Anemone straight up not having a good time

[Scolyosis]

Two weeks ago I picked up an anemone from my LFS, I was told it is a long tentacle anemone but it looked very bubblish to me. It was in a PVC pipe and was very large looking. Anyway the anemone is blue with an orange foot and will do anything to be out of sight and in the dark, when in the dark the anemone is bend over in half, looking very sluggish and basically dead. I have pulled him out of the dark a couple times and it doesn't take very long for him to walk right back into the abyss. This has been a fight since I brought it home and at this point it just looks miserable.

My tank is a 32 gallon biocube
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2
Power-heads are off and out of the tank.
I even upgraded my light to the Steve's LEDs because I could tell right away the light wasn't enough, now I have this awesome light and anemone that could give 2 ####'s

Here are some pics, any ideas? I hate moving it, I know they go where they want but I feel like I'm watching a suicide

 

[reef lover]

#WelcometoR2R !!
If the nem is going in the dark its probably used to sub par light levels from the lfs. I would lower the intensities of the light and slowly reramp them up over the course of a coupke of weeks.

 

[bluprntguy]

what's your alk and why do people always forget to post the most critical parameter?

 

[Scolyosis]

Ran to the store quick and picked up these strips.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

It may be shock to the new elevated PAR. They seem more creatures of consistency than "text book".

 

[Scolyosis]

Ok I am lowering my light intensity, hopefully all works out, thank you for the quick responses

 

[Scolyosis]

Looking awful, ill try and keep this updated good or bad

 

[reef lover]

Not looking great...might have to cipro him to save him.

 

[Scolyosis]

Cipro?

 

[AndyR83]

I’ve had a similar experience with an anemone reacting poorly to my lights at first. As stated, they seem to run and hide from overpowering lights if they’re used to low levels. I had good luck with decreasing intensity and building up slowly.

I may be completely incorrect about this last bit, but I believe habituation to chronically poor lighting conditions is an indication that they may be at heightened risk for bleaching. This may be a consideration in your overall management, but I’ll leave it up to someone more knowledgeable to validate/refute this statement.

 

[Roosterjack]

I might be off base but my understanding was that anemones were fairly intolerant of nitrates.

 

[Scolyosis]

A step in the right direction

 

[reef lover]

Thats looking better! This is how to cipro if it comes down to it...

How I Cipro

Many of you have probably already seen this before as it's part of a sticky on another forum, but I'm moving the information over to this site as this is where I spend most of my time and want to link this in my Sig. Amoo's Sick Nem Treatment Protocol: Let me start by saying most of my research...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Scolyosis]

Aaaand 20 steps backwards.. At what point do I call it and remove this guy before everything else gets killed

 

[reef lover]

When he turns to jelly....not yet.

 

[Scolyosis]

Sprayed it off with a turkey baster and got rid of some mucus, seems to be elongated and pointing straight down like last night

 

[Scolyosis]

Playing with my feelings

 

[reef lover]

Ya nems like to do that!lol

 

[Scolyosis]

I think it's looking better, it has moved to a lower part of the tank, I have my light intensity turned way way down. (0350/4095). The anenome opens up to a decent size (about half of what it was in the store) but only during the sunset, sunrise and nighttime modes, during the day it curls completely up into a ball or looks like it's melting.

 

[ppatches24]

Following as my nem did the same thing. I tried everything I could think of. Did yours start with tentacles and lose them over time

I nem would shrink up into a ball of whither away looking nothing. I eventually got the LFS to take him back and see if he can heal or do better in a different tank. TYour tank does look new, which could have something to do with it. I'm not saying its impossible to have a nem in a newer tank, but from experience already is that them tank might be to new?

Definitely don't have an answer and am following because I want to maybe find out what was happening.

Light? To much?
Flow to much to little?
Nitrates high low or just right?
phosphates same deal low or high or just right?

They do expand and shrink to replace their body with fresh water and new minerals but yeah thats all I know.