Stretch

Hi,
I bought a bubble tip last week.....I fed it a small silverside day before yesterday. Today I woke up and it looks shriveled up. I thought it was dead and went to remove it from the live rock. It is attached and moved its foot so I left it alone. I read they may do this when they are getting rid of waste.

Guess my question is how can I tell if it is dying??

I have a 47 gal bow with a marineland 220 cannister filter. I run a skimmer and have the powerhead at the top of the tank for surface water movement. The lighting is a current T5 4x39. My S.G. was 1.024 this a.m.
ammonia,nitrite were 0. I had a small amt of nitrate so I did about a 5 gal. water change

Thanks for any advice,

Stretch

Well the bubble tip is alive. I was so conerened that it was dying and that it would pollute my tank that I took it off of the live rock. I had read that it will smell VERY badly if it is dead. It did not smell bad and actually got smaller as I moved it. I placed it back into the tank. The bubble tip then opened back up and moved underneath a piece of liverock that is placed like a bridge in the tank..

I hope that I have not damaged its foot. :-(

sgould

They will regularly put you in a panic until you get used to them. The behavior you described is normal, and they will sometimes shrivel for a couple of days. You are correct to be concerned about damage to the anemone as they are extremely fragile, and I would not recommend moving it again based on just shriveling (or deflating). True danger signs to watch for are a gaping mouth and what looks like noodles coming out of the mouth.

Stretch

Thanks for replying...how can I tell if I damaged its foot?? It has moved around the tank and seems fine today. Is there anything that I should watch for

sgould

Sounds like its alright. If it is moving around and still able to adhere itself to its chosen spot, then I would just leave it alone.