Dying Anemone?

[MelissaKathryn]

We have had our BTA for about a month now and it is still opening and closing. Now, it isn't quite closed but the tentacles are shriveling and the colored tip is disappearing and instead it almost looks like it is open and the flesh exposed. All levels are normal, if not great. However, our tank is about 5 months old and everything has been great, but I recently read on here that BTAs need about a year and half established tank. Then again, I have also read that sometimes BTAs are weird the first few months.. but with others they are just completely normal. I tried target feeding, but then the anemone spit up the food and I read that with our metal halides, it shouldn't need to be target fed. Our ocellaris clownfish love it.. maybe too much? I read that Maroon Clowns can literally love it to death.. can ocellaris do the same?

Thanks any help would be great! Also, if it is dying, is there anything we can do to save it? If we bring it back to the LFS where we purchased it and brought it back to the more established system, would that help? Or would it stress it too much?

 

[Connie]

I think there are several factors going on here. 1) Your tank is still too young for a nem. 2) It was already stressed from shipping and a clown immediately hosted it, causing more stress. What are you trying to feed it? Try Mysis shrimp to start off with. They are small and soft. Has the nem lost the stickiness on its tentacles? Is the mouth closed or gaping open? Is the foot torn? Try putting a plastic strainer (from the kitchen) over it so the clown can't get to it. Try to feed it if it spits it out, try again the next day. Can you post a picture?

 

[Trex]

What size tank?
What lights?
What are your actual water parameters -- numbers please, include SG/salinity
What all is in the tank, livestock wise.
Are you using RO/DI water? If so, what is the TDS?
What did you try to feed it?
How large is the anemone?
How large is the clown?

 

[MelissaKathryn]

Here it was after a week. Originally, it kept opening and closing, then it just stayed open for only like a week (around the time I was target feeding) and then started opening and shutting again, so I eased up, especially after it spit out the brine shrimp and San Francisco Marine Cusine

This is closer to what it looks now. The only difference is that the foot is more exposed and it is losing its colorful tips.

I am not currently there, otherwise I would get a better photo Maybe I can get one in a few hours? I'll call my boyfriend for the exact specs regarding our RO/DI unit and lights.. just a moment..

 

[MelissaKathryn]

What size tank?
55 gal tank and 15 gal refugium

What lights?
2 20 kelvin halides and 2 vho actinics 100 watt. Both are only a few months old.

What are your actual water parameters -- numbers please, include SG/salinity
Salinity- 1.025
pH- 8.2 (last time I personally checked, which was last week)
Calcium; >480 (over 480)
No detectable Nitrites
No detectable Nitrates
No detectable Ammonia
No detectable Phosphates

What all is in the tank, livestock wise.
AQUARIUM: 2 ocellaris clownfish, ~1.5-2 inches; 2 blue-green chromis, ~1.5 inches; 1 lawnmower blenny, ~2.5 inches.
2 Emerald Crabs; 1 Sally Light Foot Crab; 1 Halloween Hermit Crab; 10 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs in Aquarium; 5 Red Hermit Crabs; 7 Large Turbo Snails; 5 small turbo snails; 15 small nassarius/sand-sifting snails; 10-15 other hermit crabs and snails.
REFUGIUM: Chaeto; 2 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs; 2 Red Hermit Crabs; 3 Large Turbo Snails; 3 small sand-sifting snails; probably 2-3 other hermit crabs

Are you using RO/DI water? If so, what is the TDS?
Yes. Our TDS is zero.
About two months ago, we had a relatively small hair algae outbreak. Thinking we maybe had phosphates in our water that just wasn't being detected (after all, only a sample of the water gets tested), my boyfriend went ahead and decided to purchase new filters. When he called the company to order them, he ended up just buying a new RO/DI Unit (with new filters of course) because they gave him a "great deal" (I'm sure it really was, but you know how salesmen can be). Now we have an air water ice 4 stage unit. We used to have a 3 stage Aqua FX unit. We mix the RO/DI water with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. We end up topping it off about one every 2 or 3 days and do a 10-15% water change about every 2 weeks.

What did you try to feed it?
I tried to feed it the following frozen food thawed in its own aquarium water in a cup, then squirted with a syringe into its mouth: Hikari Baby Brine Shrimp, Hikari Brine Shrimp, San Francisco Bay Marine Cuisine. The only foods in the tank are the naturally occurring pods, the de-thawed frozen foods listed above fed every day or every other day, and about a 2x3" dried sheet of Nori Seaweed every 2 or 3 days for the turbo snails and crabs.

How large is the anemone?
As big as it can be, it is about 4 inches across. As small as it has been getting, it is probably only 1.5 inches at its smallest.

How large is the clown?
The Orange Ocellaris is a little closer to 2 inches, MAYBE two inches max but I doubt it and it is hard to tell. The Black Ocellaris is closer to 1.5 inches.

A few other things:
We have a small female Emerald Crab that was hiding in the rocks where the anemone was attached and I think was bugging the Anemone foot. I tried to get her out to put her in the refugium, but she kept going back into the rock. I haven't seen her or the other male emerald crab since (about a week to week and a half ago) and figured they were either molting, mating or both. Then again, I usually work from home but have been working from my mothers house recently as I have been housesitting for her this past week. I go back either tonight or tomorrow. Since my boyfriend is away from the house all day and exhausted at night, the emerald crabs could be coming out and tormenting the anemone, but I would think the anemone would move? I even put extra rubble at the base of the rock, in case it wanted to move down there. That same day I noticed the emerald crab bothering it, I noticed the anemone had moved over slightly. I then went to these forums and read previously existing threads (as to not bug people with my problems if there was already an answer listed) and thought that maybe it wasn't getting enough flow. I then moved it higher up in the tank (borderline between the top and middle third of the tank) and rotated it a hair towards the pump. The tentacles weren't waving like crazy, but just had a slight flow from the current. It also is more exposed and no longer in a corner between two rocks. My boyfriend is taking a picture when he gets home.



