Please see other post for description of issues! Mainly, I fed my month old anemone 4 days ago. He looked awesome the following day, but I'm quite sure he's dying now. Has stayed behind rock for 2 days. White THICK trail of something comes from foot. Do I take him out, or can he recover?
Please help my anemone
- Thread starter Kelly5978
- Start date
And....it worked!!!! Okay, so 2 days hiding after being fed sea scallop. He usually stretches to surface. No smell. However, I'm terrified he'll die and kill entire tank. He looks a little better now, and hasn't let go of rock, but he stays in the dark. If he is not better by morning? Do I need to take him out 
. 55g tank, 0 ammonia/Trites, less than 5 trates, ph-8.2, alk-11, salinity: 1.025, calcium:400, lighting: 1 evergrow 120. Plan to purchase second light soon. However, my one led is set to 50% on both blues and whites. Run blues from 2 pm -2 am. Whites 7-12 pm. He has always seemed to stay out of light. I found him "laying in sand". But, responded to touch and is def moving. I've had him a month. My tank is newer, but everything else is doing well. I will try to attach a video of him eating for the first time a few days ago. I love this thing, but can't risk the whole thing if he dies. Questions:
1. Could this still be that I just fed too much? Could he still come out and be fine?
2. If he's still attached to rock, is there still hope?
3. What is the trail of stuff coming out of him (see vid)? It's too thick to be POo, and seemed to come from a clump on the foot.
4. I did see yellowish brown coming out (again see vid). Could he just be having a hard time digesting?
5. How long can he be in dark behind rocks before he dies?
6. How can clowns host an anemone, if it shrivels and deflates every night (or are they not supposed to?
Please help me! I don't want to lose him, but am fearful of a tank crash if he dies!
. 55g tank, 0 ammonia/Trites, less than 5 trates, ph-8.2, alk-11, salinity: 1.025, calcium:400, lighting: 1 evergrow 120. Plan to purchase second light soon. However, my one led is set to 50% on both blues and whites. Run blues from 2 pm -2 am. Whites 7-12 pm. He has always seemed to stay out of light. I found him "laying in sand". But, responded to touch and is def moving. I've had him a month. My tank is newer, but everything else is doing well. I will try to attach a video of him eating for the first time a few days ago. I love this thing, but can't risk the whole thing if he dies. Questions:1. Could this still be that I just fed too much? Could he still come out and be fine?
2. If he's still attached to rock, is there still hope?
3. What is the trail of stuff coming out of him (see vid)? It's too thick to be POo, and seemed to come from a clump on the foot.
4. I did see yellowish brown coming out (again see vid). Could he just be having a hard time digesting?
5. How long can he be in dark behind rocks before he dies?
6. How can clowns host an anemone, if it shrivels and deflates every night (or are they not supposed to?
Please help me! I don't want to lose him, but am fearful of a tank crash if he dies!
It's kind of hard to see anything in you video, but it does look like your anemone is not attached to a hard surface.
Anemones can be tricky. Look for any possible damage to the anemone. That can be a major problem. On the other hand, it may simply just be moving to a new location. After being fed they sometimes shrink up for a day or two.
Anemones require top quality water, excellent light, and a well established tank. How long have you had your tank set up? How large is it? What kind of filtration and skimming is on it? What kind of lighting is on it?
What are the exact parameter readings? A statement like "Params are good." doesn't tell us anything because we don't know what you tested for and what the results were. What might seem good to you could indicate a problem to us.
I wouldn't attempt to move the anemone, unless it seems to be dead or dieing. Your are likely to cause more problems with it. There usually isn't much you can do to treat an anemone other than to maintain good conditions for it. A modest partial water change may help.
Good luck.
Anemones can be tricky. Look for any possible damage to the anemone. That can be a major problem. On the other hand, it may simply just be moving to a new location. After being fed they sometimes shrink up for a day or two.
Anemones require top quality water, excellent light, and a well established tank. How long have you had your tank set up? How large is it? What kind of filtration and skimming is on it? What kind of lighting is on it?
What are the exact parameter readings? A statement like "Params are good." doesn't tell us anything because we don't know what you tested for and what the results were. What might seem good to you could indicate a problem to us.
