Anemone Issues

[bladeruner143]

Thanks to Barb (Auntbeez), I have this wonderful Anemone living in my tank. The problem is, he keeps twisting around in the tank and his foot is constantly becoming tangled because of it. This cause him to looks shriveled. What I normally do is untwist him by picking up the rock that he is on and twirling it until he is untangled. A few hours later, he looks good and healthy again. That is, until he twists himself up again. I though it could have been my flow hitting him causing him to be twisted by the currents, so I placed a rock between him and the PH, but he still twists himself. Has any of your ever experienced this before? If so, how did you guys solve it?

 

[MrMikeB]

Twisting around the tank? Please explain.

Typically anemones will move around as they see fit, and seeing them shriveled is not necessarily a bad thing - looks scary as hell, but it is how the regulate and adapt to the tank and food. I would minimize touching it so as to not stress it out further until it adapts. He could be simply looking for a place to anchor down. Do you have clowns trying to host it already?

 

[bladeruner143]

Ok, this might be hard to explain, but bear with me. Imagine having one of those balloon animal type balloons where one end would be the foot and the other end is where the tentacles would be. Then taking the balloon and twisting it in the middle about 3xs. This is basically what my anemone is doing. Hes been in there about a month now and hasn't moved from this spot since a couple days after I put him in. The clownfish I have are tank raised so I dont really expect them to host it. As I was thinking about it, I thought well if it were the flow causing him to twist he would just move away, but he seems to like the spot where hes at and the flow isnt directly hitting him, but it was the only thing I could think of so I tried it. I dont actually touch or move the anemone but rather I let the currents in my tank untwist him. I know this sounds weird and it may be hard to understand whats going on because of how Im explaining so I apologize. any help/advice you could give would be great. Oh, I feed him a piece of raw shrimp every other day

 

[bladeruner143]

Oh just in case, I have him in a 55G and I'm running 400W MH, but I have them about 12 inches above the water or so. Everything else in the tank is doing fine (fish, mushrooms, zoas, shrimp etc) which is why I think the water parameters are ok

 

[dots]

Well, you have enough light, which is good news. If your alkalinity is within spec, which is the other major thing I have seen them move around due to, I am going to speculate he is just adjusting and will eventually find it "happy" place. You should take every avenue to avoid it from drifting into a PH, and ensure it is not getting a tissue damage on the foot from moving.

Give it some time, triple check your params and feed as you are and it should be alright.

Pictures really help in these cases.

Last thought: rockwork and careful aquascaping of bomies, (little islands), help wandering anenome.

 

[WarrenG]

I got two very young tank-raised clowns and put them in a 145g reef tank with a pure white, 5" sebae anenome. Within a week it became their permanent home and they have been an obvious pair ever since.

People tend to overfeed their anenomes and that makes them do all kinds of strange things. A piece of shrimp is likely way too much for the anenome to digest properly and IME the other animals (you mentioned) in your tank would not be as sensitive to water issues as the anenome.

I was once advised by Anthony Calfo in another forum to feed just 4-6 frozen/thawed mysis shrimp at a time, maybe 3-x/week, and that's what I did for about 3 months, and by then the anenome had regained all of its algae and turned a deep brown with magenta tips. Now I feed it once every 10 days or so and in 16 months it's grown to about 15" in diameter and never moves.

The amount of flow should make the anenome look like wheat swaying in the prairie breeze, although on an ocean reef it can be more than that depending on the currents/tides.

 

[MrMikeB]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11423897#post11423897 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WarrenG
The amount of flow should make the anenome look like wheat swaying in the prairie breeze, although on an ocean reef it can be more than that depending on the currents/tides.

Man, that is just so beautiful... *tear*

 

[WarrenG]

Like most of my best lines, that one was borrowed.

 

[bladeruner143]

Hhhmmm, so maybe I am overfeeding it. I'll try a different course then. Thanks for all of the help guys

 

[dots]

Overfeeding usually results in a split of the good kind, during a plentiful and bountiful harvest season or getting a super huge Sebae like I got.

The bad split: stress induced survival instinct, two have greater odds at surviving than one.

Though, sustainibility is possible its hard to tell how much or how little to feed. With 400's it will most likely not grow fast and stay stable at the current diameter.

 

[WarrenG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11419671#post11419671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bladeruner143
Oh just in case, I have him in a 55G and I'm running 400W MH, but I have them about 12 inches above the water or so.

A little nitpick, I've measured light output with a meter and by mounting the lights 12 inches above the water you're losing at least 25% of the lights' output before it reaches the water. There's probably more accurate data somewhere online.

 

[bladeruner143]

Yeah, that was the plan. I didn't want to burn everything in the tank because I have 400W MH on a 55G. So my thinking was that if I placed the lights up higher, I would lose some of the light and eventually it will be right where I want it to be. Since trying this, everything in the tank is growing well (Zoas) and the coraline is coming in very well. So I dont think its a lack of light.