Anemone Help!!!

[Thecarmichaels]

We just got our 150 gallon saltwater tank on saturday and everythings been going well, untill i came home on my lunch hour just now and our anemone looks diffrent. We don't know too much about these things and i havn't came across anything in my research of anemones about them being all shrivled up... can someone please tell me if this is normal???

 

[Toddrtrex]

[welcome]

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but did you just set up on tank 2 days ago and already have an anemone in it?

What are your water parameters -- with numbers
What lights do you have?
What all (( fish/invert wise )) do you have in there?

 

[Thecarmichaels]

no your not reading it wrong. The tank had been set up for 4 years before we bought it and we took almost all the water with us when we trasported it so we didn't have to make new water because the tank came with the anemone.

We have the anemone, 1 female clown fish i scooter belmmy, 1 banded shrimp, a toad coral 1 blue mushroom 1 purple musroom.

My husband checked the water this morning, but i had to leave for work so i don't know the numbers he got.

We have two floresent bulbs and two i think 250 wat metal halgen lights (forgive my spelling im at work and rushed)

 

[garygb]

Oh, good. So this is an established tank that was moved, along with the liverock and occupants. In that case, don't be surprised if the anemone takes a few days/weeks to settle in and behave normally. In the pic the anemone looks securely attached, which is good. Anemones need ample light and good flow. If you have a 250 watt metal halide bulb, that's most likely ample light. The anemone just needs to be situated where it gets good light, not necessarily directly below the bulb, but not off in a dark corner either. From that first pic, I think your anemone is a bulb tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor). This is the easiest to keep of the host anemone species and usually does well if necessary conditions are provided. You should aim to keep the specific gravity in the 1.025-1.027 range, temperature in the 76-82F range, nitrates low to undetectable (preferably), good water flow (tentacles should wave gently in the current, powerhead shouldn't be pointed directly at it), regular water changes (20%/month or so), occasional (once or twice a week) feedings of mysis, squid, fresh shrimp (from the supermarket).

Several of us on this forum keep this species. Feel free to ask questions all you want. Also, if the anemone wanders, it can get sucked into the powerheads or overflows. The anemone looks securely attached, and so hopefully won't go wandering/floating around. If it does begin to move, be sure to put some type of screen or sponge over the intakes to your powerheads--otherwise that can spell disaster.

 

[Thecarmichaels]

yes, this was an established tank that we moved with all the occupants had you worried there for a min huh? haha

Awesome, thank you so much for all the answers!! That's going to be very helpfull, we've done some research and have a close friend helping us through the learning process but we will welcome any help!! So the anemone is just getting used to things again? Yes he looks well attached, but that's good to know he could get sucked up.. that would be horrible. I'll keep a eye on his base and make the nessicary adjustments if he starts to move around. and yes, we beleive he's a bulb tip, but not sure if he's a rose one, the previous owner tried to tell us it was, but i don't think so... it's good to know he's the easiest type on anemone to keep I moved all the live rock yesterday because you could actually see in the tank. So moved him twards the top of the tank closer to the light, and we have to adjust our power heards because we dont' have enough rippling on the top of the water and we're getting a light film, but it's good to know he shouldn't be directly in front of it. You've been soooooo helpfull! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I'll pose p[ictures of the full tank tonight

 

[garygb]

You're most welcome. And, yeah, if you had set up the tank from scratch on Saturday and already added an anemone, that would be major cause for concern. Anemones need established tanks. Because you are using liverock that is already from an established tank, I wouldn't expect an ammonia/nitrite spike per se. However, I would go lightly on feeding the tank to allow any disruption in the bacteria populations to correct itself and thus avoid any elevations in ammonia or nitrite. It wouldn't be a bad idea to test the ammonia and nitrite every other day or so.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with aquariums, but ammonia and nitrite are waste products that your fish and other animals produce and that bacteria (nitrosomonas and nitrobacter, respectively) break down to a much less toxic product, nitrate. Moving the tank, removing the liverock, etc. could result in a reduction, or at least a shock to the bacterial colonies that "digest" the waste. For that reason, light feeding, using a protein skimmer and activated carbon (both of which remove nitrogenous waste from the water), should reduce the likelihood of an ammonia or nitrite spike while the bacteria get back in work mode and easily handle the waste produced by the animals . When people refer to cycling a tank, they are referring to the nitrogen cycle. The cycle in sum: food is added, which becomes waste either by animal digestion or heterotrophic bacterial digestion, and then the nitrosomonas and nitrobacter populations explode and consume the nitrate and nitrite, breaking it down to nitrate. At that point, there are nitrobacillus bacteria that can take the nitrate and break it down into gaseous nitrogen where it returns to the atmosphere for the whole process to start over.