HELP!! What's Wrong With My Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

[STL_Reefs]

I just bought a rose bubble tip anemone 3 days ago and he was looking good the first day but now he is looking sickly today and I cannot figure out what is wrong with him.

When I bought him, we also bought water to do a water change. When we got home we found that the new water we bought was extremely high in ammonia but all other parameters were good. however, our tank water was high in ammonia & had a low pH, so we really needed a water change before adding the new rose bubble tip anemone. Since it was late at night and all the stores were now closed, I couldn't go get more new water so I added a lot of prime to the new water to fix the ammonia since the new water's other parameters were better than what was in the tank. I tested the water after adding the prime and all parameters were then good, so I did the water change and added the anemone to the tank afterwards. After adding the rose tip, he looked great and very happy.

Yesterday, I tested the parameters again and the pH was a 7.8 and the ammonia was around .50 ppm. So this time I went to a different store to buy water to do another water change because I didn't want to keep adding chemicals to the tank after adding so much seachem prime 3 days ago. When I got home with the water last night to do the water change, the rose tip was not looking so great. He had moved to the back under a rock in the dark and shriveled up small and stringy. I did the water change last night, added pH buffer and seachem's am guard to keep the pH and ammonia under control since this seems to be what we have trouble with.

This morning I tested the parameters and they are as follows:
pH--8.1
Ammonia--between 0.25 & 0.50
Nitrite--0
Nitrate--between 10 & 20

This morning the anemone is still behind the rock in the dark and shriveled up and stringy. I have been spot feeding him krill mixed with mysis & reef caviar & original Rods once a day. My other green bubble tip anemone looks great--very full and out in the open.

I cannot figure out what is wrong with my rose tip though. I am guessing that he is reacting to the water conditions? I cannot seem to get my water ammonia levels below 0.25 to 0.50 no matter how many water changes I do and I have resisted buying Ammo lock because you cannot get a true reading of the ammonia levels after adding it.

What's in my tank right now is:
1 Rose bubble tip anemone
1 Green bubble tip anemone
1 Diamond Goby
LOTS of coral & mushrooms

Any ideas what is wrong with the rose tip and what to do??

 

[Neogenocide]

If the water your buying from the store has ammonia in it, stop buying it to start with. You first need to address those issues. Ammonia in the tank with anything is bad news. Next stop tying to feed it, it's not going to improve with ammonia in the tank. Find a better source of water and start with massive water changes to get rid of ammonia and nitrate.

I'm not sure what else you can do until your water conditions improve as I"m sure that is what's causing the damage to your nem. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[celamb89]

Your params are way off... Amonia should be at 0, as well as nitrates and nitrites... whats the value of your PO4? How long has the tank been up and going? What kind of lighting and equipment?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Your params are way off... Amonia should be at 0, as well as nitrates and nitrites... whats the value of your PO4? How long has the tank been up and going? What kind of lighting and equipment?

Yes, we need to know how old the tank is, the lighting, what size tank. You should have zero ammonia. If you are still reading ammonia something is seriously wrong.

 

[STL_Reefs]

The tank is a 29 gal JBJ LED Pro. It was bought as an established display tank from a local fish store. The fish store had the tank set up for a little less than a year. We drained the tank down until 20% of the water was left to protect live sand & rock as best we could and we transported it 20 min away to home. We refilled the tank with the same water, let it fully clear up and added some live stock. We've now had the tank set up in our home for about 2 months and we have great coraline growth. Phosphates are about 0.25, maybe slightly higher, but not quite 0.50

 

[STL_Reefs]

In our refugium on the back on the tank (it's an all in one tank) we also have a UV sterilizer, chaeto man grove, a 3 part filter that goes through a sponge, then carbon, then live rock rubble. We also have a protein skimmer but it's not set up on the tank because the back area is quite full and we haven't found room for it. With in the last hour I have also added Ammo-lock to the tank because after doing some reading on what to do in this situation, everyone seems to say that it helps in emergency situations. However, after adding the Ammo-Lock I am expecting to see Nitrites & Nitrates to rise so I am wondering what you are suppose to do to fix the rise in nitrates & nitrites after adding the Ammo-Lock. Would you suggest adding Nitrazorb, Nitrifying bacteria/Nitrospira, or Seachem Prime at this time to prevent nitrites & nitrates from rising? Or something else?

 

[STL_Reefs]

Also, the green bubble tip is still looking great, he is full and doesn't seem to have any problem with the water issues at all. The rose bubble tip is looking better & he is moving around but he still isn't 100% & he is still hiding in the dark behind the rock. He is looking full & skinny off & on. I want to get these water parameters better asap though because I know rose tips can decline quite rapidly, be fine one minute, and be on the verge of death the next if there is an issue.