I wouldn't attempt to move the anemone, unless it seems to be dead or dieing. Your are likely to cause more problems with it. There usually isn't much you can do to treat an anemone other than to maintain good conditions for it. A modest partial water change may help.
Good luck.
Params : 0 ammonia/Trites, under 5 trates, ph-8.2, alk-11, salinity-1.025, calcium 400. I would like to just do water changes, and pray he's just digesting. But, if he dies, can he truly wipe out my entire tank?
What is the trail of white glob looking stuff that seems to come from foot? Could that be injury or fungus or infection of some kind?
Do I take him out or not? How do I know if he's dying? I've read a dying anemone appears to "melt". No idea what that's supposed to look like? This IS all happening after feeding for the first time. It was a sea scallop from grocery store fresh section. If he does survive, am I better off not feeding him?
He looks dull in color, but refuses to stretch to the light.
I guess I'm asking how to know if it's dying?
What is the trail of white glob looking stuff that seems to come from foot? Could that be injury or fungus or infection of some kind?
Do I take him out or not? How do I know if he's dying? I've read a dying anemone appears to "melt". No idea what that's supposed to look like? This IS all happening after feeding for the first time. It was a sea scallop from grocery store fresh section. If he does survive, am I better off not feeding him?
He looks dull in color, but refuses to stretch to the light.
I guess I'm asking how to know if it's dying?
Coraljunkie
Well-Known Member
Your zoomed in way too much for us to be able to gauge anything but from the first video it looks like the foot is not attached and the tentacles are shrinking. Here's a good link http://www.karensroseanemones.net/
Good :read: link ^ and advise from Dave
[video=youtube;zhu2WhKe0nI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhu2WhKe0nI&feature=youtu.be[/video]
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ay-post-pics-photobucket-nanoreefing4fun.html
[video=youtube;zhu2WhKe0nI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhu2WhKe0nI&feature=youtu.be[/video]
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ay-post-pics-photobucket-nanoreefing4fun.html
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
what else do you have in the tank? If it a pretty new tank like I think it is then even if he dies it wont wipe out your tank. Keep an eye on him. If he does die then pull but other then that all you can do is watch. Nems like Dave said sometimes when they eat they will shrink up. Also when they move sometimes they will leave a little bit of it. Also not sure if this is your first nem but you do know they eat and void through the same hole. I have seen nems go behind a rock for a couple weeks just to recover from what ever and then come back out and be fine. So first dont panic. There is nothing you can do at this time but make sure you have perfect water and you might also consider turning up the blues to 75% or higher. If its one of the china d120s you might not be giving the nem enough light. I always ran my blues at 100% on those but I dont know if you have optics on yours or not so I dont want you to burn anything
reefer gladness
Well-Known Member
Really hard to see what's going on in the vid but from what you described it may have too large of a piece of food and it's spitting it back out. I generally feed silversides to my BTA's about once per month, breaking them in 1/2 while still frozen is the easiest way to get smaller pieces. You don't want to feed anything larger than the nems mouth.
To answer your other questions. Yes there is still hope if the nem is still attached and the tentacles are sticky, the smell test was a good idea. Nems can retreat to darkness for weeks possibly depending on how healthy they were to start but it's not a happy condition. Nems may not fully expand at night but healthy ones don't close up all the way normally, either way the clownfish will stick with the nem once the relationship starts.
Here's a good source of info for BTA's: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/feedingyourbta.htm
Only other observation I have is there appears to be very little water circulation from the vid, I barely see the tentacles moving and nems like a decent amount of water flow. Here's an older vid of the BTA's in my tank to give you an idea of how much water movement they can handle.
[video=youtube;SjBuVpF_qPM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjBuVpF_qPM[/video]
To answer your other questions. Yes there is still hope if the nem is still attached and the tentacles are sticky, the smell test was a good idea. Nems can retreat to darkness for weeks possibly depending on how healthy they were to start but it's not a happy condition. Nems may not fully expand at night but healthy ones don't close up all the way normally, either way the clownfish will stick with the nem once the relationship starts.
