Whats up with my anemone?

[Jim_S]

Okay, here's the story....

Had it in my old reef tank for about two years under 175 watt 14k hamiltons. It looked like this:

I broke down that reef, and added the clown and anemone to my larger FOWLR last June.

It bleached right away (within a week) under my TEK T5's. But it continued to eat and grow. Then it split and has continued to grow and eat since then as well.

I switched to 250 watt 14k hamiltons in March of this year. Since then they have grown faster, but their color has not returned. So because its been a year, I'm just really not sure whats going on.

Here is the anemone now

Paul came by a few months back and explained that he felt they were perfectly healthy, but others have stated otherwise.

Now what I don't understand is if the anemone is unhealthy, why does it continue to grow? Whats the deal with this anemone??

Jim

 

[kdblove_99]

Jim,

About 6 months ago i had a big nitrate spike for about a month. My Rose looked like yours did and now it looks like yours does

So, I'm not sure either i just figured it was do to the nitrate spike

 

[dots]

Its bleached and has not regained its zoanathelle.

Anenome have VERY slow metablolism and can linger for months when food and light are scarce.

In addition, clowns pester them and tend to stress them out.

Since you have had it for so long and its still holding on, there might be some hope in salvaging it. What will most likely happen is it will continue as it is, but get smaller and smaller.....even splitting, which would not be a good thing. If it splits due to stress and a survival instninct, I doubt it would have enough stored energy to heal from the split. These animals can linger for a long time giving the impression of good health then suddenly die to our dismay.

What is probably happening, is its getting 80% or so of the energy it needs a day and is in delcine 20% or so a day.

I can't explain why its growing, or if its an inflation or deflation......but BTA anenome are not naturally transparent and should have a brown tint at a minimum like the first picture.

I would feed often. I have been feeding mine smaller foods like PE mysis with great results, and feel the silversides are often too big for the average captive anenome. The picture I just posted yesterday (below) is of my new Sebae I got a few months ago that was bleached and in decline as well. Since then, has doubled in size.

I would feed it PE mysid a couple of times a week to ensure its getting some, even if it regurgitates it. Repeat the next day, eventually it will take it and grow larger while regaining its natural color.

Here was my old one:

 

[bluenassarius]

dots,

thats a gorgeous anemone!

 

[Jim_S]

Well, the thing is that it is that both of them are gowing very well. I feed them at least 3 times a week. This has been steady for over a year at this point. Thats why I'm so confused.

I'm just going to keep feeding them and hope they start to regain their zoanathelle.

 

[Justin74]

I agree with dots on it's currently being bleached and them having a slow metabolism. However I think I am more optomistic especially on your feeding it, it accepting it, and it's growing. I think it is just a very slow process for it to regain it's zooxanthellae. Mine did the same thing and was just as porcelin white and took a year and half to finally start to brown up like it was in the first pic. Heres a recent pic of mine:

-Justin

 

[rafael13]

very nice pic justin, it looks really cool

 

[pbetito]

I can't believe I am saying this but.... I agree with Justin whole heartedly. Your anem seemed to look like it was doing fine when I saw it and when they get stressed and lose their seep red color they take a LONG time to come back, much like a difficult to keep SPS coral. I think it will be ok as long as it eats, gets sufficient light, and has good water conditions.

 

[dots]

Im not trying to be all doom and gloom, but just watch it and keep feeding it, and it should be alright if its eating.

 

[TeeLapia]

FYI: Temperature changes have provided the most stress to the zooxanthellae-coral relationship. A rise in temperature of 1-2 degrees Celsius for 5-10 weeks or a decline in temperature of 3-5 degrees Celsius for 5-10 days has resulted in a coral bleaching event. Strong temperature changes shock the zooxanthellae and cause them to suffer cell adhesion dysfunction which sees the detachment of the cnidarian endodermal cells from the zooxanthellae.