This all may be too much information, but I have found on this forum and in this hobby, that God is in the details and that too much information is better than too little information. If it is too much, I sincerely apologize. I tend to give too much information and I am still figuring out how to form appropriate questions and responses on this forum.

Any help anyone has would be very very much appreciated and thank you two so much for responding to my original post!

 

[MelissaKathryn]

I think there are several factors going on here. 1) Your tank is still too young for a nem. 2) It was already stressed from shipping and a clown immediately hosted it, causing more stress. What are you trying to feed it? Try Mysis shrimp to start off with. They are small and soft. Has the nem lost the stickiness on its tentacles? Is the mouth closed or gaping open? Is the foot torn? Try putting a plastic strainer (from the kitchen) over it so the clown can't get to it. Try to feed it if it spits it out, try again the next day. Can you post a picture?

Hey Connie, thanks so much for responding. I have seen some of the other posts you have made and I really appreciate how helpful you are! Unfortunately, I'm not there but my boyfriend will be soon and he can take pictures and tell me about the stickiness. One thing I did notice was that the clowns looked like they were.. well.. "suckling" on the tips of the anemone sometimes. The clowns didn't begin to host until a few days after we put it in the tank. Also, I think it was at the LFS for a few weeks before hand.

 

[MelissaKathryn]

My boyfriend just took a picture of it now:

He also took a video and I will upload that to YouTube and then post it here, or do my best to anyway. I will also try to find a photo of our entire tank and show, in photoshop, where the anemone is located.

 

[MelissaKathryn]

Bubble Tip Anemone ( BTA ) Dying? - YouTube

I'm not really sure where to go from here

 

[Connie]

You're welcome Melissa. Yeah, it isn't looking too good is it? Here is a website you can go to and get a lot of good information and advice: karensroseanemones.net - INTRODUCTION
If the mouth is gaping open and it is starting to turn into a blob of goo, you should get it out of the tank before it kills everything. When you take it out if it stinks, it is dying. From the looks of it right now though, it doesn't look that far gone yet.
Also, Trex is an anemone guru! He knows a lot more than I do.
Good luck and please keep us posted!

 

[MelissaKathryn]

Thank you so much Connie! that is a wonderful website! I love all the pictures!
What can I do to try and save it? Besides putting a strainer on top of it, should I put it in a bowl to protect the foot?

 

[Connie]

They love clay pots. If you have room, and you can get him off the rock without damaging his foot, I suppose you could do that. Have the pot tilted to the side in the sand. But I would be worried about the move being too much for the little fella. I bought and lost three nems before I got one to live. I believe it was all because of the age of my tank. It was like at the 3 year mark...poof, I could keep them with no problem. The only thing I did different was I got the nems before the clowns and they had time to get settled and happy before being hosted.

 

[MelissaKathryn]

Thanks again, Connie! That is really good to know. We had lots of coralline and reallyyyy took our time with everything before and our tank is full of natural pods, etc. and our corals were doing SO well. We thought that we were past the mark for an anemone, too! Our LFS has been really honest with us in the past and I think he, too, must have been impressed with everything so far, that he figured we were ready for one. I had also JUST joined this site and was reading about corals mostly when my boyfriend surprised me with a BTA when he saw one at our LFS. It was being weird at first, then did well, then I think the ocellarises just loved it to death

UPDATE: It was hard to get a plastic strainer situated well on the rock without the clowns getting under and in it, so we caught the two clowns and put them in the sump. They are happily attempting to host a powerhead. The anemone.. I can't quite tell. I can't find a picture of what it looks like in the website you sent me or online anywhere else. The tentacles look like they have been absorbed and the anemone is more flat. I still want to give it a shot but don't want to crash the tank, either hwell: We will see what happens. We attempted to feed it a silverside and it kinda finally grabbed onto it, held it, then the sally lightfoot came and took the silverside away I think target fed some rods and I am not sure it ate it or not. Will def keep you posted.

 

[Connie]

Well, if he doesn't make it, it isn't from lack of trying...lol. I wish you luck and please do keep me posted!

 

[MelissaKathryn]

Thanks so much Connie
Unfortunately, despite eating, the mouth was gaping open and wasn't looking better today. My boyfriend had wanted to remove it the past few days so today we finally removed it. The gaping mouth and inability to hang onto the silverside just kinda made it more real to me. We will wait a few years before our next anemone. We brought our clownfish back into the main tank and they were swimming around where the anemone used to be.. still trying to host :'( so sad! Thank you so much for all of your information you provided! It was all very helpful and we look forward to when we will be able to keep one in a few years! RIP BTA

 

[Connie]

I'm sorry you lost him. I'm glad you got him out before damage to the rest of your stuff though. Until the times comes that you are ready for another one, you can get a good sized frogspawn. They will frequently go to that for hosting. My two clowns stay in my frogspawn and ignore the nems...lol...GL

 

[MelissaKathryn]

hahaha thanks! We already have a frogspawn and they just this evening took to hosting it! There are two main branches of it, so it works out really well when my female dives deep... she just goes between them instead of body slamming the coral against the skeleton lol I'm happy they are happy thanks again for all your help, Connie!