Anemone help?!

Aikachinatsu · 01/04/2015, 02:00 PM

I purchased a rose tip anemone yesterday that was very small, a recent offspring.

I drip acclimated it to my system for 4 hours or so via a drip line and it seemed to handle it okay, but I was stupid and didn't test the water before hand. Little did I know I had a mini cycle going on with detectable ammonia, nothing too bad, but enough to cause stress. I re-acclimated the anemone to my QT and placed it in there, where it fully expanded.

I left the light on overnight (LED's) and this morning it had shrunk to the size of a nickel. The tentacles were still out and pink, and it didn't spit anything out, but it has been tiny for over 5 hours. It seems to be moving around the aquarium slowly, but it is now laying on its side (its own doing).

Should I set it upright near a rock, or leave it to minimalize stress? It's very small and somewhat shriveled, but the tentacles are still colorful and somewhat expanded. Water parameters look good and I switched the lighting to a higher wattage flourescent with actinics. It seems to like these lights better.

Is it normal for anemones to shrink? What causes this, and what should I do? I've never kept an anemone before. The guy who sold it to me said it was easy to keep and not too demanding, but my research says otherwise.

How do I know if it is dying?

Haleyf1024 · 01/04/2015, 02:09 PM

Is it bleaching? Like turning white? When nems die they also look like they are deteriorating or falling apart. If it still has it's color I would give it a few more days to see what happens. Bubble tips shrivel/close up and look weird when they are releasing waste and will open again when they are done. Is it only on it's side, or completely upside down? I know my rose tip likes to close up at night or when the emerald crab tries to steal its food. At night mine crawls under his rock and comes out in the morning when the lights come on.

Aikachinatsu · 01/04/2015, 02:22 PM

It's just on its side and it's not white. The tentacles are still very pink. Mine looks like it's trying to move but is having trouble getting back up. It also gets really skinny in the middle and then plump again? What does that mean?

Aikachinatsu · 01/04/2015, 02:26 PM

Here's a pic

Mark_C · 01/04/2015, 03:55 PM

Inherited a bubble tip anem about 2 months back and was told that rule #1 is Don't touch the anemone, it should be left totally alone for at least a week where it'll wander around the tank to find a place it likes. Rule number 2 was 'The anemone will go where it wants to and will set up where it wants to, not where you want it to'.

Having a narrow waist is normal. The anem has its main body with tentacles, a 'waist', and a pedal disc, which is in effect its legs. It moves about on the pedal disc much like a snail.
As per the plumping up and 'going skinny', this is normal. They take in and expel water on a regular basis. If you watch one through the course of the day you'll be astounded at the shape and color changes, it seems like 10 different animals. At times, for locomotion, it may 'inflate' and go with the flow of the tank to cover ground a bit quicker until it finds its place.

The primary concern while its mobile are powerheads, if it gets too close to the back end of one it can get sucked in and shredded, spreading its poison through the tank, which is bad.
So, at the moment it seems fine, just leave it alone.

The time to worry is when one of a few things happen; it bleaches quickly, its mouth is constantly open (the mouth is in the center of the tentacle mass), or if there appears to be 'string' coming out of its mouth. If any of these happen keep an eye on it as it is quite sick, and once they die they decompose very quickly, poisoning the tank. If you are ever sure it is dead act quickly and get it out of the tank.

Once it does establish itself, you can feed it if you like. i take a very small piece of raw frozen shrimp and place it on the tentacles once a week, it elicits a feeding response where the tentacles bring the food to the mouth. If you have a clownfish and it ever does pair up with the anem (mine took 6 weeks to pair), the clown will do the feeding of the anem for you.

If it splits, keep an eye on it and make sure the new one moves to a new region of tank. They will compete with each other and launch into chemical warfare if they're too close. To get one to move, direct a powerhead at it for a day or two, but not too high as if the anems skin tears its as good as dead. Never try to pull one from a rock, you will tear it and it will die. There is a method to remove them from rocks if you must, but it takes hours of work. Many people selling anems simply sell them with the rock they've attached to.

As a newb anem owner myself, I'm hoping this helps you a bit.

Aikachinatsu · 01/04/2015, 04:07 PM

It helps a lot. I know the anemone moves around on its own but is it normal for it to fall on its "head" while it moves around and be completely upside down? It's basically doing somersaults is that normal? And should I supply more rock in the QT for it to attach to? There's only one piece of live rock in the QT since sick animals go in there.

amrakweno · 01/04/2015, 05:41 PM

Im no expert and i'm not trying to insult your intelligence and just making sure, there's no copper in that QT tank is there? Only reason I ask is I assume some QT tanks dose copper. Just double checking.

Aikachinatsu · 01/04/2015, 08:44 PM

There is no copper or medication in the tank besides chemicals like stress coat and prime for the fish. The QT was recently treated with malachite green and formalin but I performed many water changes and added carbon since then.

Haleyf1024 · 01/04/2015, 09:40 PM

I would aim a powerhead at him and maybe place a small piece of liverock next to it since he is probably moving around trying to find his home. I didn't QT mine (please don't kill me lol) and mine attached to the rocks immediately. My best guess is that yours is doing the same and is just moving until he finds a spot he likes.

