter006]

Anyone ever have an anemone that “permanently” shrunk +90% and stayed that way?

The below anemone has lived in two of my tanks, that are well established. When I picked it up from a friend it was roughly fist size. Since introducing to my frag tank, it shrunk to roughly the tip of a pinky finger and has stayed that way going on a year. Pictures below.

The frag tank has a contagion that has caused issues for my SPS, and possible it is related. No way to prove it. I moved it to my large display at the 6 month mark, no changes.

The anemone has been with me roughly a year now. Curious to know if anyone has seen this before, and/or experience with the causes.

Frag tank

 

[Eric Cohen]

A shrinking anemone might be lacking some nutrition. Have you been spot feeding it?

 

[ReefHunter006]

A shrinking anemone might be lacking some nutrition. Have you been spot feeding it?

I’ve never fed any of my nems over the years. Lots of food gets broadcasted.

I’d also like to say it shrunk to this size day 1 and hasn’t changed since then. Doesn’t get bigger or smaller.

 

[Jekyl]

@Eagle_Steve @Rtaylor @Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y thoughts? What parameters do you keep the tank at?

 

[ReefHunter006]

@Eagle_Steve @Rtaylor @Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y thoughts? What parameters do you keep the tank at?

Alk 7-8
Po4 .08
NO3 5-10

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@Eagle_Steve @Rtaylor @Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y thoughts? What parameters do you keep the tank at?

Agree, params would be nice.

I have had a few BTA do this, but not for as long as you mention. I am not sure why they did it, but the longest one to do it lasted about 6 months total and it is now fine and growing at a normal rate (when compared to my other BTAs). It was also in a tank with a ton of other BTA and nems and it was the only one to show an issue. No changes, no major swings, no nothing, just one day shrunk up with tents barely poking out of a rock dn then about 6 months later, was out, bubbled up and has been ever since.

 

[ReefHunter006]

I provided them, but I’m confident this isn’t parameter related that’s why I didn’t include them initially.

Agree, params would be nice.

I have had a few BTA do this, but not for as long as you mention. I am not sure why they did it, but the longest one to do it lasted about 6 months total and it is now fine and growing at a normal rate (when compared to my other BTAs). It was also in a tank with a ton of other BTA and nems and it was the only one to show an issue. No changes, no major swings, no nothing, just one day shrunk up with tents barely poking out of a rock dn then about 6 months later, was out, bubbled up and has been ever since.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I provided them, but I’m confident this isn’t parameter related that’s why I didn’t include them initially.

Your params match my tank almost exactly, but as we know ones params can match but the water be different. Just wanted to make sure nothing was way wacky.

Did anything change in the tank when it shrunk up. I am referring to lighting, sticking hand in tank to remove frags and possibly having some lotion on your hands, etc. Sometimes the littlest things can upset a nem and they do weird things for a long time.

Only reason I know that nothing changed in my tanks, as I was away with work for a lot of that time and testing was done with the wife using a turkey baster to test the tank, so I could adjust the doing (if needed). No hands were in my tank, no lighting changes and even the dosing only changed by a few ml a day for some things. Plus I log everything I do to the tank when it is done (I have CDO, some call it OCD lol) and nothing goes un-noted.

What I am getting at is if you are 100% sure nothing happened, then it could just be a nem being a weird nem. As long as it is alive that is a plus.

Outside of that, unless something was picking at it (may be good to watch at night) or the light was just too bright for it to move comfortably (I have seen this, but only on growout tanks where they run lights for 18 hours and nems won't move until a few hours after lights out).

One suggestion may be to use a nem cannon to see if you can get it to crawl up and relocate it to the lower portion of the tank and at a corner or somewhere where there is not as much light. But then you are stressing the nem by making it move.

Another suggestion would be to feed it a piece of mess and see if it takes it and then watch it for a few days to see if it comes out to poop. If it eats, it has to poop.

Just hard to say exactly what it is causing it. Heck, it could just be buried in the rock a ton and getting the energy it needs from what it has sticking out and the nutrients in the water.

 

[ReefHunter006]

Your params match my tank almost exactly, but as we know ones params can match but the water be different. Just wanted to make sure nothing was way wacky.

Did anything change in the tank when it shrunk up. I am referring to lighting, sticking hand in tank to remove frags and possibly having some lotion on your hands, etc. Sometimes the littlest things can upset a nem and they do weird things for a long time.

Only reason I know that nothing changed in my tanks, as I was away with work for a lot of that time and testing was done with the wife using a turkey baster to test the tank, so I could adjust the doing (if needed). No hands were in my tank, no lighting changes and even the dosing only changed by a few ml a day for some things. Plus I log everything I do to the tank when it is done (I have CDO, some call it OCD lol) and nothing goes un-noted.

What I am getting at is if you are 100% sure nothing happened, then it could just be a nem being a weird nem. As long as it is alive that is a plus.

Outside of that, unless something was picking at it (may be good to watch at night) or the light was just too bright for it to move comfortably (I have seen this, but only on growout tanks where they run lights for 18 hours and nems won't move until a few hours after lights out).

One suggestion may be to use a nem cannon to see if you can get it to crawl up and relocate it to the lower portion of the tank and at a corner or somewhere where there is not as much light. But then you are stressing the nem by making it move.

Another suggestion would be to feed it a piece of mess and see if it takes it and then watch it for a few days to see if it comes out to poop. If it eats, it has to poop.

Just hard to say exactly what it is causing it. Heck, it could just be buried in the rock a ton and getting the energy it needs from what it has sticking out and the nutrients in the water.

Hard to say, a lot happens over a year. My routine is the same and my hands never physically touch the water. They are always gloved when I am in the fish room if I’m working on the tanks.

I guess I’ll just let the nem do what it wants. No point in forcing it anyway.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I have had a BTA do this yes. Before starting to run a lot of carbon in the nem system, I was dealing with warfare issues. One nem went from about closed fist sized to about the size of a quarter with tiny stubby tents. Stayed that way for almost a year after everyone else was A-okay. Within the last new months, it's finally started opening up again and is now about a small orange size.

 

[WallyB]

Yes, leave it alone. I have multipe nems which all split from one. When I moved one to another tank it also shrunk like yours. Probably six months. Sat in same spot (directly lighting) after initial transfer. Couple weeks ago I noticed it finally decided to move to a lower light and flow spot. Right after the move it Opened up like never before....even bigger than the healthy ones in my other tank. Your nem look pretty healthy, even if small. Maybe one day it will find a better place like mine.

 

[Rtaylor]

I’ve had this happen as well. I currently have a bta that shrunk to about dime size and almost no tents showing. Been that way for at least 6 months. It’s starting to recover now and growing in size. Not sure the cause, I did decrease nutrients in that time frame and there may have been some chemical warfare going on as well. I’ve increased the carbon in the last few months and let nutrients increase some. I had also not been performing regular water changes and it was after a few weeks of returning to regular water changes that I noticed it was perking up. Perhaps an accumulation of dissolved organics or some other contaminant was affecting the anemone.
Your nem looks like it’s in better condition than mine, my bta had nearly a smooth oral disk as the tents had totally shrunk away.