Rose Tip Anemone help

[55semireef]

It could be a plethora of factors.

1. Inaquedate lighting
2. Insufficient light
3. Starved
4. Poor water quality
5. Too much stress

By looking at those possibliities, what would you say caused it?

 

[Reefit]

When I first got it I stressed it once moving it from the back of the tank to the front, but it seemed to adjust well, as the first photo is after its move. It's not likely due to lack of lighting since I have 7 watts per gallon. I may not have been feeding it enough. I would give it a small piece of krill once or twice a week. Water quality is excellent, possibly could do more water changes, but this seems to be somewhat controversial on the benefits, quantity, and frequency.

 

[55semireef]

Krill is not very nutritional especially if its only being fed 1-2 times a week.

Anemones require more meaty foods.

 

[vaporize]

I don't think the RBTA is gonna make it, i never see one that has the mouth open that big and still come back (unless it's splitting and torn apart which is not in this case).

did you add any chemicals that cause alk/calc change? This is most likely a stress/water parameter related issue.

 

[Ciarán]

My BTA was very poorly for about two months. It wasnt gaping as yours is but it was as shrivelled if not more so. It is perfect now and has tripled in size since i bought it. Solution? Addition of a huge protein skimmer and new lighting. You say you have another anemone in the tank. It could easily be allelopathy, (chemical warfare via "terpene" chemicals) is the GBTA larger and healthy? If they are engaged in an elimination struggle the addition of direct in tank skimming (hang on) and plenty of phosphate free activated carbon would help remove/adsorb the toxic chemicals. Though the volume of your tank is considerable, it may also be due to soft coral irritation. In my experience Sarcophyton and Palythoa are nasties for the production of terpenes and could easily overwhelm a small/medium sized anemone.

I think you are putting too much emphasis on feeding IMHO. An anemone simply will not accept food directly in the mouth in my experience, they won't allow themselves to be force-fed. My BTA can attain its full nutritional requirements from the light alone and has grown rapidly for extended periods where i havent fed it anything. I give it brine or mysis shrimp a few times weekly but thats it. Uour lighting is extremely powerful, 3x 400W is huge power even for that size system. BTA do fine on 150W. I can show you pics of mine as an example. Depending on how high in the water column the BTA is positioned perhaps it is overilluminated. There could be excess U.V. permeating through your glass covers of the halides. In general the darker an anemone, the greater the depth its natural habitat. The rose tips would indicate U.V. absorbing pigment but its overall colouration appears to be relatively dark. Perhaps a lower position may help things.

A good indicator as to its health would be the "stickiness" of its basal disk. Others have commented with impending doom as to its health but i wouldnt be so sure. It is responding to the stimulus of food and appears to be well adhered to its substratum, therefore i think its is still relatively coordinated and responsive. Check to see there are no excess metal ions (Copper, Iron etc.) in your water.

If all this fails to satisfy any crtieria, perhaps search for a tear in the basal disk. From what i have read, many anemones are so injured during forced separation from its substratum during hasty collection and die subsequently due to this injury.

Edit: I just noted your colour temperature. I have no experience with 20,000k lighting but i know for certain that my symbiotic invertebrates prefer 10,000k lighting to the 14,000k bulbs i had previously. From what i understand, the higher the colour temperature the more blue the spectrum and this is most beneficial to deeper water organisms which have evolved/accepted more blue spectrum absorbing zooxanthellae to optimize photosynthetic output. Anemones' natural habitat is in shallow rockpools and mainly surface areas, exposed to the more direct colouration of the sun's rays, closer to 6500k than 20,000k. It is a trivial thing but well its a suggestion if nothing else!

Hope it helps,
Ciaran.

 

[55semireef]

You say you have another anemone in the tank. It could easily be allelopathy, (chemical warfare via "terpene" chemicals) is the GBTA larger and healthy?

I doubt it has to do anything with chemicle warfare especially because they are both BTAs.

 

[Ciarán]

Granted they are conspecifics, i wouldnt rule it out though, especially if you have softies in their too.

 

[55semireef]

It could very well be a softy. Looks like there is a frogspawn right above it. But I think the cause was more severe than chemcile warfare.

 

[Ciarán]

Frogspawn (as in Euphyllia Species) is an LPS! Its not a softy! I was referring to something along the lines of Sarcophyton, Cladiella, Lobophytum, Palyotha etc. Leathers and true Softies.

I agree though, it shows more than just tentacle retraction which would indicate a chemical irritant. Could be that the basal disk is torn.

 

[Reefit]

There have been no fluctuations in water parameters to cause this. I'm personally not expecting anything chemical. If anything I suspect a disk tear. If this is the case could it heal itself? I also agree in that I'm not giving up on it since it has the ability to maintain it's position even with slight water flow from power head. I will switch to mysis and plankton since last night it tried to eat it's 1/3 silverside and after five minutes lost it. Here is a picture of my GBTA. Thanks for all the advise. Keep it coming if there are any other ideas.

