Sick Anemone :(

[Raxnar]

I first got this Anemone back in April, she's been like this ever since being introduced to our tank.

We ran acclimation mode for a week to keep stress down.

She moves around the tank regularly but just doesn't look well. I've tried feeding her some shrimp but won't take it.

Any tips or insight as to what is happening? I think it is a bubble tip Anemone.

My initial reaction is she is dying but she's been like this forever. We have another orange bubble tip Anemone who is healthy as a horse!

Tank Parameters:
Salt 33.8ppt or 1.0255
Temperature: 25.5C, I am slowly bringing it down to 25C over the course of the week, had been running at 26C.
PH is currently 7.93
alk = 8.4dkh
ammonia = 0 **Corrected after a retest/re-reading of the result**
Calcium = 415
Mag = 1360
Notrate/Nitrite/Phosphate all zero

Thanks Community!

Oh, here is a picture of her.

 

[reef lover]

Ya she doesn' look good. Any reason that you know that there would be ammonia present?

 

[Raxnar]

a Hermit Crab died a few nights ago and didn't notice his body until the next morning, perhaps that caused a tiny bump up? Ammonia has been between 0 and .1 quite steadily. sometimes hard to distinguish between the colours of a zero reading or it is ever so slightly off.

 

[reef lover]

Unless you can get some cipro the only thing you can do is hope and wait...

 

[Raxnar]

Unless you can get some cipro the only thing you can do is hope and wait...

Cipro?

 

[reef lover]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-i-cipro.211822/

 

[DMG Reef]

A crab dying won't raise ammonia in a stable, properly cycled tank. How long has the tank been set up? If lighting is adequate, anemones do well in a mature system but often struggle in a newer system. I would determine the source of the ammonia issue and address it before your other anemone gets sick as well.

Also watch the sick one closely. Once it dies, it can pollute the water even more.

 

[Raxnar]

A crab dying won't raise ammonia in a stable, properly cycled tank. How long has the tank been set up? If lighting is adequate, anemones do well in a mature system but often struggle in a newer system. I would determine the source of the ammonia issue and address it before your other anemone gets sick as well.

Also watch the sick one closely. Once it dies, it can pollute the water even more.

Tank was started late November, has gone through the RedSea Reef Mature program and has been stable since.

As I mentioned the redsea test kit reads very close to the yellow marker which is zero, if anything it is just a shade darker but not enough to be considered the next colour measurement. I wish there was a Hanna or other digital checker that would make checking Ammonia easier and more accurate.

We are watching her closely but she will boogy clear across the tank from time to time. Which tells me maybe she's doing ok and recovering some at times.

Our tank has the Ai Hydra 26's using a preset from their elite program.

 

[tthouston]

I agreed with Kattkrazie, if it dies and float around and got chap by the Wavemaker then you will have more frustrated. I think putting that Nem to the sump or somewhere else until it healthy, too risky if it is in the display tank.

 

[DMG Reef]

I did consider the possibility of a testing error for the ammonia. Your parameters look fine (except for ammonia). I'm not sure that her moving around the tank is a sign of getting better. I'd rather see it attach firmly in one spot and stay there. That would be a more positive sign.

Please keep us posted. I hope it pulls through.

 

[Raxnar]

I did consider the possibility of a testing error for the ammonia. Your parameters look fine (except for ammonia). I'm not sure that her moving around the tank is a sign of getting better. I'd rather see it attach firmly in one spot and stay there. That would be a more positive sign.

Please keep us posted. I hope it pulls through.

I'll run a test tonight and try and capture the results, see what others think. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong. The test itself is pretty bomb proof in my opinion.

 

[Raxnar]

Ok, so maybe that's the trick I need to do, take a photo to help see the colour better? lol

That's an emphatic zero to me.

To my naked eye it looks like it has a tinge of green in it. So all those .1's I've been recording should be zero's.

 

[davocean]

Hard to say for sure, squirt mysis towards it a couple times a week maybe.

It's pretty haggered, hard to say for sure but it could be magnifica and not BTA maybe, which are prone to bacterial infections and usually require cipro.

Your tank was on the new side at time of purchase, hard to be stable that fresh, could be that or a number of things.

 

[Amoo]

Your tank finished cycling in February, it's now barely June. Looks like you added the nem on May28th? Am I missing something here or has this nem only been in your tank for about 10 days and it's gone from looking normal to completely melting?

 

[Raxnar]

Your tank finished cycling in February, it's now barely June. Looks like you added the nem on May28th? Am I missing something here or has this nem only been in your tank for about 10 days and it's gone from looking normal to completely melting?

*Edited to correct error in timeline**
Yes, maturation completed early February, She wasn't added until we returned from vacation Easter Weekend.

Our LFS scene isn't the best and she was the only nem I could find local at the time. In a moment of excitement I scooped her up. She was more purple then and her tentacles or whatever you call them were about an inch or so. They didn't charge much for her and she's been moving around the tank freely every other day, sometimes clear across it. Often hiding in caves or under overhangs.

She took a feeding a couple weeks after being in the tank but has not taken anything since. I do blow mysis over her ever other day which has been soaking in Selcon and Reefroids while thawing. The rest of the tank seem to be thriving with this mixture. Our Shrimp love it when I feed them thawed raw prawn meat as do the crabs, small bits so none is wasted.

I am not a experienced Marine tank keeper but have had fresh water tanks years ago and even bread Pearl Origami's and Beta's for a time. So I'm not new to tank keeping in general.

After I had her home and acclimated I read that article about not adding a nem until your tank has matured enough.

Since she was already in I went through the checklist of the article and met all the criteria except for time. Tank has been stable with no major swings since January. Lighting should be adequate, I am planning on getting a Par Meter soon to make sure. No major Algae outbreaks. With a stable tank I figured she'd be ok. Even the LFS said she'll be fine as the tank sounds stable, I even had them double check a water sample before getting her and they said it was fine.

I'll talk to a friend of mine who has a hospital tank already setup and transfer her over to start treatments this weekend if he's around.

Out of curiosity, if she doesn't start to recover, is there a humane method of euthanasia? Absolute worst case of course.

 

[Raxnar]

Tried to take her to a friend who was going to help me start treating her. She made the trip but then turned to mush the next day.

Hospital tank was fresh salt water matching as close as possible her home aquarium.

If I had acted faster perhaps she would still be with us.

Looking at a QT and hospital tank now.