anemone crashing

[andyemslie]

I have been reading your forums for the last couple of months, and decided to register with a question someone might be able to answer: I have a five year old bubble tipped anemone with a tomato host. Fairly recently it has begun crashing on occasion and then refilling hours later. It does not follow eating or any other pattern that I can notice. Water quality is good and no other corals in tank seem affected. It has not done this in the past. Also, what is the life expectancy of these anemones?
Any idea's would be appreciated.

 

[Javeo]

How ae you checking salinity? are your test kits expired? Has it been in your tank for 5 years? Alot of experts believe that anemones dont have a lifespan as such, as long as their enviroment is good they stay alive maybe for hundreds of years.

 

[andyemslie]

Sorry Javeo. I didn't get your response untill today. The anemone is still crashing. I check salinity with a cheap plastic hydrometer, but it rarely fluctulates. I have had it in the same 55 gallon tank for the past 5 years and it has remained in the same spot with the same currents. I rarely test for water quality but I change water fairly regularly and add 1-2 gallons of top off daily. I filter it all through an RO/DI. The wierd thing is that it seems to crash at almost the same time of day; late afternoon. Maybe an alkalinity problem? Like I said no other coral seems affected but they are all fairly hardy; mostly zoanthids, mushrooms, and anthlia. Also a bubble coral and brain. Let me know what you think, thanks.

 

[Javeo]

Thats ok, maybe a good first step would be to get all your water parameters checked at an LFS. Water quality does sometimes change over the course of a few years. Sometimes anemones go through these phases. Mine actually was doing it all last week, but now it has stopped again! One thing i have noticed is that salinity tends to drop over time and hydrometers don't really work very well. Every few weeks i find myself having to add a "salty" top off to get the sg back up to 1.026, this is from salt creep and skimmate removal etc.

 

[andyemslie]

I guess I will do some tests. I do check salinity pretty regularly though. You said yours do the same thing? Do you think thats just normal? Also, the anemone is sitting on a pile of closed zoanthid polyps; do you think they may be irritating it.

 

[Javeo]

Mine does it but not often, maybe once a month. last week it did it for a few days running but its back to normal now. Zoanthids do relase chemicals that could most certainly be bothering it.

 

[andyemslie]

Maybe I'll try persuading it to move over a bit. They're a little stubborn though sometimes. The last time I tried to move one I chased it into a powerhead. I'll give it a shot, with better luck this time.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Javeo]

My pleasure
Goodluck!!!