Anemone Help

[devildog999]

Just bought a new green tip a few days ago. First couple days nothing out of the ordinary but yesterday I noticed it had shrunk itself a bit and its mouth is open. It is still inflated, just not the 7 or so inches it was before. It has been a few years since I have had an anemone so I do not remember much about their behavior at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Toddrtrex]

What size tank?
What lights?
Where did the anemone come from? (( local reefer, LFS, shipped... ))
Current water parameters -- with numbers please.
How long has the tank been set up?
Other inhabitants of the tank?
Filtration?

 

[NatureNerd]

Toddrtrex's questions are needed to really help. I would also add:

Did you feed it?
Has it settled in or is it moving around?
Any color change?

It is not unusual at all for an anemone to shrink down in size for a while. Mine goes from 12" to 4" diameter overnight sometimes. It comes back to its larger size within a day or so. Mouth open is usually not a good thing. I assume this is a green bubble tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) that you have.

 

[devildog999]

Its a long tentacle green tip.

55 Gallon tank.

T5 Lights, Blue on for 10 hrs and white lights on for 8 hrs.

Anemone came from LFS

Tank has been up for about 5 months

Other inhabitants include - 2 True Percula Clowns, 1 Blue Tang, 1 Cardinal, 1 Mandarin Goby, 1 Blue cheek Goby, 3 Emerald Crabs, 1 Blue Porcelain Crab, 1 Sally lightfoot crabs, couple dozen red leg and blue leg hermit crabs. Several types of snails. 1 Midnight Urchain, 1 Tiger Cucumber.

Filtration is a Fluval 405 with JUST carbon in it and a refugium on the back as well.

I do not use tap water, I have a filter to make distilled water and only use that.

I have not direct fed it though it has taken in some of the food I feed the other fish.

It had settled in but I moved it a bit ago, it was in a corner of the tank on some LR with not much current so I moved it hoping a bit more current would help it out.

The color has not changed though it is not as vibrant as it was a couple days ago.

Water parameters are as follow -
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 20
Nitirite - 0
Alkalinity - 300
pH - 8.4
Salinity - 1.022 (try to keep it closer to 1.024)
Temp 78-80

Any other info needed, please ask.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Does your T5 unit have individual reflectors?
How many bulbs, and what wattage?

Your SG should be at 1.025/6, 1.022 is too low.

 

[devildog999]

4 bulbs. Two of each. Each pair has a reflector. 216W

Also bringing water up to 1.026 sg

 

[devildog999]

And 4 led moonlight's, rho I doubt it matters

 

[NatureNerd]

If it settles in someplace, try not to move it. They know where they want to be and moving it can damage it very easily. Do you have a deep sand bed? LTA's like/need to bury their foot in the sand.

Water parameters need to be watched and you will need to keep up with water changes as you have little nutrient export with no skimmer. Your lighting should be sufficient. My LTA likes medium/low flow. It settled in a corner, not in a calm spot but in a spot that has lower flow than most of my tank. It has stayed put for 15 yrs. Read all you can about anemone care. Most folks have difficulties keeping them healthy in a tank as young as yours.

 

[NatureNerd]

A couple more items... Increase the salinity slowly, over the course of a day or two. Anemones do not like change and they love good water conditions. As far as flow, remember that my tank is an SPS tank, so lowish flow for me is pretty high for those with fish only tanks. The tentacles should be moved around by the flow but not look like a tree in a hurricane.

 

[devildog999]

My refugium has a built in skimmer that works pretty well. The spot it was in had virtually no flow; I have not built any kind of blower or what not because I don't have any corals yet so the spot he was in had virtually no flow. When I moved him, he had virtually no foothold, he moved very easily. For flow I only have the fluval and the refugium and where he is has a moderate flow at best. The tentacles move nicely but not aggressively due to flow at all. The sand bed is fairly deep so that part should not be a problem. I am increasing the salinity at a slow rate (at least I think it is). I brought it from 1.022 to 1.024 in the past couple hours.

Thank you for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[NatureNerd]

My refugium has a built in skimmer that works pretty well. The spot it was in had virtually no flow; I have not built any kind of blower or what not because I don't have any corals yet so the spot he was in had virtually no flow. When I moved him, he had virtually no foothold, he moved very easily. For flow I only have the fluval and the refugium and where he is has a moderate flow at best. The tentacles move nicely but not aggressively due to flow at all. The sand bed is fairly deep so that part should not be a problem. I am increasing the salinity at a slow rate (at least I think it is). I brought it from 1.022 to 1.024 in the past couple hours.

Thank you for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

That sounds good. Let us know if he starts to look better. When I have helped others get a new anemone settled, I have looked for a good spot with the right amount of flow and light. I have then dug an inch or two deep depression in the sand next to the rock and set the anemone there. Usually in a day or less the anemone sets its foot down into the sand and locks unto the bottom glass or the underside of the rock. If the spot I chose is not to its liking, it will move to find a better spot on its own. IME LTA's move around exploring less than most other species. Try not to disturb it unless you have a good reason to but you don't want it getting stuck behind the rocks, or moving to where it can get hurt.