Help me not kill this anemone?

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Hello, im a new reefer (surprise) but I got this rainbow bubble tip anemone im trying to keep with 2 clownfish.

Things went well the first week, it picked a spot. Was still nice and bubbly. Fast forward to last night, it just looked the most deflated ive ever seen it. I panicked, and removed it from the tank, so the clownfish cant harass it anymore. I now have it separated, but i dont know how to proceed. It was opening and closing its oral disk and it was get puffy looking in the process. Trying to eject its zooxanthellae maybe? Any heres some pics at the beginning,

Before i left for work this morning( it ate a TDO pellet) food stuck well,

I normally take a daily picture and test almost once a day for ammonia and nitrates. With strips and API master kit.

 

[Jekyl]

Feeding isnt necessary. Mature system of at least 6 months and good lighting are more important

 

[Uncle99]

They don’t fair well in early systems, too much change going on.

Alk at 400ppm would be a very bad number.

Something wrong there IMM.

It should be 140-200ppm.

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Anything yall recommend i should do? I was going to keep it separated from the clowns until it starts to look a little better(if it lives). But other than that, im honestly not sure. I finally got the nitrate nailed down.
Im mainly just trying to leave it alone. It never moved in the main tank so maybe i just panicked? Im just using regular instant ocean, i dont dose anything. Ill double check that alk when i get home. Very hard to read on the test strips

I knew i messed up when i offered to take it.
I was going to wait at least 6 months.
I waited almost 2 before i even got fish

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

They don’t fair well in early systems, too much change going on.

Alk at 400ppm would be a very bad number.

Something wrong there IMM.

It should be 140-200ppm.

Beautiful pic btw hopefully a year from now i can pull that off

 

[billysprout]

It was probably just pooping. Definitely remove any uneaten pellets, and remove any stringy black substances that you see expelled or lingering in the tank. If you're worried, dose iodine & chemiclean, and show us a video of the flow & light so we can weigh in

 

[Marco_99]

was probably just pooping. Definitely remove any uneaten pellets, and remove any stringy black substances that you see expelled or lingering in the tank. If you're worried, dose iodine & chemiclean, and show us a video of the flow & light so we can weigh in

Dose chemi clean for what?? Those rocks and substrate look like they just came off the store shelf

 

[cgoochce]

Feeding isnt necessary. Mature system of at least 6 months and good lighting are more important

You’re right
Haven’t fed mine, and those suckers are growing out of control. I’m looking for new homes for them.

 

[billysprout]

Dose chemi clean for what?? Those rocks and substrate look like they just came off the store shelf

so the microbiome is unstable, and so treating the tank for undesirable bacteria can help prevent further decline

 

[Gig-Island]

In both pictures he looks good to me! Anemones deflate and scare us to death all the time. That is the way they poop! If he is not deflated for an extended time frame (6-12 hours or days) it is not a problem. I would keep him isolated in a box in your tank so the clowns won't beat him up and you can monitor him. Once he gets comfortable in your tank and grows a little you can reintroduce him to the system.

It's not ideal to introduce an anemone to a young tank, but not a death sentence. Give him a couple of weeks and leave him alone. Feeding is not necessary. He will pick up leftover food that you offer your fish.

If he starts deflating or his mouth starts gaping search threads on here about Cipro treatments or rehome him quickly.

Good luck! Hope this helps!

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Thanks everyone, i appreciate all the opinions and advice. Great community yall got here.

It looks a little better today. I have it in basically a critter keeper outside the tank with its own filter and a airstone to give it a little flow. Its not under the best light, just this LED plant light i got from home depot. But i figured its better than the swings of the tank parameters and getting harassed by the clowns. Hopefully i can order a little anemone basket soon so it can return to the stock EVO 13.5 light. My tank thread is where it originally was.

I eventually want to make my own rimless tank, maybe 50 gallons, but im definitely doing a sump. Unless i find a good deal on a 60 cube or something. I want to do a custom reverse under-gravel filter deal because im having trouble keeping the gravel clean.

 

[Gig-Island]

He looks good. I would recommend getting him back into your main system if you can. The reason I say this is that lighting is just as important as water quality. You can make an anemone basket out of a Tupperware plastic dish for cheap. I repurposed a plastic bowl from my local Chinese restaurant and it didn't even cost me anything. Poke some holes in it and clamp it to the side of the tank or put some styrofoam on the sides and let it float around the surface.

Here is my Nem in his little home!

 

[Sophie"s mom]

He doesn't look too bad, but as several others have said, BTW's really need a somewhat established tank. Can you maybe return it to where you got it, wait at least 6 months, more is better. Then try again? I am only suggesting this for the health of the nem. I know wanting one is a strong urge, but they stand a much better chance in a tank that is not so new, where everything is so out of whack for the first several months.

 

[winxp_man]

Nems are creature of habit. They don’t like change. Then again most corals don’t like change. So stability is key. Then numbers come in play. Although not as important as stability they do matter. So keeping an eye out on a new system is a must. Most will say do no introduce a nem to a new system. And this would be correct. The system numbers will be changing too much for nems to live and look healthy.

Food part. I would stay away from dry foods. Reason is they have too many fillers at times. I only feed my fish spectrum. Pellets for the most part. Only one filler in spectrum that is used for binding. I have 17 nems from 2” to 5-6”. Before a tank transfer I had 25 nems and they didn’t make the transfer sadly being a disease break out. Only the rainbows made it.

Food wise I would stick to mysis or silversides. It’s what I feed mine and they are all super healthy! My green is the only one struggling. Forgot my temp prob out of the sump on a heater change out. And temps got to 87*!!!! Almost killed my tank cause of it! Such a rookie move! But they all bounced back beside the GTBA. But it’s still living just moves around more now. Might have to pull it and QT it for a time.

One last thing about food. Feeding the tangs algae wafers one fell on my 6” Sherman BTA. The next morning it looked as if its dying and was ticked the whole day! Lesson learned! NO Dry foods, and noticed that even the smaller pellets would tick off all the nems that they would fall on during fish feeding time.

So stick to once again frozen mysis and silversides. They have proven to me that they work and nems actually thrive with these food types. They grow fast too!


Here are some recent pic of mine…..

 

[winxp_man]

He looks good. I would recommend getting him back into your main system if you can. The reason I say this is that lighting is just as important as water quality. You can make an anemone basket out of a Tupperware plastic dish for cheap. I repurposed a plastic bowl from my local Chinese restaurant and it didn't even cost me anything. Poke some holes in it and clamp it to the side of the tank or put some styrofoam on the sides and let it float around the surface.

Here is my Nem in his little home!

How big is the CSB?? And is it just me, but they seem to stay bubbly more than most other BTA’s?

Mine you can see in the second pic in the post above. Next to the Sherman.

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Nems doing better!

Would love some of those other nems yall posted.