Anemone Gaping

[Zakary2003]

Please see my last thread for more details https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/anemone-damaged.1162254/unread

My black widow anemone has been declining. It started with one spot of damage. I was told it was no big deal and that it would work itself out but I'm really worried now. @KrisReef would you be willing to take another look and see if you still stand by your original evaluation?

Now the anemone is gaping and looks awful. I moved it to an acclimation box for now because it went for a walk and was somewhere easy to grab.

What could be wrong? What could I do to help it? Please! The widow anemone is my favorite thing in the tank.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Messentrial filaments are exposed , something is causing it to be unhappy. What are your parameters , age of tank, lighting ? Do you feed it ?

 

[Zakary2003]

Messentrial filaments are exposed , something is causing it to be unhappy. What are your parameters , age of tank, lighting ? Do you feed it ?

Tank is almost 4 years old. This anemone has been in the tank for 3 of those years and has been doing just fine. I also have 3 other BTAs (chicago, nexus burst, and rainbow) and 2 RFAs that are perfectly happy.

Alk ~9dkh
Calc 450ppm
Mag 1350ppm
Ph 7.6-8.3
Salinity 1.026 SG
Phosphates 0.04ppm
Nitrates 0.00-1.00ppm
Temperature is 76-78.5
Trident ACM for those tests, hanna checkers for nutrients, refractometer for SG, neptune apex for pH, all properly calibrated when applicable.
RODI water is 0tds.

I do not directly feed it, but the clownfish will grab mysis and pellets and drag them into the anemones, and this widow is their favorite.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Aw was about to ask about other nems. Couple things - how often do you switch carbon? Mixing nems is a gamble and it works or doesn’t it seems. I think changing out carbon monthly could help but it could still be damaging it

Secondly, nitrate is a little low. Anemones can and want to use nitrate in the water as a food source , with it being so low and not directly feeding the nem could be starving

I’ve lost a sun burst and have a black widow that shrunk but is recovering now, I am pretty sure in my case due to chemical warfare of different nems

 

[dvgyfresh]

IMH opinion it looks like chemical warfare , the problem is I have no idea how to stop or mitigate it other than by changing carbon , it’s the cost of mixing these designer nems

 

[Zakary2003]

Aw was about to ask about other nems. Couple things - how often do you switch carbon? Mixing nems is a gamble and it works or doesn’t it seems. I think changing out carbon monthly could help but it could still be damaging it

Secondly, nitrate is a little low. Anemones can and want to use nitrate in the water as a food source , with it being so low and not directly feeding the nem could be starving

I’ve lost a sun burst and have a black widow that shrunk but is recovering now, I am pretty sure in my case due to chemical warfare of different nems

I change out carbon every 2 weeks, and I just put new carbon in a few days ago when I noticed the damage.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I change out carbon every 2 weeks, and I just put new carbon in a few days ago when I noticed the damage.

I see no other issues , it could be something else like a rusty magnet but I would expect yr other nems to react, something triggered the nems or something to chemical warefare, read up on it it’s interesting and nems have the ability to sting from the water column , not even touching

 

[Zakary2003]

I change out carbon every 2 weeks, and I just put new carbon in a few days ago when I noticed the damage.

I see no other issues , it could be something else like a rusty magnet but I would expect yr other nems to react, something triggered the nems or something to chemical warefare, read up on it it’s interesting and nems have the ability to sting from the water column , not even touching

I've read up on it previously. I definitely believe that mixing nems can result in death eveb from a distance, but I honestly don't see enough evidence that it's from nematocysts or other stinging cells. For one thing, that would affect everything in the tank, not just other nems.

Personally, my theory is a bacterial microbiome issue, where some anemones have different microbiomes and the different microbiomes aren't always compatible.

 

[KrisReef]

I've read up on it previously. I definitely believe that mixing nems can result in death eveb from a distance, but I honestly don't see enough evidence that it's from nematocysts or other stinging cells. For one thing, that would affect everything in the tank, not just other nems.

Personally, my theory is a bacterial microbiome issue, where some anemones have different microbiomes and the different microbiomes aren't always compatible.

I am glad others have joined in. I suspect that something is up, hopefully it's just a nem being a nem and looking funny, as opposed to something fatal. So many possible issues. If the clowns are not in the box with it now, bullying by Nemo may be ruled a problem, or not depending on how the nem recovers, or not in the box? GL