Rockflower Anemone help - Shrinking?

[mhaley98]

Hi everyone!
I got this beautiful rock flower anemone on January 12th of this year. It has grown more vibrant the longer I have had it, and has seemed to be doing great up until maybe a week ago.
Recently I have noticed that it appears that it is almost shrinking? (which I know can be a sign that it isn't doing well.) I target feed it mysis or brine shrimp once a week.
I have also noticed that it has a brown stringy layer around the base of the foot where it is dug into the sand (can't find anything about this online)
I am just wondering if it is anything I should be worried about, I know it is hard to tell from the photos, but it is definitely smaller than it usually is. I do have two other rock flower nems on the other side of my tank that appear to be doing well, although they are in a more so shaded area of my tank.
Possible causes?:
- Could it be possible that it is getting too much light? (light intensity of my tank has not changed since I got it).
- Could it be possible that it is getting too much flow? (flow intensity also has not changed)
- Could it be coral warfare from softies, or other rock flower nems? (GSP, Zoas, mushrooms, ricordea)
- I slowly switched my salts about a month ago from red sea coral pro to the blue bucket red sea salt. (I switched because I was having issues maintaining my alk. No issues with fluctuating alk anymore since the switch, nem was fine when alk was fluctuating)
- I have been doing water changes once a week for the past month to maintain my parameters better (I know water changes can make them angry)
- I added a protein skimmer last week, but I only run it for maybe 2 hours every day.
Thanks for your input!
(full tank photo is from a couple of months ago, likely in Feb, close up is from today)
Most recent parameters:
Temp: 77 (fluctuates a bit but goes no lower than 76.0)
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 400ppm
KH: 9
pH: 8.2
Phosphate: 0-0.25 (API test, massive range, going to get a more sensitive kit for more precise reading)
Potassium: 380ppm
Mag: 1260
My Tank:
15 gallon cube
Kessil 350 (only turned up maybe 30% on blues, less than 10% on whites)
HOB filter with carbon, filter floss, ceramic rubble stuff in pouch
In tank skimmer (bubble magnus)
ATO
Inhabitants:
- 2 clowns
- Halloween Hermit crab
- 1 red hermit and one blue and red hermit
- 1 golden coral banded shrimp (the small kind that won't grow as big)
- 7 different kinds of snails

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would not worry about the light or flow, they will move if they want.

It looks good in the pic above, and I don't see anything alarming in your post.....

If anything at all I would say keep an eye on the coral banded shrimp. I don't know if it would munch on an rfa, but I did used to have one that ate my sun coral.

 

[mhaley98]

Attaching some updated photos for further help. Things have not improved, a couple of nights ago he spewed out his oral disk but I noticed that he had spit out some sand while doing so (So I am not too worried about that part)
At night he looks like the picture with the white lights on, he has these weird bubble like protrusions on his sides, he is also shedding a brown slough that looks like brown cobwebs. He is however still responsive to touch.
My Duncan coral above it was really angry yesterday and wouldn't open. It is looking better today but still not as full as it usually looks. My GSP will also not open up.
For reference I have a 15 gallon tank and did a 2 gallon water change yesterday and a really good sand vacuum because my nitrates were up to 25. I also detected some ammonia in the water which led me to do the water change.
My question is should I take this anemone out, or is there a chance that it will survive? It is beautiful and still alive but I don't want to sacrifice my whole tank. Is it disintegrating?

Parameters from yesterday:
Nitrates: 23.00
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: about 0.25 (API test not very sensitive but not 0.)
Phosphate: 0-0.25 (same as above)
Calcium: 380
KH: 9
Mag: 1290
Potassium: 340
Salinity: 1.025
temp: 77
Sanity: 0%

 

[mhaley98]

@Ron Reefman
Bringing in the big guns here, I've seen that you're the RFA guru, any way you would so so kind as to help me out? Any ideas why my RFA is sloughing and if I should remove it before it nukes my tank?
Thank you so much in advance

 

[crazyfishmom]

RFAs will not nuke a tank. Looks like this guy was not getting enough light where he was.

 

[mhaley98]

RFAs will not nuke a tank. Looks like this guy was not getting enough light where he was.

