Anenome Troubles

[mnoll406]

Hey everybody,
Bought a bubble tip at Wais about 2 weeks ago. First week it did really well, now it has crawled under the rock it was on. Any ideas of what the problem could be. Corals and everything else look good.

Mike





Moved to Reef forum as anemone isn't Calgary specific.

brad

[Aquattro]

Mike, tell us about your tank, lighting, what you've been feeding the anemone, etc.

[Delphinus]

I need more information before I can really give you a detailed opinion on what's going on. Is the anemone still inflated? Is the problem just that it is moving around? Can you post a picture?

I'll try to give you a generalized overview though in the meantime. First of all, anemones bought at the stores, invariably those bought in our stores over here at any rate, are recently wild-collected specimens. They're stressed. It is going to take months to get over that stress, and that is if they are going to get over it in the first place.

Secondly, what it takes to successfully house an anemone is a combination of water movement, substrate, lighting, feeding, and suitable tankmates (and of course overall water quality). Although there are some obvious generalities that apply to all species, each species does has its own unique requirements. If just one of these items is not right, the animal will be stressed and thus prone to wandering. A nonstressed anemone has no reason to move. But if it's moving, it means it's looking for something it's not currently getting.

Entacmaea quadricolor (your BTA) looks for a hard substrate but requires to be in a crevasse or a cave or under an overhang. They want their tentacles out in the open light and open current, but they want their pedal disk protected and not exposed. Generally speaking a lot of current is recommended. Lighting needs to be appropriate as well, but I see you're keeping SPS so I assume you have adequate lighting.

Are you feeding the anemone yet? If so, how often and how much and with what? Is the food staying down?

[mnoll406]

Hey Guys,
I have 6x95 vho's. I've had the anenome 2 weeks. Week 1 it was good, attached to the rock it came with. I fed it a couple of times and it was fine. Then week 2 it started moving under the rock, kinda closed up and wont come out. Its close to the live rock with crevices and everything it needs. Should I flip the rock over or let it be? It has not moved around much just under the rock. I also acclimated very slowly over a period of 2 hours when I first got it. I fed the anenome brine, and blood worms. Thanks for the help guys.

Mike

PS Wai's said it had been there for a while.

[Aquattro]

Probably best for Tony to confirm, but I'm pretty sure it should be eating larger items, like chunks of scallop!

[Delphinus]

Agreed with Brad. Try some of that, or some shrimp or prawn (1/4" pieces approx should be OK) or some mysis. I've had a modicum of success reviving stressed-out looking anemones using a high protein food like mysis, the trick to to make sure they're actually eating it.

How is water flow over the anemone right now? Thing is they can sometimes shy away from a direct powerhead kind of flow but they really do need a fair amount of water flow. O2 saturation is important for them and too much CO2 can make them do weird things too. There should be
enough current to keep the tentacles gently swaying constantly. If you find that food drifts off the tentacles when you feed, you may need to turn your current off for 5-10 minutes when you try to feed it. Also watch out for any kind of tankmates that might steal food, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp can be really pesky that way sometimes (despite target feeding, the animal gets pretty much all it food stolen).

You can try flipping the rock over but bear in mind it will want to have that foot in a crevasse or under an overhang or something. If you can rearrange the rock such that it is still underneath it, but if it could "reach" out into the light, that might be something workable.

You don't have any other anemones in the tank do you? They can sometimes interact negatively with one another.

Unfortunately, there is the one sad possibility that whatever's happened to it along the way has stressed it too much. A lot of anemones don't make it past the first month to couple of months due to injury, infection, starvation or other stressors that may have happened well before it ever got purchased to go home. They have slow metabolisms so it can be a while before a declining health can be obvious. That said, as long as something isn't too far gone they can recover from a great deal more than we give them credit for. But with THAT said, you should be aware that the statistics are unfortunately not exactly 100% -- you can do everything by the book and still be disappointed and you can do everything "wrong" and still get lucky so at this point it can probably go either way.

Another possibility is that it is going through a light shock if the lighting is significantly different in its new tank from its last tank. In which case letting it hide under a rock (provided it can still get water current, and food) is probably best and it will come out in its own time. Of course, it shouldn't be so withdrawn into the rock that it gets no light whatsoever, but if it's only under a ledge or something that's probably not a huge concern in and of itself.

[mnoll406]

Hey Tony,
I don't have any other anenomes, just a plate coral that looks like an anenome, but theyr'e pretty far apart. When he was on top of the rock he had decent water flow, but not from a powerhead directed at him. The couple times I did feed him, he agressively ate. As far as O2 sat. goes, I have a refugium on a 24 hour light cycle, so I would think theres plenty of O2 saturation. I can't remember what type of light wais had on it now. It could be the light shock thing. I guess for now I will leave him the way he is. he does get some light where he's at, but not as much water flow as before. I was thinking of flipping him over, but the light shock thing has me worried. He crawled under the rock for a reason, so I guess I should let him be and not stress him out too much. The rock he is on is right next to a piece of Marshal Island live rock that has tons of crevices so at this point I guess its just a waiting game.

Mike

[Delphinus]

I think you have a good plan there. See if you can feed it: let me know if it's still eating. Try the mysis (you can get some at Wai's if you don't have any yet, look for the "Piscine Energetics" stuff). If it's still eating then that's a good sign.

[mnoll406]

Hey Guys,
The anenome is still hanging in there. It looks like its gotten a little bigger. Tried feeding it the other day, and it wasn't interested. It's also not as far under the rock as it was before. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Mike

[Delphinus]

Don't give up on it ... wait another day or so and try again. What are you feeding? Got any mysis yet?

[mnoll406]

Hey Tony,
Still feeding brine and blood worms. Haven't picked any mysis up yet. I'll probably pick some up this week. Any place you can get the mysis in the cubes.

Mike

[Bob I]

Hey Tony,
Still feeding brine and blood worms. Haven't picked any mysis up yet. I'll probably pick some up this week. Any place you can get the mysis in the cubes.

Mike

Sorry for playing Tony here (Well I have as little hair)That is how they sell it Mike, in cubes. :rolleyes: Just as an aside, I used to feed my anemones with Krill. It is also sold in frozen cubes. I just cut some of, and put it in the tentacles. They always grabbed it, and ate it. :cool:

[Delphinus]

I know both Big Al's and Wai's carry it. Don't know about the other places (Golds, Oceans, Pisces, Animal House, ... ?).

Krill should be good for for BTA's too though. But the mysis is good stuff, protein content of something like 60%.