Bubble Tip Anenome- Help

jam.jo

New member
Hello,

I have a new tank, it was previously set up for 3 months in my old apartment, I moved in June, and just reset the tank up this week. I have a 20 gallon nuvo fusion aquarium, 1 ecotech radion xr15, skimmer, purple caribsea life rock, live sand, biofilter in the back contains seachem matrix and zeolite, also running carbon mixed with zeolite from fluval. I am using red sea salt- the blue sps dominant kind. My tank is run with the neptune apex, temp I am keeping at 77.5-78.5 degrees F. My pH was 8.16 all day and dipped to 7.99 at night so I turned on the skimmer for oxygen increase. CA 500, salinity is a little high 1.028- Reads as 36.1 on the Apex. DkH 8.9. My ecotech radion light I have set on the AB+ template, but reduced the lighting to 10% for acclimation period which will ramp up to a total of 80% intensity in 30 days. I do have a nero 3 powerhead and a hydor koralia but I have them turned off most of the time, I only turn them on for a short period of time when the BTA is attached to the rock. Otherwise I just have the nuvo fusion return pump set at 8 and sometimes increase it to 12. My return nozzles are the spin stream nozzles for wider random flow.

I cycled the tank with microbacter start xlm and had dosed quickcycle (ammonia) up to 2 ppm. Within 3 days I got zero readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. So I decided to add 2 clownfish, but one of the clownfish was paired with an anenome. Anyways I put them in the tank and now I read that I shouldn't add the anenome until 6 months have passed. I did get an ammonia spike to about .5 ppm at 1 am after adding the fish at about 2 pm. I dosed seachem prime at 1 am and put an ammonia alert in the tank to monitor ammonia. I came back 2 hours later and the free ammonia is reading zero. I will redose in 24 hours if ammonia shows up again in testing. I am also being very careful with feeding the fish, I have frozen mysis I am feeding the clownfish. Ammonia has not spiked at all today like it did last night- free ammonia reads 0 because I added prime, nitrite is .50 after that spike and prime is neutralizing that as well for now. BTA detached itself from the rock and is laying at the sandbed. It did spit out a small amount of zooxanthelle last night I'm guessing because my lights are better than petco's. Mouth looks good, no damage on the BTA. I attempted to move it to the top of the rock 3 times today, and each time it sits there for an hour or so and then detaches. I'm leaving it where it is to see if it moves from that location. It does have a clownfish hosting it too.

Anyways I keep reading about fluctuations will kill the anenome"¦ I guess I want to know how to keep my tank from fluctuating too much. Do I need to do more water changes more often? Do I just need to monitor ammonia and nitrite and nitrate closely? Should I be worried about CA and ALK fluctuations with red sea salt if I do monthly water changes with no corals? Any advice would be appreciated.
 

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You reset the tank a week ago which will cause a new cycle, those quick cycle products don't work all that well, cycling naturally is the best way to do it. I'd suggest returning the anemone and clowns until the tank is stable for at least 8 to 12 weeks.
 
I agree with Sugar Magnolia. Your best bet is to return the BTA; the clowns may well survive your young tank, the BTA probably won't. Besides being from Petco, which isn't known for having the healthiest livestock, your BTA looks like it could be bleached (although it is hard to tell due to the blue lighting), which means it isn't starting out in the strongest condition.

Good luck!

Kevin
 
Hmm"¦ yeah my lighting is hard to tell, I took some more pictures in whiter light and blue lighting, is my anenome bleached? The foot is very brown and the tentacles are pale but flourescent green. It's been that way since I got it at petco.
My Salinity is 35 ppt, ORP is 290, pH 8.1, Nitrate is 4.33, Phosphate is .02ppm, ammonia and nitrite are both zero. I am running rowaphos and carbon, as well as microbacter clean since the first time I posted this. I have been feeding the anenome zooplankton and mysis. It's a small anenome.
 

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Hmm… yeah my lighting is hard to tell, I took some more pictures in whiter light and blue lighting, is my anenome bleached? The foot is very brown and the tentacles are pale but flourescent green. It’s been that way since I got it at petco.
My Salinity is 35 ppt, ORP is 290, pH 8.1, Nitrate is 4.33, Phosphate is .02ppm, ammonia and nitrite are both zero. I am running rowaphos and carbon, as well as microbacter clean since the first time I posted this. I have been feeding the anenome zooplankton and mysis. It’s a small anenome.

Yes, it appears to be somewhat bleached. Do you see it "grab" any of the mysis when you feed? If not, you may need to hand feed a small piece of defrosted krill about once a week until your anemone colors up. This may be difficult to do with a resident clown.

You'll need to take a small piece of krill (1/4-3/8") and wiggly it gently in the anemone's tentacles. With luck, the anemone's tentacles will seem "sticky," and will "grab on" to the krill. The anemone should fold over the krill and deliver it to its mouth (which will puff outward toward the food). You may need to shoo the clown away from the anemone until the food has disappeared into the anemone's mouth.

If the anemone's tentacles are not sticky, you will need to hold the krill just outside the anemone's mouth, and let the anemone's mouth expand outward to envelop the krill. DO NOT PUSH THE KRILL INTO THE ANEMONE'S MOUTH. If the anemone can consume it, it will; if you force it to take food it can't handle, the food can cause an infection that kills the anemone.

Good luck,
Kevin
 
Thank you for the advice. I have been trying to feed it but the clown does steal the food alot. It does curl up when I feed it, I can't tell if that is a good sign or not. How can you tell if an Anenome becomes infected? I also try to feed with a coral target feeder but that is hard to do with larger pieces of food.
 
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