Aikachinatsu · 01/05/2015, 05:38 PM

Unfortunately it didn't make it :/ it shriveled up to nothing and expelled white goo from it's mouth

01/04/2015, 02:22 PM	#3
Aikachinatsu Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 27	It's just on its side and it's not white. The tentacles are still very pink. Mine looks like it's trying to move but is having trouble getting back up. It also gets really skinny in the middle and then plump again? What does that mean? Last edited by Aikachinatsu; 01/04/2015 at 02:31 PM.

01/04/2015, 02:00 PM	#1
Aikachinatsu Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 27	Anemone help?! I purchased a rose tip anemone yesterday that was very small, a recent offspring. I drip acclimated it to my system for 4 hours or so via a drip line and it seemed to handle it okay, but I was stupid and didn't test the water before hand. Little did I know I had a mini cycle going on with detectable ammonia, nothing too bad, but enough to cause stress. I re-acclimated the anemone to my QT and placed it in there, where it fully expanded. I left the light on overnight (LED's) and this morning it had shrunk to the size of a nickel. The tentacles were still out and pink, and it didn't spit anything out, but it has been tiny for over 5 hours. It seems to be moving around the aquarium slowly, but it is now laying on its side (its own doing). Should I set it upright near a rock, or leave it to minimalize stress? It's very small and somewhat shriveled, but the tentacles are still colorful and somewhat expanded. Water parameters look good and I switched the lighting to a higher wattage flourescent with actinics. It seems to like these lights better. Is it normal for anemones to shrink? What causes this, and what should I do? I've never kept an anemone before. The guy who sold it to me said it was easy to keep and not too demanding, but my research says otherwise. How do I know if it is dying?

01/04/2015, 02:09 PM	#2
Haleyf1024 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 63	Is it bleaching? Like turning white? When nems die they also look like they are deteriorating or falling apart. If it still has it's color I would give it a few more days to see what happens. Bubble tips shrivel/close up and look weird when they are releasing waste and will open again when they are done. Is it only on it's side, or completely upside down? I know my rose tip likes to close up at night or when the emerald crab tries to steal its food. At night mine crawls under his rock and comes out in the morning when the lights come on.

01/04/2015, 03:55 PM	#5
Mark_C Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Brick, NJ Posts: 139	Inherited a bubble tip anem about 2 months back and was told that rule #1 is Don't touch the anemone, it should be left totally alone for at least a week where it'll wander around the tank to find a place it likes. Rule number 2 was 'The anemone will go where it wants to and will set up where it wants to, not where you want it to'. Having a narrow waist is normal. The anem has its main body with tentacles, a 'waist', and a pedal disc, which is in effect its legs. It moves about on the pedal disc much like a snail. As per the plumping up and 'going skinny', this is normal. They take in and expel water on a regular basis. If you watch one through the course of the day you'll be astounded at the shape and color changes, it seems like 10 different animals. At times, for locomotion, it may 'inflate' and go with the flow of the tank to cover ground a bit quicker until it finds its place. The primary concern while its mobile are powerheads, if it gets too close to the back end of one it can get sucked in and shredded, spreading its poison through the tank, which is bad. So, at the moment it seems fine, just leave it alone. The time to worry is when one of a few things happen; it bleaches quickly, its mouth is constantly open (the mouth is in the center of the tentacle mass), or if there appears to be 'string' coming out of its mouth. If any of these happen keep an eye on it as it is quite sick, and once they die they decompose very quickly, poisoning the tank. If you are ever sure it is dead act quickly and get it out of the tank. Once it does establish itself, you can feed it if you like. i take a very small piece of raw frozen shrimp and place it on the tentacles once a week, it elicits a feeding response where the tentacles bring the food to the mouth. If you have a clownfish and it ever does pair up with the anem (mine took 6 weeks to pair), the clown will do the feeding of the anem for you. If it splits, keep an eye on it and make sure the new one moves to a new region of tank. They will compete with each other and launch into chemical warfare if they're too close. To get one to move, direct a powerhead at it for a day or two, but not too high as if the anems skin tears its as good as dead. Never try to pull one from a rock, you will tear it and it will die. There is a method to remove them from rocks if you must, but it takes hours of work. Many people selling anems simply sell them with the rock they've attached to. As a newb anem owner myself, I'm hoping this helps you a bit.

01/04/2015, 04:07 PM	#6
Aikachinatsu Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 27	It helps a lot. I know the anemone moves around on its own but is it normal for it to fall on its "head" while it moves around and be completely upside down? It's basically doing somersaults is that normal? And should I supply more rock in the QT for it to attach to? There's only one piece of live rock in the QT since sick animals go in there.

01/04/2015, 05:41 PM	#7
amrakweno Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 45	Im no expert and i'm not trying to insult your intelligence and just making sure, there's no copper in that QT tank is there? Only reason I ask is I assume some QT tanks dose copper. Just double checking.

01/04/2015, 08:44 PM	#8
Aikachinatsu Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 27	There is no copper or medication in the tank besides chemicals like stress coat and prime for the fish. The QT was recently treated with malachite green and formalin but I performed many water changes and added carbon since then.

01/04/2015, 09:40 PM	#9
Haleyf1024 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 63	I would aim a powerhead at him and maybe place a small piece of liverock next to it since he is probably moving around trying to find his home. I didn't QT mine (please don't kill me lol) and mine attached to the rocks immediately. My best guess is that yours is doing the same and is just moving until he finds a spot he likes.

01/05/2015, 05:38 PM	#10
Aikachinatsu Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 27	Unfortunately it didn't make it :/ it shriveled up to nothing and expelled white goo from it's mouth