3 Week Update And New Anemone

[Ernest Sacco]

So the tank is still running great with every coral recovered and growing since the move....
In the past 2 weeks I've slowly been moving my few beginner sps frags from the sandbed up to the top of the rock work....View media item 245908View media item 245910View media item 245909View media item 245913
My other sps are growing which is a first for me...View media item 245914View media item 245907View media item 245911As of now I want to save my remaining space for corals I absolutely love...
I want to fill the top and back rock work with branching and plating sps while to front will be for unique lps....and suggestions will be appreciated and I want to find a balance between beauty and hardiness when it comes to the sps...I am lightly dosing but I want nothing to do with acros at this point I think

On to the anemone I tested my water yesterday to good levels of alk calc and magnesium with no phosphates or nitrates....my rose bubble tip I ordered had come in and I brought it home with my marine betta (cant get a good picture of him as hes being reclusive)...I drip acclimated for roughly 80 minutes and then I took him from the bag and hovered him over his intended spot...he took to it and opened up a bit....but an hour later he had closed up and had started to drift....by this morning he had moved a few inches and looked like this View media item 245912
As of now he looks a little bit better but his mouth is still visible....I may have even saw a tentacle fall off but I am not sure..I haven't attempted to move him though I did move the rock he was on when I was shifting my sps frags....

Basically is this normal for new bubble tips?...I've done research but I would like to hear from people here...to summarize I followed the acclimation procedure and put him in...he expanded slightly for a while before closing up and begining to crawl...I shifted the rock he was on the next day a bit and he started to kind of push his mouth out so it looked like a white ridge was in the middle....as of now hes still closed up but his mouth is hidden again

 

[ryanr]

Hi,
You need to be a bit patient with anemones. They'll find their own spot in the tank. It's quite normal for them to wander a bit until they find a spot the like. And once they do, they typically won't move from that spot unless something changes.
As long as the 'nems foot is secure, it's just a matter of patience.

 

[Ernest Sacco]

Hi,
You need to be a bit patient with anemones. They'll find their own spot in the tank. It's quite normal for them to wander a bit until they find a spot the like. And once they do, they typically won't move from that spot unless something changes.
As long as the 'nems foot is secure, it's just a matter of patience.

So even deflation is normal?...his foot is definitely secure and he still has his rose color

 

[ryanr]

Hi,
Yep, deflation is normal. Nem's and some LPS deflate occassionally. It's actually a 'purging' activity, whereby the animal expels all the old water, and takes in fresh.
Can freak you out the first time it happens, but then you look for other signs of health, being colour, secure foot etc.

 

[Ernest Sacco]

Hi,
Yep, deflation is normal. Nem's and some LPS deflate occassionally. It's actually a 'purging' activity, whereby the animal expels all the old water, and takes in fresh.
Can freak you out the first time it happens, but then you look for other signs of health, being colour, secure foot etc.

Okay good....here are some more pictures taken today by my brother View media item 245985View media item 245984View media item 245982View media item 245981View media item 245983View media item 245986
The latest one was taken about midday today and the earlier ones were just taken a few minutes ago by my brother at home...I have no idea what that white mark is on his side and don't know whether to be worried as I can't find anything anywhere about this....whenever you shine your phone light or flashlight at him he seems to expand more....should I take this as a sign to up my lighting....slowly of course

 

[ryanr]

Hmmm, to me that doesn't look healthy. Deflation is one thing, but laying over like that isn't particularly normal.
What sort of lighting and flow do you have on this setup?
If lighting was too low, I would expect the nem to try and get higher in the tank, closer to the light source.
You could try increasing the lighting and see if it responds.
Have you tested all the parameters?

3 weeks (IMO) is a bit early to introduce a nem to a setup, I would typically wait 8-12 months.

You could also try target feeding it something meaty (e.g. prawn/shrimp, mussel) - I don't expect it to take the meal, but it may, and that would be a positive sign.

 

[Ernest Sacco]

Hmmm, to me that doesn't look healthy. Deflation is one thing, but laying over like that isn't particularly normal.
What sort of lighting and flow do you have on this setup?
If lighting was too low, I would expect the nem to try and get higher in the tank, closer to the light source.
You could try increasing the lighting and see if it responds.
Have you tested all the parameters?

3 weeks (IMO) is a bit early to introduce a nem to a setup, I would typically wait 8-12 months.

You could also try target feeding it something meaty (e.g. prawn/shrimp, mussel) - I don't expect it to take the meal, but it may, and that would be a positive sign.

