Anemone on its way out?

B

browettm@gmail

New member
Well, it has been doing well for months since I got him. Clowns seemed to be feeding it well, etc. Then, within the last few days it started looking like this (see pics). Mouth isn't always gaping. He will close it and his disk will get much larger but his tentacles stay deflated. I have seen him deflate before (not generally this deflated) and he always filled back up within a few hours. Its been two days now of being deflated to one degree or another. Any ideas? He is still taking food (been giving him some shrimp just to be sure it isn't a nutrition issue). Nothing else in the tank seems to be having issues including a Haitian Anemone.

Tank is a over a year old.

Water Parameters: PH 8.2 - 8.3, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates 10 ppm (recent spike - not sure why, water change pending though), Calcium 420, Alkalinity 10-11. Specific gravity a 1.024.

Lighting: Acquatic Life T5 fixture.
(2) 48" T5 HO 54W 420/460 Lamps
(1) 48" T5 HO 54W 10,000K Lamp
(1) 48" T5 HO 54W Purple Lamp
(4) 1W Lunar LED`s

Run the 420/460 and purple lamps 8 hours a day and and the white about 3 hours a day.

I'm thinking I should increase the lighting times but also curious what else could be going on?
 

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Condys will live through anything and shouldn't be compared for whether another type is thiving or not.
How old are your bulbs

Unfortunately, this anemone does look like it is very close to its death.
 
I was thinking about the bulbs. They are at a year so probably time to replace them. I did up the lighting - 10 hours of blue / purple and 6 white - see if that makes a difference. Anything I can do or just watch and wait? I assume if he detaches or starts bleaching I should pull him so I don't ruin the tank?
 
would definitely try to replace bulbs soon. Might be he didnt like the last food and is purging stomach. Try to do that water change soon to see if the nitrate spike is the culprit. other than that, watch and wait. If upside down on the sand i would take out into a qt tank.
 
I have been target feeding him since he took a turn....doesn't seem to hold food very tight with those tiny tentacles so the clowns tend to rob him of it or shift it out and other fish grab it. I do think at the moment he may be purging (had some shrimp yesterday) and there is some mucus like stuff coming out and drifting off or getting swept off by the clowns. If he closes his mouth again and his disc enlarges I will post more pics. He does seem to inflate his disc area, just havent seen tentacles inflated in two days now.
 
No, the clowns seemed to be providing him food so I didn't. I changed the lights....didn't realize the UV could go south in as little as 6 months so it was definitely time for a change. Now he looks like this but he hasn't gotten past this the last two days (no tentacle inflation).
 

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Give it a day or two to come back. seems like a little improvement. Target feed more krill or chunks of silversides. Clowns wont feed it enough usually. Only the condy anemone will do good without feedings, usually takes about a month or two of no feeding for the anemone to starve. with light feeding by clowns, would extend it to the few months.
 
Thanks for the advice. So far he seems to be holding his current state. I will continue with the target feeding and for the sake of everyone's benefit will post more updates if he continues to improve. Feel terrible that starvation may have gotten him to this point. So much conflicting information on target feeding and whether it's necessary with a hosted anemone. Hopefully food and fresh UV will do the trick.
 
The primary light source of fluorescent lamps is UV radiation from electrons bumping into mercury atoms. This UV radiation is then converted into different wavelengths by the fluorescent powder coating on the inside of the bulb. But over time the constant UV bombardment changes the fluorescent coating and glass of the bulb. As a result the spectrum shifts, the lumen output drops and the glass changes to let less UV light out.
For this reason 6 months is the longest you should run a fluorescent or metal halide bulb over a reef tank. You will not be able to see it but the spectrum changes significantly.

In the past I had a crispa doing great for quite a while but then it started wandering around and slowly declining. It took me a while to figure out it was the light. So I changed all the bulbs at once and that sudden change gave the anemone the rest. So if you run 8 T5s you should change only one or two bulbs per month before changing the next. Best is to space it that you continually change bulbs on a fixed schedule.

To me that is too much hassle and cost (plus you need to dispose the bulbs properly which adds even more costs) so now I only use LEDs. My anemones love the Kessil LEDs and hopefully I don't need to change bulbs for many years.
 
I will certainly be looking into the LEDs at some point. Thanks for the advice.

Fingers crossed but he looks improved today and took a fair amount of blended up silversides and shrimp. Hoping he perks those tentacles up. Thinking lighting and starvation combo. Hopefully he has the strength to recover.
 

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Dkuhlmann said:
These Chinese LED's are a good product and only $83 shipped to your door. You can't buy bulbs for a T5 cheaper than this and best part is you don't have to keep on buying every 6 or so months.

I know several people that use them and I'll be buying one next time I need to change bulbs. Search Ebay there are special deals when buying 2 or more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/165W-Dimmab...for-Coral-Reef-Marine-Fish-Lamp-/251495773757
Click to expand...

Can those also be dimmed remotely (eg. via an APEX) or is this strictly manual?
 
browettm@gmail said:
I will certainly be looking into the LEDs at some point. Thanks for the advice.

Fingers crossed but he looks improved today and took a fair amount of blended up silversides and shrimp. Hoping he perks those tentacles up. Thinking lighting and starvation combo. Hopefully he has the strength to recover.
Click to expand...

What flow do you have? Maybe try a bit more or a bit less to see if that gives improvement on the tentacles.

Also which species of anemone is this? From the pictures it could be a LTA, malu or crispa.

Edit: missed the second picture in you last post - based on that I would say it' a very unhappy magnifica.
 
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ThRoewer said:
Can those also be dimmed remotely (eg. via an APEX) or is this strictly manual?
Click to expand...

Actually I'm not sure as I don't personally have one. I would think the link would have some sort of information that could be helpful. Or maybe ask the lighting forum as there are quite a few people here that have started buying them. Can't beat the price that's for sure.
 
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