He is in one of the sunniest areas of my tank, but I only run blues. Would you recommend turning some white light on as well?
Would the lack of light cause the tissue to slough off as it has been?
He hasn't moved form this spot since he has settled, I assumed that meant that he was happy with the amount of light that he was getting.
(Thank you for your reply by the way)

 

[crazyfishmom]

He is in one of the sunniest areas of my tank, but I only run blues. Would you recommend turning some white light on as well?
Would the lack of light cause the tissue to slough off as it has been?
He hasn't moved form this spot since he has settled, I assumed that meant that he was happy with the amount of light that he was getting.
(Thank you for your reply by the way)

From what I understand, anemones require more white light than corals. Running some white would probably be good for them. That said, if tissue is coming off he’s likely on his way out unfortunately. Also, I don’t think RFAs move as much as other anemones and he may have found a spot in your tank that seemed good from the flow perspective and stayed there. Did you ever feed him? I feed all my RFA and BTAs once or twice a week with small pieces of mysis and they’re all super plump.

 

[JoJosReef]

That Kessil should be enough for a 15 gal cube. At 30% blue + 10% white, is it giving you the color/spectrum you prefer? Don't be shy about raising the whites if you don't mind whites. Although without a PAR meter, it's hard to know if you are blasting the RFA or not. RFAs in my experience are quite adaptable to PAR ranges and just move if they're not happy.

Tell me more about the brown stringy stuff below the RFA. That doesn't sound good. Are you regularly getting brown gunk on the sand bed?

The RFA doesn't look in critical condition, but if you notice that it has its mouth gaping a lot or it's starting to "prolapse" constantly, might be time to be proactive and take it out for a dip or relocate. Do you have anything dumping sand on it frequently?

 

[mhaley98]

That Kessil should be enough for a 15 gal cube. At 30% blue + 10% white, is it giving you the color/spectrum you prefer? Don't be shy about raising the whites if you don't mind whites. Although without a PAR meter, it's hard to know if you are blasting the RFA or not. RFAs in my experience are quite adaptable to PAR ranges and just move if they're not happy.

Tell me more about the brown stringy stuff below the RFA. That doesn't sound good. Are you regularly getting brown gunk on the sand bed?

The RFA doesn't look in critical condition, but if you notice that it has its mouth gaping a lot or it's starting to "prolapse" constantly, might be time to be proactive and take it out for a dip or relocate. Do you have anything dumping sand on it frequently?

I have the whites up now and will keep it that way for a bit to see if it helps at all!
I don't have anything that would blow sand on it, I believe I may have done it while blowing off my rockwork in my tank.
The brown stringy stuff almost looks like dry skin when I look at it under normal lights. I left some of it (along with some detritus that I suctioned off the rockwork) overnight in my small measuring cup that I use for my tank, and it smelled really badly. (this could have been the detritus as well but probably the sloughed off material, which makes me think it could be decaying). I do not have this brown stringy stuff anywhere else in my tank, only around the body of the nem and between the sand, which leads me to believe it is my nem. (Im just at such a loss as to whether it is dying or not because It will go back and forth between looking okay to looking weird, but ALWAYS has the brown stuff around the base. I have removed it once but it came back.)

What would you recommend that I dip it in? I live in Canada and our laws on the aquarium hobby are very strict. No antibiotics or anything similar available to us that I am aware of. I was also told specifically not to dip it because it could kill it (but I would be willing to try anything before I throw away this beautiful animal.)

 

[mhaley98]

From what I understand, anemones require more white light than corals. Running some white would probably be good for them. That said, if tissue is coming off he’s likely on his way out unfortunately. Also, I don’t think RFAs move as much as other anemones and he may have found a spot in your tank that seemed good from the flow perspective and stayed there. Did you ever feed him? I feed all my RFA and BTAs once or twice a week with small pieces of mysis and they’re all super plump.

Ultra RFA's come from deeper in the ocean than most other nems apparently (which from what I have researched means that any light they do get from that deep is blue light), and as a result they do not require as much light as other types of Nems. They get most of their energy from eating food which is why I feed my nems mysis shrimp usually 2x a week (bryne shrimp and mysis alternating).

 

[JoJosReef]

I have the whites up now and will keep it that way for a bit to see if it helps at all!
I don't have anything that would blow sand on it, I believe I may have done it while blowing off my rockwork in my tank.
The brown stringy stuff almost looks like dry skin when I look at it under normal lights. I left some of it (along with some detritus that I suctioned off the rockwork) overnight in my small measuring cup that I use for my tank, and it smelled really badly. (this could have been the detritus as well but probably the sloughed off material, which makes me think it could be decaying). I do not have this brown stringy stuff anywhere else in my tank, only around the body of the nem and between the sand, which leads me to believe it is my nem. (Im just at such a loss as to whether it is dying or not because It will go back and forth between looking okay to looking weird, but ALWAYS has the brown stuff around the base. I have removed it once but it came back.)

