Anemone Problem

29 gal DT
15 gal refu/sump
aqua c 120 w/mag 7
24" 4 bulb t5:2 10k on from 1-9pm. 2 act on from 12-10pm
temp avg 77-80

water chem:
sal 1.024
NO2 0
NO3 0
NH3 0
PO4 .03
KH 10.6
pH 8.2
Mg 1410
Ca 480

 

The lighting issue is a chronic problem, either the lighting is not sufficent to maintain the zooxanthella, or the tank is too deep and not enough is reaching the lower tank levels.

These are shots of healthy BTAs.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/images-rbta-spliting-cloning-97997.html

 

Someone gave me a website address to look up that has information about nems INTRODUCTION - Now karensroseanemones.net there is some good information on there. According to this website it is normal for a nem to shrink to expel water and refill with fresh water. The also shrink when they are expelling waste.

I have also adjusted my tempature on my tank to a degree lower and I am trying to keep it consistant. The nem is looking better and only shrank for about an hour yesterday. He has been sitting under a "ledge" so I removed the rock above so he can get more light.

 

Jeeze I dont know- his tips are bubbling up which is a good sign, IME, short tenticles indicate over feeding and not enough lighting (PAR). Does it's tenticles ever get longer?

 

Agree your torch/frog spawn is KILLING it. Also the whole if its mouth is gaping is crap because I kept my LTA for well over 2 years and its mouth gaped from time to time sometimes completely shriveled up blah blah all that stuff that means they are "Dying" I don't know who came up with that but here is what your anemone is doing.

It is not your lighting because the anemone would move TRUST ME
It could be removing waste
could be splitting
could be removing bubbles from its system which is very common
could be flushing water from itself and filling up with new water

Honestly it could be doing a lot of things but why does everyone always go for "its dying"

 

Maybe because of I have kept anemones for almost 20 years.

The coloration is bad, the tentacles are stubby a sign of starvation.

A BTA will not move up because it foots in the rockwork, they do not typically crawl up glass as do LTA and Magnifica. They will stay in the rock work and starve.

There are no images on Karens site that shows an anemone in close resemblance to the op anemone.

BTA are hardy and can hang in there for months and months but that anemone is not thriving or even healthy based on my personal experience.

 

Fiyero, Because, 99% of the time when you see this behaviour- the anemone does in fact die. These critters are not designed for their insides to be outside- this is a well known fact. Besides this, when anemone's are doing well they do not have this type of behaviour- how do I know? Because mine are healthy and do not do these things that the O/P is describing. I would have to say, on the contrary, not all anemones will move, esp. if they are one: being hosted, and two: if they are not doing real well- they simply may not have the energy- all be it this isn't always true. Just my opinion based upon my experience.

Let me ask you this Fiyero, would you say the same thing if it was a leather coral?

Corailline, I have seen when you over feed Bubble tips, they can act this way too.

 

From the original post I get the impression that it is only like this for a few hours, but everyday.

Is it fine the rest of the day? I may have missed that update, but can't tell.

Assuming it is fine the rest of the day, are the 'few hours' every day during the same time period? Figuring yes.

What I'm thinking - pH swing overnight freaking it out. The torch isn't helping - those can be vicious. These don't move alot, but they do move - it not moving makes me think it's the water itself it doesn't like - for only a few hours a day...

I also notice that my tank is at its coolest right before lights come on. Are you checking the temp at the last minute? I say my temp is 77-80 avg too. But here recently (I'm in TX too) I noticed my temp was actually getting to 75 right before lights came on thanks to the weather.

(I only discovered it bc of urchin problems). I moved my heater to more flow and that solved that.

Just some thoughts that didn't seem touched on too much...

Good luck.

 

I went and looked more closely at the pictures (blew them up larger), you see how there are little to no equal size tenticles from the center outward? do you notice how the edges of the anemone are thickend and curling- this is a direct indication of to little lighting and the near closing responce seems due to either over feeding or poor water quality. the coloration isnt to bad- some bubble tips are brownish- they can greatly vary in coloration- just as long as they are not shades of cream or white.

 

alpha_03- I don't want to start WWIII here but this is a opinionated website. Also experience varies with every animal so any one of us could be right. With that being said I have my Bachelors in marine science and can honestly state that anemones are under researched and very mysterious. What little we have to go by is plain observation under "Artificial" settings and very little in the wild.

Anemone have two states dead or alive there is no in between if your anemone looks like his and is falling apart it is dead. If it looks like his and is intact then it is not in between. cnidarians have a very slow metabolism; however, in my opinion the anemone is fine.

Now the only thing you can do is let it be. If its environment is becoming detrimental to its health then of course do everything you can to provide as close to his environment as possible; however, no matter how many components are provided in a reef set up we will never be able to replicate the ocean only partially simulate it.

I'm a man of facts and statistics and would like to see raw data of these anemones dying 99% of the time simply because they release water out of their columns. Now I would say if the anemone has melted or is flaking away and turning to mush then 99% of the time it is dead; however, we also don't have statistics on 99% of captive anemones.