Multiple anemones go inside out everyday? HELP!

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

So i've been searching for several weeks and have 2 black widow anemones that every morning have their mouths literally inside out like they are going to die. By the afternoon all is back to normal. I've got a dozen more black widows that aren't in a basket and some rose bubbles that are all perfectly fine and heatlhy, just these guys. Pics attached, if anyone has any idea I would really appreciate it.

If I take these guys out of the basket they will end up on the sandbed upside down and lost 1 other one this way. These 2 just sit in the basket and do this weird gut spillage and then reform.....

Thanks for any help

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

Nems are now healed again from this morning. Their mouths will come out again tonight....

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

Realized I didn't put any water params and people may ask me.

Salt is Fritz RPM
Salinity 1.025-26
Nitrates 2ppm
Phos .15
Nitrite, Ammonia 0

I have the same light running over multiple tanks with over 30 anemones. Only these black widows seem to show this weird thing happening. A few nems had discolored on me when I started using Vibrant but have since done alot of water changes and removed it from the system. I had .25 ppm detectable nitrates until the other day I started adding KNO3 powder to raise nitrates since some coral was not looking so well.

The system is roughly 400 gallons, everything else is healthy as can be.

reef lover · Sep 21, 2018

Might be time ti cipro.... @Amoo

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

reef lover said:
Might be time ti cipro.... @Amoo

I've had some rainbow BTA that also discolored in the tank and are now regaining their color. Also no idea what to attribute it to, but they aren't spewing their guts or decreasing in sizes. They look healthy but just sorta brownish, getting some oranges and green back. I don't know if any of this helps, sorry for throwing so much info out.

Other than that I have about a dozen black widows on the opposite side of the tank which are doing ok.

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

Less than 3 hours later the mouths are totally normal but not yet attached to the basket. That should happen shortly

Taylor t · Sep 21, 2018

Do you see a pattern, like same time of day? Do you know what type of lights they came from and depth/distance they came from?

With the very limited info, sounds like the lighting might be a little stronger than they’re used to? The other anemones in your tank are doing fine, they’re probably deeper than your new anemones in a basket close to the lights? Maybe try a piece of plastic screen over the basket and see if that helps? How old is the system?

How long have you had them? When did this start?

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

Taylor t said:
Do you see a pattern, like same time of day? Do you know what type of lights they came from and depth/distance they came from?

With the very limited info, sounds like the lighting might be a little stronger than they’re used to? The other anemones in your tank are doing fine, they’re probably deeper than your new anemones in a basket close to the lights? Maybe try a piece of plastic screen over the basket and see if that helps? How old is the system?

How long have you had them? When did this start?

At midnight-1am the anemones look fine, usually foot attached.
By 6-7am they look like their guts are coming out
by noon they are basically healed
by 6pm they are usually attached again

This isn't the case everyday but most of the time.

The system is 350 or so gallons, the nems are in a 45 gallon deep blue frag tanks. The par with the nems in the basket is roughly 200 but there is an area they can easily walk to with less. That PAR level is only achieved for about 4 hours thorough out the entire day.

These anemones i've had for several months and came from a tank with a similiar LED over it. The RBTA and other BTA that I have i've had in my main display tank and they oddly lost their color and are regaining it like stated above, not sure why.

The entire system is roughly a year old now, and i've recently started nitrate dosing as my SPS and such didn't look very good, it since looks better and i've kept nitrates at 2ppm.

As for the lighting as well, there is plenty of area the anemones could technically move around in with shade easily, these 2 suckers just choose to face plant the sand by choice, it's like they want to die....

The fact they heal up makes me think maybe they are looking for something that my system is lacking? Although i'm not sure what it would be as I have massive anemones in my upstairs tank under anywhere from 150 PAR to almost 500PAR and they all do fine with the same light.... I'm led to believe it's a nutrient issue or something is screwed up....

The only other thing I added was Reef Flux almost 2 months ago at this point and it's since been flushed from my system because I had an algae issue it solved rather quickly.

I just don't understand, half the anemones lost color, other half are ok, most of the black widows are fine, and then these 2 are just face planters... one has already died, I had 3 to begin with.

Taylor t · Sep 21, 2018

Hmm. Gosh, sounds like everything is in check. A year established should be fine. I misunderstood, I thought they collapsed with light, not dark.... I’m not sure, I think you may be right about it being a nutrient issue.

I have a tank with several anemones, and I’ve observed their behavior for years. I’ve realized some are just moody. I have one that hates fast additions of calcium, and protests by closing. Another protests when I raise KH too fast. Then, my KH drops from 10 to 7 before I realize, and most are happy and a couple shriveled up. They can certainly be chemistry indicators. You may be correct in thinking it’s nutrients. Best of luck to figuring it out. If they stop behaving this way for you, let us know what changed please.

Amoo · Sep 21, 2018

The daily inflate/deflate is typically a sign they are trying to purge their system of something they don't like/want.

The only two real options are to ride it out and hope they are able to rid themselves of whatever is bothering them or to try a 7 day round of Cipro.

It's not uncommon for multiple nem systems to have a nem or even a few shows signs of bacterial infection while others seem to be able to fight it off without issue.

I personally would go the Cipro route here. If you wanted to, you could even just Cipro one and not the other and see how that works out.

CwStrife · Sep 21, 2018

Amoo said:
The daily inflate/deflate is typically a sign they are trying to purge their system of something they don't like/want.

The only two real options are to ride it out and hope they are able to rid themselves of whatever is bothering them or to try a 7 day round of Cipro.

It's not uncommon for multiple nem systems to have a nem or even a few shows signs of bacterial infection while others seem to be able to fight it off without issue.

I personally would go the Cipro route here. If you wanted to, you could even just Cipro one and not the other and see how that works out.

Thanks for responding. I will give it a go with one. Do you have a reputable place I can get cipro or is it available locally? I do see I can get it from these pet places online.... anywhere you would recommend specifically to try?