Here's a good source of info for BTA's: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/feedingyourbta.htm
Only other observation I have is there appears to be very little water circulation from the vid, I barely see the tentacles moving and nems like a decent amount of water flow. Here's an older vid of the BTA's in my tank to give you an idea of how much water movement they can handle.
[video=youtube;SjBuVpF_qPM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjBuVpF_qPM[/video]
Thank you for all the responses! First, if I can figure out photobucket, i will try to show the tank. When we received the nem, we put on sand bed, lights at 50%. He moved behind the rocks to this spot. He never moved since. It is the spot in the tank that has the least amount of light, and flow. This IS my first nem, and I did know they excrete and eat from same spot, but was told they would move around until they found a spot they liked. He has never moved, so I left leave this side of the tank alone. I do not think he is getting enough light, but I was told not to force him to go where I want him! Why in the world does he want to be in the dark....no flow? For the first few weeks, he kept his foot in this dark, flowless spot, and stretched up to sit between the rocks at the surface. But, a day after I fed him, he retreated to this spot by foot, and has only peeked out a tiny bit. His tentacles near the surface look better than the ones near the sand.
Something is coming out of him. It looks a lot larger than anything I've seen come out before, but if it's really possible he's just spitting out the scallop still (5 days now), then I would really like to give him time to come back out!
I have the following in this tank: 2 damsels, 2 clowns, a newer coral beauty, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp (who hangs out near the nem most of the time, and stole the piece of shrimp I first tried to feed, a green goby, a bicolor Blenny, and countless blue leg crabs, snails, slugs, bristleworms, etc. I used all live rock, and have added more clean up crew myself.
Corals: candy cane, hammer, colt, toadstool, rhodactus, ricordia, mushrooms, war coral, and zoas. None are close to the nem.
Here are my thoughts/questions:
1. The damsels are jerks. When the nem was out and happy, he would always retreat a little when the dumb damsels would go chasing by his foot. Could they have hurt him? If so, I just wait to see?
2. I do not know how to tell how big his mouth is? I have a picture of him in the first week where people told me he was stressed cause his mouth was "open" and out. Is his mouth the entire middle where no tentacles are? Or just the little hole? He is 4" across tentacles when fully open. If his mouth is just the "hole", then I did feed too big a piece. But, I watched him pull it in the mouth and disappear in a matter of minutes. I thought he must have been really hungry?
3. So if he is puking guts, how long could that take? Won't he die without light?
4. How can I tell if he is still attached to rock, if he's not stretched to surface? His foot is in the exact same spot it always has been, except now it looks puffed up where it meets the rock. Not sure if that's because he's detaching, or just cause he's shrunk so close to rock? I touched the foot (where it met rock) with the wood skewer. He recoiled, and the foot didn't move from rock. Doesn't that mean he's attached still?
5. I can't reach him without moving rocks. I can't sniff him, touch him with hand to see if sticky,....nothing. Am I at a point where I should move rock to see if he's even sticky/stinky? Or wait and hope?
Again, he's my fav thing in my tank. I would do anytging to save him! But, if there's nothing I can do....and he is in fact dying, I really can't risk the tank! This has been an extremely expensive adventure...and I'm not rich! lol. I don't smell anything different from the surface, but he's below rocks...right below overflow box. Really hope I can post pics! I REALLY want to know if it's puking guts, or melting! Would melting happen from the foot? All I can see is a thick (thicker than his tentacles) LONG (wraps around foot) glob of stuff. It looks like it's coming from his foot, but it may be wrapped around underneath. It looks way bigger than the globs I've seen come out before. The piece of scallop was literally smaller than my pinky nail. It's hard to imagine that this long string of gunk was the scallop! Could melting look like a rope of gunk? I'm going to try photobucket now!
Something is coming out of him. It looks a lot larger than anything I've seen come out before, but if it's really possible he's just spitting out the scallop still (5 days now), then I would really like to give him time to come back out!
I have the following in this tank: 2 damsels, 2 clowns, a newer coral beauty, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp (who hangs out near the nem most of the time, and stole the piece of shrimp I first tried to feed, a green goby, a bicolor Blenny, and countless blue leg crabs, snails, slugs, bristleworms, etc. I used all live rock, and have added more clean up crew myself.