It's an aI prime set to the following specs View media item 245157View media item 245156
The current specs are slightly lower as I am still acclimating my sps...it is a bit early but thisnwasmt a new tank set up it was a transfer....and me and my lfs went over my tank parameters the last 3 weeks and we found the tank to have stabalised well...I trust them as they've guided me through my last two tanks but I agree perhaps I did rush...if this ends poorly I will never make that mistake again...the nem honestly looked like this at the store...when I first put him in he did expand well but then he started to move...as of now hes stayed in this spot the past 2 days

Flow comes from 3 small to medium size wave makers 1 being an aquami which is set to sps max random flow while the other 2 are standard non controllable...

I'm going to have my brother attempt to get it to take in some mysis when it looks its best during the day...when I get home on Friday I will test my water again...I'll also personally attempt to feed it something large....I don't know the fact that it isn't losing its color keeps me somewhat hopeful...

 

[ryanr]

I remember your conversion/upgrade thread

Hmm, maybe it's too much flow?
Whilst nem's like flow, they also don't like to be battered about.

It's all speculation on my part, as I'm going off photos. Looking at the whole setup, does it look like the BTA might be 'hiding'/'sheltering' from the flow?

Let's wait for others to chime in, but I'm thinking it might be worth dropping one of the wave makers for a few days and see what happens. It won't hurt your SPS to drop the flow a little.

Remind me,what's the total turnover rate is in this setup?

 

[Ernest Sacco]

I remember your conversion/upgrade thread

Hmm, maybe it's too much flow?
Whilst nem's like flow, they also don't like to be battered about.

It's all speculation on my part, as I'm going off photos. Looking at the whole setup, does it look like the BTA might be 'hiding'/'sheltering' from the flow?

Let's wait for others to chime in, but I'm thinking it might be worth dropping one of the wave makers for a few days and see what happens. It won't hurt your SPS to drop the flow a little.

Remind me,what's the total turnover rate is in this setup?

So I am running a syncra silent 3 at full capacity....however I have it substantially cut down through the use of a ball valve as it easily drains my sump chamber if it isnt....so if I were to give a rough estimate with the pump normally running at 714 gph...I'd say the very lowest estimate would be 300 and the highest would be 600...

The two set wave makers are at 565 and I believe 425 gph each but they are both towards the top of the tank and the flow from them isn't really hitting where the nem is...but honestly I don't think its flow as that corner where it is at doesn't get much in terms of linear flow the wave makers send streams that reverberate off the tank and create a gentle current back....I'll look to turning down the aquami as it is pointing towards the area where the nem is...I'm just worried I will upset my toadstools as they have been loving the flow


Update....

So I have my mother watching him and he was all closed up as the tank lights are starting to die down....also the flow isn't that severe
..but the anemone suddenly expanded and is laying down near the sand with his tentacles out

 

[Ernest Sacco]

So I went to my lfs (where I bought the anemone) and showed them some pictures....we came to the conclusion that most likley it had undergone a division sometime before shipment explaining the weird wound like markings...my parameters are all good except salinity being a little high (1.027) as evaporation has been a big issue...but basically the anemone has just been subjected to a lot of stuff and it's most likley lead to this point....he looks terrible right now with what appears to be those wounds all along his side and his foot is barely attached to the rock....I'm going to give him another 12 hours to look better and if there is no improvement I'm calling it...I am not going to lose everything because of this anemone....I'll probably stay away from another one for a long time after this

 

[rugerjr]

So I went to my lfs (where I bought the anemone) and showed them some pictures....we came to the conclusion that most likley it had undergone a division sometime before shipment explaining the weird wound like markings...my parameters are all good except salinity being a little high (1.027) as evaporation has been a big issue...but basically the anemone has just been subjected to a lot of stuff and it's most likley lead to this point....he looks terrible right now with what appears to be those wounds all along his side and his foot is barely attached to the rock....I'm going to give him another 12 hours to look better and if there is no improvement I'm calling it...I am not going to lose everything because of this anemone....I'll probably stay away from another one for a long time after this

Man I don’t mean to sound like a know it all. But nems prefer tanks at least six months old. And good lighting and flow so they can pick their combination in the rocks that they like. I’ve had a few anemones. And the one I have now is happy and healthy. But lots of experimenting with care before I achieved long term success. Also, I’ve noticed that mostly stressed nems that are trying to keep their gene pool running will get stringy and split. Mostly. Not always. Sorry if I’m coming across wrong.

 

[Ernest Sacco]

Man I don’t mean to sound like a know it all. But nems prefer tanks at least six months old. And good lighting and flow so they can pick their combination in the rocks that they like. I’ve had a few anemones. And the one I have now is happy and healthy. But lots of experimenting with care before I achieved long term success. Also, I’ve noticed that mostly stressed nems that are trying to keep their gene pool running will get stringy and split. Mostly. Not always. Sorry if I’m coming across wrong.

The anemone ended up disappearing which means it died...I think it was a combination of my tank being immature and the anemone already being sick...I'm disappointed but also happy because I've filled the void with more coral and honestly I prefer it