snowflake rose bubble tip anemone help.

[Bryce Mazloum]

Hey everyone! I have a BTA in my 9 gallon nano tank and everything has been going great so far, but recently half of his tentacles have almost shrunken while the other half are completely fine. what I have been noticing is that the tentacles that aren't affected are almost always long and stringy, which I know is an indication of hunger so I've been feeding him more often starting yesterday. He does host a rather small Premium Snowflake clownfish and they get along rather well. and I have dosed the tank with melafix to help with an ich outbreak as well as a ripped fin on my helfrichi. but I've stopped as I noticed it was affecting the corals as well as the anemone. I know the melafix isn't the cause because this was happening before the dosing, however I still need to do a water change to get the medication out. Could anyone help me out? I really want this anemone to be happy in his home.
update: I got some pictures

 

[SynGraves]

What are your water parameters and age of the tank?

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Pictures and parameters would be very helpful. Also some history about the tank and anemone. How long has the tank been set up? What equipment particularly lights do you have on the tank? How long have you had the anemone? Anything you can think of would be helpful.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

What are your water parameters and age of the tank?

the tank has been set up since last year, and the parameters have been stable, as for what they all are I'm not entirely sure as I only have a nitrate tester at the moment, which reads between 5 and 10ppm since my last water change.
I don't think the parameters are that unstable as all the coral I've had has done well and has grown, I did have another anemone at one point but they didn't do so well because at the time I didn't have the correct lighting.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Pictures and parameters would be very helpful. Also some history about the tank and anemone. How long has the tank been set up? What equipment particularly lights do you have on the tank? How long have you had the anemone? Anything you can think of would be helpful.

the tank as I said was up since early fall of last year, as for what lights I use the aquamaxx nemo lights at 30% white and 90% blue. I've had the anemone for about a month I would say, and he hasn't moved from the spot that I put him in, which I'm grateful for.

 

[Loggerhead]

Not to sound like I’m picking on you but how do you know parameters are stable if you don’t have a way to test them? Phosphate, salinity, temp, lighting and light schedule and alkalinity will all play a part in an anemones health. If your alk is low or high you can be causing an all swing that will affect the anemone every time you do a water change, depending on the salt mix and size of the water change.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Not to sound like I’m picking on you but how do you know parameters are stable if you don’t have a way to test them? Phosphate, salinity, temp, lighting and light schedule and alkalinity will all play a part in an anemones health. If your alk is low or high you can be causing an all swing that will affect the anemone every time you do a water change, depending on the salt mix and size of the water change.

I feel like I have a general idea of my parameters because I get all my water for changes premixed from a very trusted LFS, I know I'm in the wrong for not having enough equipment for testing and believe me I'm working on it.

 

[Loggerhead]

Will the LFS test your water for free? Most will for at least the basics of not the whole gambit. Do you have anything to test salinity of your tank? Replacement water from LFS? Also ask them what salt mix they use for the water they sell and you can at least see what the parameters of freshly mixed water should be. Unfortunately there are way too many reasons that the anemone could be half inflated to tell. We can’t really narrow it down without accurate water levels either.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Will the LFS test your water for free? Most will for at least the basics of not the whole gambit. Do you have anything to test salinity of your tank? Replacement water from LFS? Also ask them what salt mix they use for the water they sell and you can at least see what the parameters of freshly mixed water should be. Unfortunately there are way too many reasons that the anemone could be half inflated to tell. We can’t really narrow it down without accurate water levels either.

Got it, I appreciate the help though, I do have something to test the salinity, it's one of those inaccurate plastic things with the little arrow. and It reads at 1.03, I think. I'll go to the store and ask them about the tests when I get the chance, but for now can you recommend anything that I can do to help the anemone? should I keep feeding him regularly?

