A wee bit concerned

[Yarr]

I came home for easter to find that my anenome has shrunk in size by a considerable degree and is bleached out.

The water params are stable and havent varied a great deal in many months now. He sits high in the tank and usually loves it. Has been a well loved member of our tank for about a year atleast.

Anyone have any ideas on what is going on ?

[Witfull]

how old are the bulbs?

[Woodstock]

Hi Yarr! Are the bulbs normal output?

[Yarr]

bearing in mind they are only fluros still....... th4ey are about 8 months old. 2x 14k and a actinic blue

[Witfull]

not enough light!

what kind of anemone?

[Yarr]

It has bene in the tank fine and happy for ages.. just funny how all of a sudden iit is sick... most odd.

[Charlie97L]

so you're running under VHO's only? that would be the problem. It may just have taken a while for the reality of the lighting to set in. has it been moving around a lot?

[Yarr]

No. it doesn't move around a lot at all. It may move slightly but never leaving the immediate area where it is and has bene perched for the better part of a year. It is becuase of this that i dont think that lighting is the MAJOR cause of this problem. I think it is unreasonable to simply state that lighting is the issue. For an animal to be kicking along fine and dandy for an extended period of time to suddenly take a turn for the worse logically cannot be attributed to 'reality' kicking in.

[Charlie97L]

i'm not saying that was definitely the problem... just suggesting. perhaps your bulbs stopped putting out the PAR it needed? It's been proven that anemones need a lot of light, and if you just have VHO's I would certainly say that's a contributing factor, and SW animals can definitely have a slow decline. If you have PCs, it's probably ok. However, I will agree, if this is a sudden change, the something else is probably at play.

Carpet anemones are notoriously finnicky as well (if that's what it is, I couldn't really tell from that picture). One of the LFS here had a green one in a tank with 2 GSM clowns, for about 4 years, it was healthy, and then one day, it just up and died, for no reason that the seasoned veterean/owner could tell.

[Witfull]

sorry Ian,

didnt mean to sound mean, it just that anemones need LOTS of light to thrive. they are very long lived animals, and if under marginal conditions they can also be very slow dying creatures.

http://www.carlosreef.com/AnemoneFAQ.pdf

Anemones are shallow water, photosynthetic tropical inverts. They all require bright
lighting in order to thrive. A few species (E. quadricolor and S. haddoni) will thrive
under bright VHO fluorescent lighting, but for the most part all other species require very
bright lighting that includes metal halides.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html

The shape and behavior of tropical host anemones both serve to increase the amount of area available for "harvesting" sunlight, and with few exceptions, intense lighting (typical of coral reef tanks) is required for anemones gain sufficient energy for survival. Some species are found exclusively in very shallow water and only in areas that are directly exposed tp sunlight

[mps9506]

I would have to agree. If you water parameters are stable and correct (ie. no ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, correct calcium alk and pH), I would suspect insuffcient lighting as well. I've seen anemones survive for months under 40 watt NO lights, however they all eventually bleach and melt.
But just to make sure we are on the same page, what size tank are we talking about here and what wattage bulbs?

[Yarr]

I didnt mean to sound snappy. I do understand that the lighting arrangment isnt ideal.. or even anywhere near adequate for my tank ( 100 gal ). It is a probelm i am addressing. but not before getting myself a chiller.

The point i was trying to make ( badly ) is that i would have seen a gradual decline in the animals shape colouring and size. not almost overnight a reduction of about 150% in size and complete bleaching.


My concern now is if this animal is going to die completely what is the best way to remove it from the tank before it poisons everything?

[Witfull]

anemones rarely suddenly die, except during shipping. its more that the dont show signs of decline. i would try to pump up the light any way you can, add some regular flour. shoplights over it, natural sun.

do you feed him? they can be brought back with feedings to make up for lighting. the carpet i got last summer was kept for a long time in a small tank with NO flour. light. it survived (sometimes i dont know how) with feedings of silversides. it was so weak it couldnt even grasp food, it had to be force fed. it was beginning to bleach badly when i got it. once under halides, it slowwwwly recovered. now he is back in prime shape.(i hope).

so all is not lost, but he is telling you something needs to be done now. hes asking for help.

[Yarr]

Im sure

I will actively feed him more often. usually one a week atm. he was usually doing fine by himeself but i decided to suppliment it with target feeding.