What would you recommend that I dip it in? I live in Canada and our laws on the aquarium hobby are very strict. No antibiotics or anything similar available to us that I am aware of. I was also told specifically not to dip it because it could kill it (but I would be willing to try anything before I throw away this beautiful animal.)

Yes, some people dip anemones in antibiotics like ciprofloxacin. Given, that's most often seen with magnificas and haddonis, but same would apply to an RFA that you suspect might have an infection, and brown stinky gunk coming off of it doesn't sound like healthy tissue to me. I would not dip it in coral dip because that is meant to remove pests, which are not a concern with your nem and wouldn't help it in any case.

Note, if you do end up tracking down antibiotics to treat your nem, please do so responsibly. That means treating the nem, returning it to your DT, and then bleaching the dip water (add at least 10% volume of bleach for 30 min) and tupper before dumping it.

 

[friedoysterskin]

Was the anemone shipped to you? They don't ship very well. I purchased about 20 of them from various vendors, every batch came with dying anemones and some that slowly withered within months like yours. Only about half of them survived. Your anemone definitely looks like a goner.

 

[mhaley98]

Was the anemone shipped to you? They don't ship very well. I purchased about 20 of them from various vendors, every batch came with dying anemones and some that slowly withered within months like yours. Only about half of them survived. Your anemone definitely looks like a goner.

I didn't get him shipped to me, but obviously it did get shipped to the fish store. I have no idea why he's been doing this, it has been ongoing for almost a month now. Could dirty sand around the base cause this? I just tried to scoop him out to put him in a cup to observe, and I could NOT get him to let go, so I thought that was a good sign and so I left him. I am going to observe him to see what ends up happening. Ill attach photos in my next post

 

[mhaley98]

@friedoysterskin @JoJosReef @crazyfishmom
Hey guys, as I said above I went to move him to a jar for closer observation, but his foot would NOT let go, tried to tickle the foot and tried the turkey baster for 30 minutes with no luck.
I was able to get a good photo of the base, the full photo of him is down to the glass (just a small layer of sand there). I also got some photos of the shedding that I am speaking of. I smelled the container and the skin and there was no smell...
I am going to leave him for now just to watch, I will keep you guys updated unless you think I should remove him?
Thanks again for all your help

 

[crazyfishmom]

@friedoysterskin @JoJosReef @crazyfishmom
Hey guys, as I said above I went to move him to a jar for closer observation, but his foot would NOT let go, tried to tickle the foot and tried the turkey baster for 30 minutes with no luck.
I was able to get a good photo of the base, the full photo of him is down to the glass (just a small layer of sand there). I also got some photos of the shedding that I am speaking of. I smelled the container and the skin and there was no smell...
I am going to leave him for now just to watch, I will keep you guys updated unless you think I should remove him?
Thanks again for all your help

The fact that he’s that attached is a very good sign.

A couple of other things to consider would be trying to add some phyto to the tank along with feeding him oyster feast or something like that which is highly nutritious.

 

[JoJosReef]

The fact that he’s that attached is a very good sign.

A couple of other things to consider would be trying to add some phyto to the tank along with feeding him oyster feast or something like that which is highly nutritious.

I second @crazyfishmom OysterFeast is an excellent nutritional supplement. Mix with a bit of ROE and that's like chicken soup for a cold. If your nem still has sticky tentacles and will catch the food, that is a good sign. They tend to stop grabbing food when they are on their way out.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@Ron Reefman
Bringing in the big guns here, I've seen that you're the RFA guru, any way you would so so kind as to help me out? Any ideas why my RFA is sloughing and if I should remove it before it nukes my tank?
Thank you so much in advance

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I've been otherwise involved in family activities here.

I wish I could give you a solid answer, but I can't. The idea that colorful RFAs come from deeper water is true and therefore, likely need less light and certainly less white light. I think feeding them once a week, or more often if its small food rather than chunks of fish, is helpful. But with yours struggling, I'm not sure it would even take food.

I find most RFAs to be quite adaptable to conditions, however, I just lost 4 out of 5 new RFAs I bought. And this was into a tank that already had 3 colorful RFAs, 3 local shallow water RFAs, 3 Rose Bubbletips and 2 maxi-minis! Only one of them would attach to anything. I was also told these RFAs came from South America and not the Caribbean.