Anemone issues - New Reefer

Reefer M4dness

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Hello All,

My wife and I took the plunge and purchased an established reef tank 2 days ago. We have absolutely 0 experience with a salt water tank, other than the extensive internet research we did prior to jumping in. The tank we purchased is a 60g with 20g sump and has T5 lighting. We transferred as much of the original water as we could fit in the truck (Approx. 35 gallons) and used the RO/DI filter to filter water for the rest. The fish/corrals/anemone were out of the tank for approx. 5-6 hours before reassembled the tank and put them back in.

It seems that everything has come around and all four fish that were included in the deal seem to be acting fine and the corals have all opened up. The one concern we have is the Anemone that was also included. I wish I could say what kind it is specifically but I am not sure.

When we first placed everything in the tank she looked very rough, slumped over, shriveled up, and completely without form. The 2nd day (yesterday) it seemed to recover, standing up straight and extending its tentacles. This morning my wife sent me a text saying that the Anemone had sucked all its tentacles up inside its foot.

insidefoot.jpg


It has since come back out but now is once again slumped over the side of the rock again.

3rd day.jpg


We tested our water yesterday and had 0s for Nitrate, Nitrite, ammonia, and had a pH of 8 and the temp is is at 78. Our salinity is at 1.019, which after some research would seem is too low. Is there any advice that an experience reefer could offer up to try and get this anemone healthy and happy? Also how does one go about bringing the salinity up to par without adding too much at one time?
 

KorD

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Yes 1.019 is too low for a nem.. they like between 1.024-1.027.

I would take a few gallons out and add a few new gallons of saltwater to the tank to being up the salinity personally. I hope someone else chimes in on another way to do so.

you will notice a die off of the rock since it was moved and tossed around in the move of the tank.
Do you have a small tank that you can put the nem in until your tank cycles a few more days?

What part of WI are you in??
 
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leptang

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You could also let the water evaporate and not top off any fresh water for a couple days the salinity will go up
 

geckoejon

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Looks like you might have a purple long tentacle anemone. Did you drip acclimate it before you added it to your setup? This helps the transition for the nems.

Your test might show that the levels are good, but you seem to have a lot of algae. I would be sure to keep an eye in your levels, feed lightly, and maybe get some gfo in a reactor.

I would adjust the salinity slowly. I think leptang has the right idea with topping off with saltwater until your levels are a little higher.
 
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Reefer M4dness

Reefer M4dness

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Looks like you might have a purple long tentacle anemone. Did you drip acclimate it before you added it to your setup? This helps the transition for the nems.

Your test might show that the levels are good, but you seem to have a lot of algae. I would be sure to keep an eye in your levels, feed lightly, and maybe get some gfo in a reactor.

We did not acclimate anything as the tank was purchased as a fully functional tank, we did not add any new livestock. All the live rock and about 40% of the water was transported and reused. We did toss out all the sand and replaced the sand bed with about 60 lbs of live sand that we bought from the LFS. The green hair algae was also inherited with the tank, we are going to be monitoring the water levels carefully as well as doing very sparse feedings to try to starve out the algae.

Thanks for the tips, I will be slowly raising the salinity over the next couple days to try and reach the suggested levels. Today the Anemone looks much better than it did yesterday, but honestly this animal is a complete enigma to us.
 

fishroomlady

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topping off with saltwater really is the easy way to bring up salinity slowly. Nems are very interesting creatures - it is common for them to inflate and deflate but as long as the color is good, it's footed well, is sticky to the touch, and mouth is tight - it should be ok. Nems also like to move to find an optimal spot. Yours seem to be staying put which is a good thing. You may give the nem a small bite of food (a small shrimp or a bit of mysis) about once a week or so may be helpful to keeping it healthy.
 

Reefahholic

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Looks like your anemone may be a condy. It's hard to tell. Will need better pictures to ID after he's doing better.

Like fishroomlady said, topping off with Saltwater will probably be the easiest way to raise your salinity.

Or you can add salt to 5/G bucket with RODI water and mix it strong with a powerhead and then add to tank for a quicker approach.

Deflation is not normal for a anemone. In the acclimation period it can be, but after the NEM is acclimated and settled in, he should not deflate much unless the lighting is too strong or the lights are off. If they're deflating constantly, something is wrong. It could be the water parameters, infection, temp, salinity, lighting, Alleopathy, etc..

