PLEASE LOOK - ANEMONE LOOKING WEIRD

BlastedReefer · Oct 4, 2018

Ok, so my RBTA has been looking like this for about two weeks now. We have had it for about 3 months and it has done really well. It used to stretch out away from the rock and always had a long looking stem and all tentacles fully extended and inflated. We fed it a piece of a silverside (big mistake apparently) and it ended up expelling it a couple of hours after ingesting. When it did that, it seems like it deflated its tentacles where the piece of food was so that it could let go of it I guess? Since then, that spot where it spit the food back out, the tentacles have not inflated. It seems that the "spot" of deflated tentacles has gotten bigger. I would say it went from about the size of a nickel to the size of a quarter. It seems like there are some little nubs coming back. The mouth has always been shut and otherwise it has been really healthy. It hasn't stretched out away from the rock it's attached to since this happened though. I hope someone has seen or experienced something similar and give me an idea as to what's going on? Our tank has been up and running for about 4 years now. My husband takes care of the tank really and I just enjoy it (I know, I know), so I don't know our specific water parameters. I will try to get that information this evening when I get home, as well as lighting etc. Until then, please help!

Also, before the silverside we were feeding mysis, brine, small pieces of raw shrimp, and that's what we have done since the one time we tried that.

Thanks in advance.

Amoo · Oct 4, 2018

welcome to R2R. There is a thread about Cipro treatment at the top of this forum. In there is information about where people have ordered it from. I would order some just to be safe.

In the mean time all you can really do at this point is wait it out and see and prepare. As long as the Nem isn't deflating daily or have it's mouth gaping you're still okay and it may recover on it's own. If it starts to do so though, it would be time to pull it and put it through a 7 day round of Cipro treatment.

As you have obviously learned by now, avoid the silversides going forward

BlastedReefer · Oct 4, 2018

Hello! Thank you so much for the quick response! Definitely avoiding silversides moving forward. Honestly it looks better than it did a week ago, so I'm hopeful that it's improving. I attached a pic from before the incident just for reference. It has not extended like this at all since then which is really what concerns me. I will definitely read up on the cipro treatments and I actually have some. In your opinion, should I go ahead and start treatment or wait a few more days to see there is more improvement? Thanks again! (Love this site already!)

Amoo · Oct 4, 2018

No definitely wait for the warning signs I mentioned.

It's good that you were able to notice the change in extension behavior, but that isn't enough to simply warrant treating. It does take energy for the anemone to extend like that everyday. As speculation, I would speculate it has stopped extending to conserve energy while it's fighting off this issue. As long as it continues to improve, stay the course. If it starts looking worse or starts drooping or deflating or mouth gaping, then treat.

--

#reefsquad @Crabs Mcjones

Welcome wagon please.

BlastedReefer · Oct 4, 2018

Will do. I appreciate the advice!

Crabs McJones · Oct 4, 2018

@Amoo pretty much nailed it on the head. Just keep the water quality good and the lighting consistent. Others will disagree, but I don't ever feed my anemone, I rely on they symbiotic relationship it has with the zooxanthellae and my lighting to keep it nourished, plus whatever scraps of mysis shrimp it may scoop up when I feed

And Welcome to R2R!

#WelcometoR2R

Amoo · Oct 4, 2018

@Crabs Mcjones you failed reading comprehension 101. I tagged you and Reefsquad for the welcome wagon. New member

Geebs19 · Oct 4, 2018

Welcome to R2R! Sounds like Amoo got you taken care of.

Amoo · Oct 4, 2018

Thanks @Crabs Mcjones I knew we had a welcome hashtag, I could not for the life of me remember/find it.

BlastedReefer · Oct 4, 2018

Yes, I feel like he did. I've stalked the site for a while now and finally decided I should join LOL.

Teri NewbieReefer · Oct 4, 2018

Hi and Welcome to R2R! Glad that your question was answered so quickly. As you have already found out, these guys know their stuff. Also, since you've been already looking around, check out some of the other threads. I've been poking around for a couple days, and had lots of my questions answered - some that I didn't even know I had! Lol.