Sick Anemone...

[djdubdub]

Somebody please help me...

I am not having luck with my green bubble tip anemones... One died while I was on vacation (and yes, a reefer was taking care of the tank while away) and now my 2nd (new) one seems to be "slipping away"...

I have checked all of my levels... All are almost unmeasurable... My salinity and temp are all good... All of my other inhabitants are very healthy... But my anemone just seems "weak"...

I know they are known to shrivel up sometimes, or even move around the tank until they are happy, but both have seemed to just shrivel up and die...

Any suggestions??? Thanks... DJ...

[Tim Marvin]

Check your nitrates, and phosphates. This will kill them in no time. Most anemones are best kept in old systems and refugiums help greatly.

[djdubdub]

Thanks Tim...

Nitrates are less than 10ppm and unsure on phosphates but they may be slightly elevated... I do have some hair algae... What can I do to lower phosphates??? I'm using RO water...

I do have a refugium that is very "healthy" with plants and life...

Do you think phosphates should be my main concern???

Thanks...

[TexasState]

What color is your bubble tip? Sick purple tip will turn white or pink. I bought a pink bubble tip on impulse, thinking it's some kind of rare color. I went home to research it, turn out pink bubble tip is sick bubble tip.

[Charley]

Numerous products will lower your Phosphates. Seachem has PhosGuard, Kent has Phosphate Sponge, Fritz and Marc Weiss, Bio-Reef and more have a product named Phosphate Remover. I am sure there are tons more, these just showed up in a quick search on hotbot. I use a two-pronged approach to deal with Phosphates. I use one of the above to quickly remove them, as I am researching what in my husbandry causes them to be in the tank.


Charley

[ratboy]

2 questions:
Do you have a clownfish that has accepted your anenome? Will your anenome accept food (krill, silversides, etc)

[matt]

Are you feeding the anemone? Try krill, or if it won't accept that, try Formula VHP. Usually they'll go for that right away. You can try changing a bunch of water to get your nitrate/phosphate levels down, but this sounds more like a food and or habitat problem. Is the anemone firmly attached to a rock or crevice?

Also, you said you had two. Did one split or did you buy two? If you bought two, and they were not from the same colony, (I assume these are the colonial E quadricolor) maybe they were fighting.

HTH
Matt

[djdubdub]

Vinh... Green bubble tip... And they are/were both green and they stay green... No real discoloration...

Charley... Thanks for the product info... I really need to make sure it's a problem before I go correcting anything "chemically"... I just borrowed a phosphate test kit... Hopefully, this is my problem...

RatBoy... Clownfish, yes... 2 Cinnamons... They have taken to each one immediately... Rubbing, loving, cleaning, protecting and everything... And is it accepting food??? Yes, it will "grab and hold" mysis shrimp and move it to it's mouth...

Matt... See above... Taking mysis w/ no probs... It seems to be firmly attached to a rock... Actually it's foot is in a long hole... And as to the number of anemones... Only one... First one died after 2wks or so, and just got 2nd one last week... About a 1month period in between...

Thank you EVERYONE!!! I am going to try to test for phosphates tonight... Possible water change too... I just hate having anything "sick"...

[matt]

djdubdub: (great name)

try feeding larger food than mysis, like whole krill or a cube of that VHP. You know, it's possible you're not doing anything wrong, if both these anemones were wild caught. Anemones have a terrible survival rate going from the ocean to aquariums. Some of these E. quads are from deeper water, not really reef settings. I've found that mine took a long time to adjust to light, and that's under PCs in my nano. Also, it seems to like very gentle current.

What else is in your tank? If you have aggresive LPS colonies, like a euphillia or a bubble coral, there could be some chemical warfare going on. Also, if you have stony corals, and a serious phosphate problem, chances are you'd notice it in the other animals also.

Good luck
Matt