Get the salinity up to 1.024-1.026. Run some carbon and GFO via reactors. The carbon will help the water clarity and quality. The GFO will help combat your algae issues. Skim wet, and do water changes until things stablize more.

Hope this helps. Good luck with him.
 

natalie.ohare27

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Our tank is too close to the window and brings in too much light so two of our 3 enemies move and deflatw. While we are playing with lighting options and shades for the window I've been giving my guys a little chunk of silver side every couple days and they literally grab it and put it in their mouth within seconds. After they eat they come back out and look beautiful
 

Reefahholic

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Be carful feeding silversides. They can kill ur Nems. It's been noted several times that vet reefers have lost some good Nems due to contamination issues with silversides.

Feed a seafood mix from your local grocery store. It's cheaper and better for the Nems. Runs a whopping $2.98 a bag on average. :)

 

fishroomlady

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I have had a RBTA for quite a while and it is very normal for it to deflate some in the evenings when lights are out. If a nem is constantly inflating and deflating throughout the day (when lights are on) I would say that is a cause for concern.

Imo, I think people tend to feed their anemones too often and too much. they get food from fish being fed, clowns feeding them, and light. Supplemental feedings should be limited because it can upset the digestion of the nem negatively.
 
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Reefahholic

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I have had a RBTA for quite a while and it is very normal for it to deflate some in the evenings when lights are out. If a nem is constantly inflating and deflating throughout the day (when lights are on) I would say that is a cause for concern.

Imo, I think people tend to feed their anemones too often and too much. they get food from fish being fed, clowns feeding them, and light. Supplemental feedings should be limited because it can upset the digestion of the nem negatively.

Most of the time if a NEM is deflated it's due to a few different reasons.

1. Too much light. (I can make Magnifica and Gigantea run with 165 watts of LED). Those specific Nems are light lovers and require moderate to high lighting.

2. When lights are out. (It's normal for most anemones to deflate or ball up in the evenings or when lights are out).
Just not to the extent that the OP's nem is above. That's clearly a health issue.

3. Starvation. (Anemones can deflate if they're hungry or starving). They can go a long time without eating, but if you notice your anemone staying deflated for more than 12-24 hours, it's likely a health issue. In some cases, I've seen shrimp, crabs, and even hosting clowns steal it's food away. In these cases, the anemone needs to be removed and fed to regain it's health, strength, color, etc. Nems need to be fed very small pieces to help them digest the food.

4. Normal Waste Removal. (An anemone will deflate when it's removing waste at times. However, this shouldn't last over 12 hours. Again, if the NEM is staying deflated for more than 12-24 hour periods, it's likely a health issue.

5. Infection. (Anemones that are stressed and have succumb to an infection will deflate).
 

Camellia

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It's probably a little late but when ever you need to remedy a problem pram, do it slowly. Making quick, fast changes in anything in the water is very hard on the fish, coral... Everything good in this hobby takes time :)
 
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Reefer M4dness

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He has been I various states over the last 2 days, twice he has sucked himself completely into his foot and then after emerging he was very small and deflated but when I woke up this morning he was completely inflated and moving around. I will try to post the few pictures I have after I get done with work today. Thanks for all the input from everyone so far.
 

zwulfke

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Mine has done that been deflated then inflate suck in spill it's guts and now is in process of splitting. Mine survived a swing in salinity from 1.024 to 1.000 and still survived. Get your salinity Up and try to feed when he is a bit inflated I use reef frenzy I thaw it and use a baster to feed mine they can be hardy especially the Condy
 
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Reefer M4dness

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Sorry for the delay, but here are a few more pics. I was out of town all weekend so I was not able to monitor the Anemone for a few days but I do have a few pics from before we left and one from when we returned this morning.

This picture is from Wed afternoon.
10711299_10100503224178362_1533215071_n.jpg


Later on Wed. evening
10695253_10100503224223272_992419817_n.jpg


And finally after returning this morning (Sunday). I fed the tank and the Anemone was able to snag a few brine shrimp and did move them to its mouth.
10711754_10100503224258202_886860404_n.jpg
 

Reefahholic

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The new is looking fine now. Just keep your water clean until he acclimates.
 
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