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

quick update, I called my LFS and they said that they could test my water for me, and that hopefully a water change would help with everything and that sometimes anemones go through a phase like this. But thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it <3

 

[Florida Sunshine]

What are you using as top off water? Wit a tank that small your parameters are going to present some real challenges as they can go off very quickly.
The swing arm hydrometer while not the best instrument is not useless. You need to be sure to rinse and dry it and store it upside down after each use. If you do that they are usually consistent if not accurate. You could bring some water to your LFS and have them test with a refractometer and see how far off your hydrometer readings are. Then you know if it is off and by how much. Like I said if cared for properly they can be consistent and therefore useful.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

What are you using as top off water? Wit a tank that small your parameters are going to present some real challenges as they can go off very quickly.
The swing arm hydrometer while not the best instrument is not useless. You need to be sure to rinse and dry it and store it upside down after each use. If you do that they are usually consistent if not accurate. You could bring some water to your LFS and have them test with a refractometer and see how far off your hydrometer readings are. Then you know if it is off and by how much. Like I said if cared for properly they can be consistent and therefore useful.

Oh thankies! I actually didn't know about the proper storage for those, I'll make sure to do it from now on! and as for top off water I usually use the salt water that I use for big water changes, since my tank is so small whenever there is evaporation it's usually time for a water change.

 

[Loggerhead]

Salt doesn’t evaporate with the water. You very well could be raising salinity with your water change water if you are using the water change to top off as well.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Salt doesn’t evaporate with the water. You very well could be raising salinity with your water change water if you are using the water change to top off as well.

fair point, I'll measure the salinity tonight when I do a water change and depending on what it is I'll use some freshwater along with the saltwater.

 

[sde1500]

as for top off water I usually use the salt water that I use for big water changes, since my tank is so small whenever there is evaporation it's usually time for a water change.

What? No, don't do that. All that does is push salinity higher and higher. Top off is fresh water only. And get some of your own test kits for sure. Just trusting that the LFS water has parameters you want, and that your water changes are keeping up with them, is not enough. If your tank is older and stable, you can eyeball things. But if your tank is younger, which it is, and things are struggling, like the nem, you need to have test kits to ensure things are ok.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

got it, from now on I'll use freshwater for my top offs, and as for the salinity I believe it may be too high (maybe 1.03?) so I'll take your advice. hopefully I can turn this around using the hydrometer, and I do have a 5 gallon jug of RO water that I use for my freshwater tank.

 

[Gareth elliott]

On such a small tank it might be economically feasible to use distilled water for top offs this way always near a source. I did this for awhile when my tank was only 15 gallons. This way could pick up water from the grocery store down the street.
Besides lights and wave makers one of my first purchases was an ato system as only a few ounces of evaporation has such a larger change on a nano than a full sized tank.

I have used the following systems.
-Coral box was $79, sensor died after a year and they didnt sell just that part. Was cheap and did work perfectly for that year but not cheap but enough to buy a new one if the sensor dies again.
-hydrofil from IM worked great wasn’t terribly expensive. No moving parts, just clean the probes occasionally by wiping down.
-reef pi diy worked well if your handy. Hands down the cheapest option and can be built into much more.
-currently use the auto aqua aws. Works well so far, changes my water for me too lol.
There are plenty of other options too.
Tunze makes the most trusted though i have never used to give a review myself.

 

[sde1500]

Lower it slowly, top off alone won't work. You'll need to add a bit of freshwater with your water changes too, at least for a bit. As for the hygrometer, it should be consistent if stored right. Accurate, not as much. But following the suggestion above when you compare water you test, to what the LFS gets, you'll at least know how far off it is. Knowing this, you can get an accurate test by just adjusting the number by how off it is every time.

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

good to know Gareth, I'll look into top off units and see if I could pick one up this weekend, but quick question. Do water changes have any affect on the ATO?

 

[Bryce Mazloum]

Lower it slowly, top off alone won't work. You'll need to add a bit of freshwater with your water changes too, at least for a bit. As for the hygrometer, it should be consistent if stored right. Accurate, not as much. But following the suggestion above when you compare water you test, to what the LFS gets, you'll at least know how far off it is. Knowing this, you can get an accurate test by just adjusting the number by how off it is every time.

got it, how do you think I should go about lowering the salinity? anything in particular that I could do besides adding freshwater with each weekly change? should I possibly do more frequent water changes?