Corals: candy cane, hammer, colt, toadstool, rhodactus, ricordia, mushrooms, war coral, and zoas. None are close to the nem.
Here are my thoughts/questions:
1. The damsels are jerks. When the nem was out and happy, he would always retreat a little when the dumb damsels would go chasing by his foot. Could they have hurt him? If so, I just wait to see?
2. I do not know how to tell how big his mouth is? I have a picture of him in the first week where people told me he was stressed cause his mouth was "open" and out. Is his mouth the entire middle where no tentacles are? Or just the little hole? He is 4" across tentacles when fully open. If his mouth is just the "hole", then I did feed too big a piece. But, I watched him pull it in the mouth and disappear in a matter of minutes. I thought he must have been really hungry?
3. So if he is puking guts, how long could that take? Won't he die without light?
4. How can I tell if he is still attached to rock, if he's not stretched to surface? His foot is in the exact same spot it always has been, except now it looks puffed up where it meets the rock. Not sure if that's because he's detaching, or just cause he's shrunk so close to rock? I touched the foot (where it met rock) with the wood skewer. He recoiled, and the foot didn't move from rock. Doesn't that mean he's attached still?
5. I can't reach him without moving rocks. I can't sniff him, touch him with hand to see if sticky,....nothing. Am I at a point where I should move rock to see if he's even sticky/stinky? Or wait and hope?
Again, he's my fav thing in my tank. I would do anytging to save him! But, if there's nothing I can do....and he is in fact dying, I really can't risk the tank! This has been an extremely expensive adventure...and I'm not rich! lol. I don't smell anything different from the surface, but he's below rocks...right below overflow box. Really hope I can post pics! I REALLY want to know if it's puking guts, or melting! Would melting happen from the foot? All I can see is a thick (thicker than his tentacles) LONG (wraps around foot) glob of stuff. It looks like it's coming from his foot, but it may be wrapped around underneath. It looks way bigger than the globs I've seen come out before. The piece of scallop was literally smaller than my pinky nail. It's hard to imagine that this long string of gunk was the scallop! Could melting look like a rope of gunk? I'm going to try photobucket now!
reefer gladness
Well-Known Member
The nems mouth is the little hole at the center of the disc. If the food was too big it would still probably try to eat but it could be too large for it to digest and is regurgitating it back up. This is what we're hoping is the case, otherwise it may be the nem is puking it's guts out in which case it's not going to make it.
Kind of a long shot but here's a pic of one of my nems when it was splitting, note you can see the guts of the nem on the left side but I never see anything oozing out.
At the end of the day nems are almost entirely water and I suspect it's not happy with one of your water parameters. You're a little new here so can you tell us more about your tank and husbandry? How old? How much live rock? Type of filtration? How large and frequent are water changes? Do you dose anything?
By the way, alkalinity of 11 dkh is at the high end of the acceptable range. This seems out of balance with the calcium at 400 ppm so I'm wondering if this is the salt being used, or if you dose something to increase alk. Acclimation could have played a role here depending on the water the nem came from and how the acclimation was done.
In the worse case scenario if the nem dies it's very difficult to remove by hand (think jello in water). A turkey baster is a handy way to suck up the pieces before it fouls up the tank.
Kind of a long shot but here's a pic of one of my nems when it was splitting, note you can see the guts of the nem on the left side but I never see anything oozing out.
At the end of the day nems are almost entirely water and I suspect it's not happy with one of your water parameters. You're a little new here so can you tell us more about your tank and husbandry? How old? How much live rock? Type of filtration? How large and frequent are water changes? Do you dose anything?
By the way, alkalinity of 11 dkh is at the high end of the acceptable range. This seems out of balance with the calcium at 400 ppm so I'm wondering if this is the salt being used, or if you dose something to increase alk. Acclimation could have played a role here depending on the water the nem came from and how the acclimation was done.
In the worse case scenario if the nem dies it's very difficult to remove by hand (think jello in water). A turkey baster is a handy way to suck up the pieces before it fouls up the tank.
