Dying anemone

[Uzair Aiman]

Hi. First and foremost, I would like to apologise too the anemone demigods and gurus by putting my anemone in this state. I’ve had some personal issues which made me neglect my tank for some time. Lately I’ve been getting back on my heels and refurbishing my tank. Cleaning out the rocks, algae and so on. I’ve lost some corals and also a few fish due to this downfall in my life. But I still “have” my anemone. I’ve posted a recent thread in regards of my crash here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-need-some-guidance.901174/ . I’ve tested the waters a few days back and it was posted on that thread also.
Other corals are doing “fine” I guess. Slowly but surely (GSP YUMA and ZOAS). Right now my main issue is my favourite animal in the tank. My BTA. It was purplish red in colour with orange tips (when I got it and when it was heathy.) my clowns loved it and it hosted my pair of osces.

right now it’s not in the best (may be the worst) condition. I just wanted to know if it cann recover or jump back into health. I’ve had tried to feed it when I was not maintaining my tank with shrimp. It just seemed to let go of the food and sometimes my other fisheh ( at the time) stole from it.

today after changing around 10-20% of the water and flipping some rocks around, I noticed that the mouth was open. Not to an extent where the guts of the nem was everywhere but; noticeably opening. I realise that it had bleached completely (can it regain the zooxanthellae?).
right now, I’m thinking of a way to feed it. Since I only have my 2 clowns left as inhabitants of the tank, should I “force” feed the nem? I’ve been planning to cut some shrimp to small pieces (not chunks) and try turning off flow and squirt some into its mouth by turkey Baster.
If not, can it recover? And if it could, what’s the best solution to make sure that my little nem here will survive?
Below is a photo of it right now, turned on the lights for a brief moment to take this picture. Oh and btw, it kinda lost all its tentacles already. Just a white disc kind of. Small little blobs (less than 5 millilitres maybe) in size. The foot is still strong IMO

 

[Danroo]

It seems it’s not gonna make it. The foot is changing color and turning white. Did you see any changes in your tank after the water changes added any chemicals to reduce the algae?

 

[Uzair Aiman]

It seems it’s not gonna make it. The foot is changing color and turning white. Did you see any changes in your tank after the water changes added any chemicals to reduce the algae?

Dang, harsh truth huh. 0 hope whatsoever?

I can’t really tell any long term changes since I just redid my maintenance last week, so everything just seems clean for now. I’ve some GFO only since I’ve had phosphates problem since day 1. But right now my phosphates are normal range so I haven’t really added any new chemicals or filtration to the system since I don’t really want to shock my tank that much. I’ve just been planning to maintain back my water change schedule and keep things stable from there first.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm sorry for your personal issues and can appreciate that there are times when our aquariums just have to take a back seat to more pressing things. I can see you're doing your best to help your tank recover and wish you the best of luck.
I don't have a lot of advice for your nem; do remember that they can usually photosynthesize the majority of their nutritional needs. With yours having lost it's tentacles, it may not be able to "eat" efficiently with lighting alone, so attempting to feed it sounds wise. But also remember that too much can be a bad thing.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I'm sorry for your personal issues and can appreciate that there are times when our aquariums just have to take a back seat to more pressing things. I can see you're doing your best to help your tank recover and wish you the best of luck.
I don't have a lot of advice for your nem; do remember that they can usually photosynthesize the majority of their nutritional needs. With yours having lost it's tentacles, it may not be able to "eat" efficiently with lighting alone, so attempting to feed it sounds wise. But also remember that too much can be a bad thing.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks a lot. Really need those luck in hand.

the major thing that I worry about is it losing colour - bleaching. So technically it can’t(?) photosynthesise anymore because there’s no more zooxanthellae present. That is why I’m trying my hardest to find a solution via feeding

 

[Danroo]

You can still try to feed it and hope it doesn’t spit the food out. Have some mysis shrimp for it and wait till it recovers.

 

[Ricox]

Good luck! Hope you can get your tank back up and running!

 

[Uzair Aiman]

You can still try to feed it and hope it doesn’t spit the food out. Have some mysis shrimp for it and wait till it recovers.

Does it really have to be exclusively mysis? Or any other shrimp that is small in sized ( or cut down) is also okay?

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Good luck! Hope you can get your tank back up and running!

Thanks a lot Ricox! I’ve seen you in my last post and you’ve helped a lot. I’ll make sure I’ll keep updating on my journey.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Does it really have to be exclusively mysis? Or any other shrimp that is small in sized ( or cut down) is also okay?

I think the smaller the food, the easier it will be for the nem to consume it...

 

[Danroo]

Does it really have to be exclusively mysis? Or any other shrimp that is small in sized ( or cut down) is also okay?

