Concerned about my anemone :(

[crobs808]

Hi all....I have an anemone that I know nothing about other than what they told me at the LFS (summary: feed it mysis shrimp once a week, but other than that it just need light) however, it doesn't seem healthy. See photo.

Water levels aren't bad. Ammonia and Nitrites at 0. Nitrates are at 15ppm but my algae reactor is slowly chewing away at that. Tank has been running 4months, 55gal, 50lbs live rock, AgraAlive black sand, white LED hood (not a reef light since this used to be a freshwater tank originally), with 5 hermit crabs, 4 turbo snails, 4 Nassarius snails, a cleaner shrimp, a blue tuxedo urchin and two clowns that all seem to be fine and happy otherwise.

What else do I need to do to make this guy happy? They said his mouth is supposed to be tight/closed and it's always bloated like this Thank you!

 

[MichaelReefer]

What kind of light are you using? Too strong? Not enough? Dont try and feed it right now. May be bleaching.

 

[crobs808]

What kind of light are you using? Too strong? Not enough? Dont try and feed it right now. May be bleaching.

Just a white LED hood that came with the aquarium. The LFS said he'd be 'okay' with that, would just grow faster with a 50/50 blue and white light at minimum, if not a true reef light. Is this really caused by bad lighting or is he sick/infected?

 

[nezw0001]

sounds like the light is not adequate for an anemone. Since they get their most of their energy from the light it needs to be a good light. I disagree with the LFS that an anemone will be OK under a standard freshwater light

 

[MichaelReefer]

Just a white LED hood that came with the aquarium. The LFS said he'd be 'okay' with that, would just grow faster with a 50/50 blue and white light at minimum, if not a true reef light. Is this really caused by bad lighting or is he sick/infected?

Meh, not enough light. How long have you had it? Those hood lights are very weak, normally they're just an LED strip. I know I have two AI Prime HD's and all 9 of my Anemones hang out on the top of my rock work. They love the light.

 

[luke fortunato]

What are your parameters

 

[reef lover]

Needs reef lighting. And dont take info from that lfs anymore....

 

[Mical]

I'd avoid you LFS from now on. As mentioned it needs more light. It's basically starving for light. Nems turn white for two reasons "Bleaching" (which gets way over-used in this hobby) from too much light OR losing it's color and turning white from not enough light. Yours is not enough light.

 

[SudzFD]

Just a white LED hood that came with the aquarium. The LFS said he'd be 'okay' with that, would just grow faster with a 50/50 blue and white light at minimum, if not a true reef light. Is this really caused by bad lighting or is he sick/infected?

The nem looks sick for sure. Not sure how he looked when you got him but they should look something like mine in the pic below. They should be more brown with accent colors depending on species. I often see sick and bleached anemones in the LFS’. They never survive and are doomed. The less scrupulous owners will sell it to you anyway. Maybe this happened to you. His advice is certainly bad. You need a good reef light to keep anemones. They love it. The feeding once a week is good too but they need both, and mine prefers shrimp.

Did this nem look this color when you bought it?

How did you acclimate?

 

[crobs808]

He was light pink/brown (about this same color when I bought him). Today he's climbing trying to get higher...I guess that's a good sign since I can't afford a new light until mid-March.

To answer the other question...

The LED hoods are pretty bright. Here's a full tank pic with the room lights on even...

To answer the parameters question, the only 5 I currently measure are...
1) Salt: always at 1.024SG
2) Temp: always between 78-80F
3) Ammonia: always at 0.25ppm or less
4) Nitrites: always at 0ppm
5) Nitrates: always at 0.5ppm or less.

 

[RobW]

Hi all....I have an anemone that I know nothing about other than what they told me at the LFS (summary: feed it mysis shrimp once a week, but other than that it just need light) however, it doesn't seem healthy. See photo.

Water levels aren't bad. Ammonia and Nitrites at 0. Nitrates are at 15ppm but my algae reactor is slowly chewing away at that. Tank has been running 4months, 55gal, 50lbs live rock, AgraAlive black sand, white LED hood (not a reef light since this used to be a freshwater tank originally), with 5 hermit crabs, 4 turbo snails, 4 Nassarius snails, a cleaner shrimp, a blue tuxedo urchin and two clowns that all seem to be fine and happy otherwise.

What else do I need to do to make this guy happy? They said his mouth is supposed to be tight/closed and it's always bloated like this Thank you!

The lighting, I would say is your problem right off the bat. Black sand and only 4 months old would be issue two. I would get some better lighting over that thing. Try looking into kessil, ai primes, etc. You need something with the right color spectrum. White light will surely give you algae problems as well. As for the black sand.... I've only heard people having g issues in their tank with it. Don't know how or why but might be worth researching.

 

[SaltISlife]

That isnt black sand. It looks like floramax for planted tanks. That stuff has something magnetic in it ( i use it and love it but it is magnetic). Not sure what but i think its some sort of iron for the plants. This might affect the corals and anemone. But it looks really healthy to me

White LEDS are either 10k or 6500k both of which will be fine for corals and an anemone.. remember the sun is 6500k. I think your lighting is fine to be honest anemones dont need a crap ton of lighting

 

[OrionN]

I am not sure what is the species of this anemone. Can you gat a clearer picture of the column of him? He most likely need higher light level. You may luck out if he is an BTA.

 

[RobW]

He said white lights from what used to be a freshwater tank. Pretty sure it's not going to be the correct lighting for a reef tank.

 

[SaltISlife]

That isnt a bubble tip its a long tentacle anemone

 

[SaltISlife]

He said white lights from what used to be a freshwater tank. Pretty sure it's not going to be the correct lighting for a reef tank.

Again white lights are 10k or 6500k for planted tank leds trust me i have a full spectrum white light fixture with a couple red blue and greens and a regular white light LED youd use for cichlid tanks.. those whites are 10k. It grew corals fine in my 60g hexagon. They just looked brown due to it being white light. Jist about every coral will be brown looking under normal sunlight

 

[RobW]

My little long tentacle nem with 2 kessil a80's

 

[Kodski]

That isnt black sand. It looks like floramax for planted tanks. That stuff has something magnetic in it ( i use it and love it but it is magnetic). Not sure what but i think its some sort of iron for the plants. This might affect the corals and anemone. But it looks really healthy to me

White LEDS are either 10k or 6500k both of which will be fine for corals and an anemone.. remember the sun is 6500k. I think your lighting is fine to be honest anemones dont need a crap ton of lighting

Its not the light color temperature that they are saying is incorrect. Its the intensity. OP needs a more powerful light for the nem. A blue reef style light is more efficient in terms of "feeding" corals due to targeting the correct wavelengths of light needed by the chlorophyll to produce energy. In terms of it being white light, it contains way more greens and reds, which isn't as efficient, there for due to the lower concentrations of use-able light it would take a much more powerful white light to produce the same amount of use-able energy for the corals and in this case the nem, as a specific reef style light.

 

[RobW]

Thumbs up!

 

[Rilo]

Don't take info from that LFS.

Read this Beginners Guide to Anemone Keeping to get better info.

Anemone's are complex creatures like coral. A major difference being that there fatality can have a major affect (death) on all life in your tank. Which is why many recommend them once a tank is established.

As for your anemone, it looks good right now in the update. I'd avoid feedings until he stops moving. I didn't feed my anemone for 2 weeks when I got him.

How long have you had the tank? Is it cycled?