BTA in distress?

[velvetelvis]

When I got home this evening, my bubble tip was deflated, the mouth was puckered and slightly open, and a few white stringy bits and a bit of slime were coming out of it. The anemone has been doing well so far and has grown a bit. The only thing different I did today was to feed it a couple of tiny pieces of thawed frozen shrimp (no shell or tail) and remove a couple of polyp rocks that were taking up too much room in my tank and blocking the current a bit. Parameters are as follows (and have been the same since I acquired the anemone three weeks ago):

pH: 8.3
KH: 9
temp: 82F
nitrates: undetectable
phosphates: undetectable
No readings for calcium or magnesium, because I don't have a test kit for them.

I did notice that the skimmer collection cup had slightly overflowed into the sump (I had it set to skim wet and forgot to empty the cup before leaving this morning). The anemone began to look better after I emptied, cleaned, and replaced the collection cup. Now, about an hour later, the anemone is gradually reinflating and the mouth is tightly closed and almost back to normal. Could that have been it? Was it the shrimp? Was it just expelling waste? As you can tell I'm very distressed--this anemone has been doing so well for me, and I'm so upset thinking that it might be suddenly going downhill.

 

[garygb]

If it's been doing well, I wouldn't worry too much. BTAs sometimes deflate as part of the digestion process. If it stays deflated for more than a day, then perhaps something is off.

 

[velvetelvis]

Thanks. I emailed the propagator immediately, convinced that I'd somehow killed my anemone...and she emailed me back that it was probably just pooping. It's actually almost back to normal now. The mouth just looks a little puffy. I'd never seen it look like that before...damn thing scared me half to death! But reefing wouldn't be the same adventure without the occasional panic attack...LOL