I’ve succes with mysis, you can use any other shrimp as well. Mysis shrimp at least the PE ones are favorite for my tank. Has most nutrients in omega acids and good amount of amino acids.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I think the smaller the food, the easier it will be for the nem to consume it...

You could even offer it good quality small pellet or flake food at this point. (For example, ones that contain mysis and aminos)

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I think the smaller the food, the easier it will be for the nem to consume it...

Alright. I’ll try to start with something as small as possible. Are maybe planktons a good start? Cause I do have microbacters zooplanktos to start off with haha.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

You could even offer it good quality small pellet or flake food at this point.

Oh wow, didn’t know they would accept flakes or pellets. Well in that state even I might take pellets for lunch. But I’ll try my best to see which is consumes

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I’ve succes with mysis, you can use any other shrimp as well. Mysis shrimp at least the PE ones are favorite for my tank. Has most nutrients in omega acids and good amount of amino acids.

Alrightey. I’ll try to prioritise mysis over any other shrimps for now but if not I’ll just have to make do.

 

[Danroo]

Plus it doesn’t raise phosphates I’ve had steady 0.05 phosphates on both of my tanks. Good luck hopefully everything recovers.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Plus it doesn’t raise phosphates I’ve had steady 0.05 phosphates on both of my tanks. Good luck hopefully everything recovers.

Thanks alot Danroo. I’ll be sure to keep things posted as time goes by. Just wished I had taken a before photo to smack that photos buttocks when I recover my tank beautifully. Was too ashamed to take the tanks photo when it was in the trenches

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think this is past the point of stress. Anemone lighting is a very important aspect of their care. These creatures need a lot of light to thrive because they’re photosynthetic which means that they absorb light to produce food and growth. The anemone has zooxanthellae in its body, which are symbiotic microorganisms that they feed on. Without proper lighting, the anemone will expel the zooxanthellae and turn white. This process is called bleaching and often leads to death.
A moderate amount of flow is recommended. Many aquarists soon find out that too much flow will cause the anemone to stretch out and look stringy. Keeping things moderate will help avoid this from happening. Avoid directing your flow directly at the anemone. These creatures enjoy subtle movement at all times but too much direct flow hitting the anemone will force it to move.
General Parameters for nems are :

• Water temperature: 77°F - 80°F (stay close to the middle of this range)
• pH level: 8.1 to 8.3
• Water hardness: 8 to 11 dKH
• Specific gravity: 1.024 to 1.025
• Nitrate < .6
• Phosphate < .04

Can a Cipro treatment cure this? I dont mess with Cipro but see if this person can add with his use experience: @Eagle_Steve

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I think this is past the point of stress. Anemone lighting is a very important aspect of their care. These creatures need a lot of light to thrive because they’re photosynthetic which means that they absorb light to produce food and growth. The anemone has zooxanthellae in its body, which are symbiotic microorganisms that they feed on. Without proper lighting, the anemone will expel the zooxanthellae and turn white. This process is called bleaching and often leads to death.
A moderate amount of flow is recommended. Many aquarists soon find out that too much flow will cause the anemone to stretch out and look stringy. Keeping things moderate will help avoid this from happening. Avoid directing your flow directly at the anemone. These creatures enjoy subtle movement at all times but too much direct flow hitting the anemone will force it to move.
General Parameters for nems are :

• Water temperature: 77°F - 80°F (stay close to the middle of this range)
• pH level: 8.1 to 8.3
• Water hardness: 8 to 11 dKH
• Specific gravity: 1.024 to 1.025
• Nitrate < .6
• Phosphate < .04

Can a Cipro treatment cure this? I dont mess with Cipro but see if this person can add with his use experience: @Eagle_Steve

Ive had my parameters kind of in check. Whereas the lights are also acceptable ( I do not have a par meter but the anemone did live happily before my tank crash). can it regain zooxanthellae naturally eventhough it has bleached? also, isnt Cipro a jelly disease treatment?

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Update.
I've put the anemone in a clear kitchen funnel (since thats the only thing that I have now to seperate the nem). It started moving this morning so I quickly snatched it and put it on the sand bed under the funnel so I can feed it.

Ive put in some thawed out mackerel that I cut into small pieces (Thats the only fresh food i can give for now). Eventhough i cut them into small pieces I jsut felt like it doesnt have the strength to hold and engulf it. Therefore I also squirted some Brightwells Zooplanktos-S into the funnel. Right now I can see it moving to engulf the food (not sure if it wants the fish or the planktons) but I guess (?) its a good sign that its trying to eat. Or maybe its just moving around... It seems like its turning into itself (trying to feed its mouth with the food around its disc).