Why does my nem look like this?

[PDR]

FWIW my captive bred yellow tang is a hair algae eating machine. I added this struggling frag to my dt and in 15 minutes it went from this:




To this:


My flame angel and kole tang also helped out, but it was 90% the YT. Give it a few more minutes and that tile will look like new.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

FWIW my captive bred yellow tang is a hair algae eating machine. I added this struggling frag to my dt and in 15 minutes it went from this:




To this:
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TTACH]972460[/ATTACH]

My flame angel and kole tang also helped out, but it was 90% the YT. Give it a few more minutes and that tile will look like new.

I'm jealous! Can I borrow your tang? Lol. Anemone not looking so great today But made a great dent on the GHA. Going to do a 15g water change tomorrow.

Sometimes I wish I just bought a Red Sea Max Nano lol. Scrubbing 100's of pounds of rocks sucks.

 

[reef lover]

An algae blenny might be more suited to your tank and will.eliminate all green algaes...
Are the clowns still beating on the nem? Maybe a small acclimation box will help give him some time to heal...

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Yeah I just devised a little divider I can use to separate them now. Will give it a shot but the tank is going to be looking ugly for a while while the nem does its thing haha

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Still not looking good. Divider is in though and 10% w/c done. Clowns are wondering where their home went ;(

 

[Danh Ngo]

I’m not sure what is happening with the nem, but I think you may wan to start treating cipro. I could be infection, because your lighting seems good IMO

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

ICP is in. Everything looks pretty normal. Iodine and strontium slightly low but not bad. Mag was 1277 — almost a 100ppm error from my salifert kit. Yikes! Correcting that now and ordering another mag kit. Salinity 34.45 which is a little low I’ll need to recalibrate my refractometer (Or the trest was off) but not so low that I would attribute it to anything.

 

[reef lover]

Nothing jumps out there.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Could it be my tank lacks a strong population of plankton/pods/other small critters? And the anemone cannot eat that way? I’ve read in my book that anemones mostly feed from light and small critters, rarely from large feedings like we do in a quariums.

Btw, nitrates testing at 1 after removing GHA and without dosing more nitrates.

It has lost all its tentacles now btw. It will probably be a goner

 

[PDR]

I was reading a thread by amoo that seemed to suggest that low dissolved nutrients shouldn't be an issue for anemones as long as they are fed at least once a month. If that is true, then I really am at a loss as to what your issue could be. Did you ever get any different food?

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I was reading a thread by amoo that seemed to suggest that low dissolved nutrients shouldn't be an issue for anemones as long as they are fed at least once a month. If that is true, then I really am at a loss as to what your issue could be. Did you ever get any different food?

Been feeding different food for a few days now. No difference (though fish seem to like it more so that's good).

I'm lost as well. I was sort of expecting Fe to come back high in my test... just wishing it was because I leave my mag float in the tank and it was leeching but that doesn't seem to be the case. No easy answers here I guess. Nem balled up and tiny right now.

 

[reef lover]

Sorry to hear...sometimes theres nothing we can do.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Hasn’t changed since last night. About ready to euthanize it. it will be a long, long time before I try another anemone.

 

[davocean]

Sometimes we just don't know what's going on, just too many things we could guess at, a water issue, food/light, did it get something bad(like how silversides can often be problematic)

I once had a malu that was very established for years suddenly look bothered and wandered, and I could not understand why.

Later I saw some giant bristle or fireworms underneath it, and I threw in a trap, and got 4 worms that were over 2 feet long under it!

After that it was fine like nothing happened.

We just can not see everything or sense things like our small ocean creatures may be able to.

I would not let it discourage you, anemone's are not the easiest animals to keep, and reef tanks in general can be challenging, just part of the hobby.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Still have the nem in the tank. But going to remove it soon as it's certainly not improving.

It's going to be a while before I try again but I'm wondering if an LTA would show the same symptoms. Just curious if it could be something specific to the BTA as all my corals are growing well and are healthy including my relatively easy SPS (birdsnest, bunch of Montis, acropora/millepora).

 

[davocean]

It could have been something w/ that particular BTA for all we know.

I have my own preference and opinions based on my own experiences and the clowns I prefer to keep, LTA are one of my favorites, especially in a mixed reef as they are easier to contain being sand dwellers, but that's just me.
All have their good and bad, depends on your tank and what it provides for.
LTA do need a sand bed, preferably 3-4" or better.

 

[Engloid]

I realize it has no tentacles now, but have you tried holding shrimp to its mouth to see if it will open? If it will eat, I'd continue to feed it.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Yes, it is still eating so I’m not giving up on it. It’s just sad looking and probably miserable.

I had a gBTA from a different source that did the exact same thing (but it bleached — this one hasn’t bleached yet) over the course of a month or two. So I do think it’s my water/me but also could have been two flukes in a row. I’ve just had a rough experience with BTAs haha.

Keeping an LTA in the sand bed is the appeal for sure. I’m starting to crave SPS which has me worried about moving nems on the rocks.

 

[davocean]

Are you sure your tank has never had copper in it?

Do you know whether your water contains chlorine or chloramines?

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I do not know but I do think it does as sometimes it has a chlorine-y smell to it. Tds always reads 0 though. I buy fish from an LFS that uses low dose copper. But don’t think that would be an issue considering lots do that. Hmm... I could rest for cu though. Definitely never dosed cu in the tank.