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7692934#post7692934 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ciarán
Frogspawn (as in Euphyllia Species) is an LPS! Its not a softy! I was referring to something along the lines of Sarcophyton, Cladiella, Lobophytum, Palyotha etc. Leathers and true Softies.

I agree though, it shows more than just tentacle retraction which would indicate a chemical irritant. Could be that the basal disk is torn.

I know it is an lps. I have one myself. In fact I have an lps/softy dominated tank. I just worded that wrong. Trust me I know the difference.

 

[vaporize]

So is it one of those LPS that is doing chemical warfare causing that?

 

[Reefit]

Why would my GBTA be doing so well and the RBTA so bad. Are the RBTA's harder to keep?

 

[finding nemo]

Hi Reef, I agree with 55. Stop feeding it and let it be for a few days to a week.
I think the rest will do him good as it takes energy for it to eat.
Right now it needs time to heal.
Can you point a small powerhead at it to give it some flow? Just enough to get it swaying in the current and not blowing it enough to make it flop in half?
I would do that.
Somemonething else I would do and have done in the past in a case like this is take a turkey baster and gently move the water over its mouth, it will clean out any gunk it has in and around the area and you can see what it looks like then.
Try to clean it up (as I call it) and put some flow on it, stop feeding it and tomorrow take several pictures of it for us.
One close up of the mouth area and one from several feet away, we can then see it that has helped it.
If you have not done a water change I would do a 20% today.
Fresh clean saltwater does wonders to help the healing of split anemones and will also help sick ones.
Make sure the salinity is exactly as your tankwater, no shocking the anemone.
Keep us posted please. I wish you the best of luck, with care and good water, movement around it and rest it can heal
Karen

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7698343#post7698343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by finding nemo
Hi Reef, I agree with 55. Stop feeding it and let it be for a few days to a week.
I think the rest will do him good as it takes energy for it to eat.
Right now it needs time to heal.
Can you point a small powerhead at it to give it some flow? Just enough to get it swaying in the current and not blowing it enough to make it flop in half?
I would do that.
Somemonething else I would do and have done in the past in a case like this is take a turkey baster and gently move the water over its mouth, it will clean out any gunk it has in and around the area and you can see what it looks like then.
Try to clean it up (as I call it) and put some flow on it, stop feeding it and tomorrow take several pictures of it for us.
One close up of the mouth area and one from several feet away, we can then see it that has helped it.
If you have not done a water change I would do a 20% today.
Fresh clean saltwater does wonders to help the healing of split anemones and will also help sick ones.
Make sure the salinity is exactly as your tankwater, no shocking the anemone.
Keep us posted please. I wish you the best of luck, with care and good water, movement around it and rest it can heal
Karen

Very well said Finding Nemo.

On another note, run some good quality carbon in your tank. This should remove any organics and chemicles in the tank. It will also give you slightly more light penetration since the water quality will clear up a bit. Get on that water change!!!

Good luck to you and your RBTA.

 

[Ciarán]

So is it one of those LPS that is doing chemical warfare causing that

LPS arent particularly likely to emit "terpenes" or biological chemicals as they are the dominant type of "reef building" corals, faster growing than softies. Therefore ahermatypic type corals (non-zooxanthellae hosting corals) and softies have developed a way of combatting the rapid proliferation of hard corals by stunting their growth via "allelopathy" ie. chemical warfare. An LPS wouldn't emit those toxins, only a soft coral or a sun coral etc.

How's the condition of the RBTA today? The basal disk of my anemone had a slight rupture and it has healed. Generally though, basal injuries are very bad news, if mine had of been a full tear i'd say it would of been a gonner. Check for any lacerations of the external epithelia (external covering cells - the jellylike material), the disk should be white and sticky. What is the tentacle extension like? Are they still contracted or spreading anymore than before? If they are inflated but contracted its a sign of a better condition IMO. Floppy "dead" tentacles are bad news. Eventually the whole anemone will just curl up if it is really unhappy.

Trust me I know the difference.

Sorry man, i didnt mean to be condescending, i was just trying to avoid confusion. Cool beans man! Softies are lovely additions, though I'm partial to stonies currently. When school finishes and i can set up my big tank again, the softies will be back!

 

[dots]

I think it is a case of stress from shipping and a new enviroment.
-Obviously, he has a large enough tank, so water should be stable
-Lighting is well within the range
-And the others in the tank show you have some experience.

I think it is just a case of bad luck and you may have had a time bomb in the works.....Kinda like an getting an Acropora home and it RTNs for no reason.....

I know it a crazy thought being so new in the tank, but when mine split, they looked bad for days....then poof, there were two.

I say, give it a rest and see what happens. If you feed it at all I suggest the krill, smaller to suck on.....

 

[only4fudge]

Really great looking Rose Anenome, quite expensive too, I have my own as well, its still a baby though, hope nothing like that happens to it anytime soon.

Are they easier to care for at a mature stage, or at a younger age?

Ive also heard that Rose anenomes split into two and makes babies

Goodluck!

post more pictures soon, the pictures were great!

 

[55semireef]

A larger RBTA will be much easier to care for just because (assuming its has been established in the tank) it can recover faster than a smaller.