Is my bubble tip dying?

[FsuNole]

I picked up this green BT on saturday. Looked healthy but now I'm concerned. I did not QT it, but I did aclimate it. It looked great until really last night/this morning.

My temp is at 81, and I've tested my water. Ph is 8, Ammonia 0, No2 0, No3 5.

I did try to move it from it's rock a few days ago and wonder if that may have hurt it. I tried massaging it's foot but it wouldn't budge so I stopped. I had read that if you damage the foot it can hurt the anemone so I gave up.

As far as lights I'm running buildmyleds in my 58 gallon.

This was the day I got it


This was yesterday


But this was this morning


I'd hate to lose this guy, but I'm worried because he doesn't look good!

 

[ernieq]

How old is your tank, those rocks look really bleached.

 

[FsuNole]

How old is your tank, those rocks look really bleached.

The tank is 1 month old. The rock it is on is a dry rock. I used dry rock mainly with a little live rock to seed.

 

[Mason321]

The tank is 1 month old. The rock it is on is a dry rock. I used dry rock mainly with a little live rock to seed.

I'm not a nem expert, but I think you should have your tank up for around 6-ish months, so it can stabilize until you add something delicate like an anemone. I mean 1 month is just around the end of the cycle, and you should be adding things slowly to build a gradual bioload in your tank.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Shia]

Definitely too early, but we are here now. Some people may recommend trying to get an anemone sitter until your tank is mature, but not sure how practical that really is. Your tank being so new makes it prone to wild swings in stability, make sure you have a good amount of premixed saltwater ready to do water changes if ammonia or nitrates start getting out of hand. The picture makes it look okay, anemones are delicate creatures and need time to completely acclimate to a new system. Try not to move it. For a lot of people initially the nem goes into hiding for a week or so and then starts coming out. Make sure you have no open powerheads for it to crawl into. Give it a few days and you want to start feeding it. Use tweezers or a feeding stick to feed the hem. Recommended food to stay away from include silversides. Just keep postings changes you notice and we will try to help

 

[FsuNole]

Definitely too early, but we are here now. Some people may recommend trying to get an anemone sitter until your tank is mature, but not sure how practical that really is. Your tank being so new makes it prone to wild swings in stability, make sure you have a good amount of premixed saltwater ready to do water changes if ammonia or nitrates start getting out of hand. The picture makes it look okay, anemones are delicate creatures and need time to completely acclimate to a new system. Try not to move it. For a lot of people initially the nem goes into hiding for a week or so and then starts coming out. Make sure you have no open powerheads for it to crawl into. Give it a few days and you want to start feeding it. Use tweezers or a feeding stick to feed the hem. Recommended food to stay away from include silversides. Just keep postings changes you notice and we will try to help

I've been checking the water every day and I haven't seen any issues with stability but I'll definietly be on high alert now, thanks. I got it krill to eat, which is what the lfs recommended. Were they right? Is there a reason I should use tweezers instead of my hand? This nem was so georgeous, I really want to get it back! Thanks for the help guys!

 

[ocellaris123]

What about the anemones appearance is concerning you? Looks fine to me.

 

[xrayjeeper83]

How's the mouth look, nice and tight or open?

 

[FsuNole]

What about the anemones appearance is concerning you? Looks fine to me.

It was really droopy and the tenticles were really stringy and thin... I just took it back to my lfs and decided I'm going to let my tank age a bit more. They gave me full credit and got some sweet mushrooms... Figure that will be a little easier for me to take care of. It looked better at lunch when I went to pick it up to return it. I was very careful taking it off the rock though, spent probably 30 minutes getting it to come off slowly.

I just need to do more research, I guess I didn't really know how they look besides how it was when I purchased it.

On a side note, if anyone is in Houston they have an awesome blue carpet anemone at the fish gallery!

 

[Shia]

Happy to hear they were willing to take it back and give you credit. To be honest it looked fine for an acclimating nem, but that doesn't mean it will continue to remain healthy. You definitely made the right call with the nem . BTW Krill is a favorite of many for BTAs.

BTAs are amazing. Just give yourself a good 5 months and you are good to go. Of the nems they are a hardier group, and really liven up a tank under actinics.

 

[xrayjeeper83]

That's awesome that they took it back. Better safe then sorry.

Give it a few months and give it another go at it.

 

[FsuNole]

Yeah they are a good store.

Looking forward to getting a nem eventually but until then here are my new shrooms

 

[cet98]

thank goodness the LFS took it back....and thank goodness you were willing to do so...

your tank looks to be completely full of base rock. do you have any cured live rock in there? your parameters will continue to fluctuate as you add more corals (and fish) until you have a substantial amount of nitrifying bacteria for your size aquarium...

GL

 

[FsuNole]

thank goodness the LFS took it back....and thank goodness you were willing to do so...

your tank looks to be completely full of base rock. do you have any cured live rock in there? your parameters will continue to fluctuate as you add more corals (and fish) until you have a substantial amount of nitrifying bacteria for your size aquarium...

GL

Yeah I was glad they let me take the BT back!

I have 60 lbs dry rock, 40 lbs dry sand and 4 lbs of rubble live rock. The tank has been running for about a month now and since the cycle I haven't seen my number fluxuate at all even after adding fish! Everything has been very stable! I'm starting to see a little growth on my dry rock, so hopefully one day I'll be able to give another BT a shot.

 

[worm5406]

New, non-cured, dry rock while seems appeasing and a quick easy idea is, for some inhabitants, OK.

The problem with non-cured dry rock is it still off gasses/particulate matter into the water stream. While you can not measure for it or always see it. It plays havoc on some inhabitants, and sometimes anemones.

If you think of it like fresh rubber gloves (kitchen ones). The first time you touch it you stick to it and have a hard time getting your hands out (this is the first thing of 'thrown in the tank' part) After a while the nice new rubber smell goes away. (This is part of the curing stage). After even longer your hands slip in and there is no more smell. (This is attributed to totally cured rock.) The smell while is not pungent, try breathing in and out of the gloves a few times. (This is the off gassing that some dry rock puts off)

In that analogy it is ok for somethings to be around it with no problem, but those that are sensitive to chemicals will be irritated (like an anemone). After it gets a sheen over it, body oils and stuff, it makes it easier. (This is the colony of bacteria that has now seasoned the rock and put a barrier across it)

Does that make sense?

I have tried so many ways to explain that to people that go and get bran-new dry rock and just drop it in. The rubber glove method seems to be the easiest to associate between the two.

Yes there are situations that some anemones keep on trucking and never have a problem. The issue is, more people have an issue with non-cured dry rock, than many realize.