zooxanthellae and new anenome

[sfboarders]

I ordered a BTA from RHS and received it last week. I drip acclimated him for an hour and put him where I wanted him to stay but he ended up moving to a cave which from what I've read is normal. His mouth was pretty open when first added and it closes and opens every so often. When first introduced he had bubble tips but haven't seen them for awhile. I've also seen him deflate and expand which seems to be normal from my reading. When he looks deflated he is shriveled up but his foot is stuck to the rock rather good. I also fed him on Monday some arcti-pods and he seemed to eat it. Is arcti-pods good to feed an anemone?

Here are my tank parameters below:

SG 1.025
ph was 7.8 but it's at 8.2
dkh was at 7 but now at 8
calcium 500
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0

lights 6x54 T5


My main concern is the brown stringy mucus stuff coming out of his mouth. I'm going to assume that this is zooxanthellae and not a good sign. Is this normal for newly acquired anemone's? Anything else I should look out for?

This is the quote from Anenome FAQ.

There is something coming out of my anemone's mouth "“ what is it?
Anemones only have one opening into their digestive system "“ their mouth. Once they
digest a meal, anything that is indigestible (fish bones, etc) will come back out of the
mouth when the anemone is done eating. Additionally, anemones will sometimes
"œdeflate" in order to flush wastes out of their system or to balance internal water
chemistry. This water will flow in and out of the mouth, and sometimes contains some
body slime, etc. Stringy dark brown substance coming out of the anemone's mouth is
usually a bad sign "“ it is most often an indication that the anemone is expelling its
zooxanthellae due to stress or injury.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Somewhat normal, at least for expelling the Zoax, but really shouldn't be a whole lot. The inflating/deflating (( excluding getting a bit smaller after lights out )), isn't all that normal, and should be a bit of concern.

Did you acclimate it to your lights?

 

[sfboarders]

Somewhat normal, at least for expelling the Zoax, but really shouldn't be a whole lot. The inflating/deflating (( excluding getting a bit smaller after lights out )), isn't all that normal, and should be a bit of concern.

Did you acclimate it to your lights?

I didn't acclimate the nem to the lights. First day I only turned on actinics. Next day I used actinics and daylight (4) bulbs but used a shorter photo period. Monday I made the photo period a lil longer with 4 bulbs and Tuesday I used all 6 bulbs.

Attached is what I came home today. The false perc was hosting my bubble coral before but now it found the nem. Also some tips have bubbles on them.

 

[sfboarders]

Here are some pics with the brown stringy stuff coming out while it's deflating. Sorry only have a p&s camera.

Also the nem still wants to go inside the nem when it's deflated. He tries to get in between the tentacles. Is this ok or is it stressful to the nem?

Are the arcti-pods ok to feed to the nem?

 

[shroutk3]

The clown is going to stress that nem a lot. You should separate them somehow- build a "cage" around the nem with a plastic fruit basket or eggcrate something until it gets used to your tank- the clown will make it worse.

 

[sfboarders]

The clown is going to stress that nem a lot. You should separate them somehow- build a "cage" around the nem with a plastic fruit basket or eggcrate something until it gets used to your tank- the clown will make it worse.

Thought so, I'll put some eggcrate around the nem so he's not disturbed.

 

[shroutk3]

Once the nem is adjusted, you should be able to let the clown back in.

I'm jealous- I have three bubble tips and my clowns haven't hosted at all- It has been months and no luck (actually had 5 nems at one point).

 

[sfboarders]

Once the nem is adjusted, you should be able to let the clown back in.

I'm jealous- I have three bubble tips and my clowns haven't hosted at all- It has been months and no luck (actually had 5 nems at one point).

How long does it usually take to get adjusted? Also will it move out of this hole?

My other clown which is a tank raised is still by the rock. I guess he's not interested in the nem. The other nem will have to go back to the bubble coral while I cage off the nem.

 

[garygb]

If it's happy in the hole in the rock, then don't expect it to move. That is the natural way BTAs attach. It is normal for an anemone to expell some zooxanthellae and to inflate/deflate some during the initial acclimation. I don't think your clowns are too big based on the pic and assuming the anemone is happily planted in the hole, I see no reason to separate the clown from the anemone. Some folks believe clowns actually help in the acclimation process, assuming the clowns aren't too large for the anemone.