Sick Bubble Tip Anemone

kdsmithey · Mar 18, 2021

Hi All,

I am hoping I can get some help with my green bubble tip anemone. I have only had it for 2 weeks. From the start, the anemone would inflate and deflate several times throughout the day. I wasn’t too concerned as it would usually inflate within an hour or so. In the last couple days, it’s appearance has become more concerning. The deflating looks more severe and it does not inflate as often or stay inflated as long as prior.

The tank has been setup for roughly 6.5 months.

Tank parameters:
Salinity 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrate .5
Nitrite 0
Phosphate .1
Calcium 440
PH 8.2
KH 165
Magnesium 1,307

The pictures are all within an hour of each other, but this has been current state for the last 2 days.

Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciate.

Crabby48 · Mar 18, 2021

I don’t have any advice but what lights are on your tank?

kdsmithey · Mar 18, 2021

Crabby48 said:
I don’t have any advice but what lights are on your tank?

Thanks, I meant to include that info. 2 Kessil A360X on a JBJ 65. The lighting cycle is set to the BRS recommendation from a video they posted for reef tanks.

Here is a picture I just took now. I understand that some inflating/deflating is to be expected, but this has seemed excessive.

laverda · Mar 18, 2021

Anemones and most living thing in our aquariums require phosphate. BTAs prefer nitrates 10-20 as it is a food source for them. If your doing anything to lower both, I would stop or reduce substantially. If not you may need to dose N & P.
Also if your Alkalinity is 1.65 meg/l it is very low and BTAs will not be happy there. BTAs defiantly like stable Alkalinity I would aim for closer to 3.00meg/l.

dvgyfresh · Mar 18, 2021

Could be a bacterial infection and may need cipro , also all living things need phosphate I would increase as to not be a 0 reading

kdsmithey · Mar 18, 2021

laverda said:
Anemones and most living thing in our aquariums require phosphate. BTAs prefer nitrates 10-20 as it is a food source for them. If your doing anything to lower both, I would stop or reduce substantially. If not you may need to dose N & P.
Also if your Alkalinity is 1.65 meg/l it is very low and BTAs will not be happy there. BTAs defiantly like stable Alkalinity I would aim for closer to 3.00meg/l.

Thanks. That was a typo. My phosphate is 0.1. I jumped to the next line too quickly. I will edit that.

kdsmithey · Mar 18, 2021

dvgyfresh said:
Could be a bacterial infection and may need cipro , also all living things need phosphate I would increase as to not be a 0 reading

Thank you. 0 was a typo. Phosphate is .1. This may be a silly question, but is there a recommendation on how to remove the anemone from the rock to treat with cipro?

Uncle99 · Mar 18, 2021

If your water is not stable, he will be unhappy.
6.5 months since setup, but how long stable?
It’s quite tough IMM to achieve solid stability in 6 months.

kdsmithey · Mar 18, 2021

Uncle99 said:
If your water is not stable, he will be unhappy.
6.5 months since setup, but how long stable?
It’s quite tough IMM to achieve solid stability in 6 months.

Water has been very stable for at least 4 months. I don’t always trust my testing, so I get my water tested at my LFS every few weeks using an aquaspin just to confirm. I have documented and trended my readings since the beginning.

I have struggled with nitrate. I stay right at .5.

dvgyfresh · Mar 18, 2021

kdsmithey said:
Thank you. 0 was a typo. Phosphate is .1. This may be a silly question, but is there a recommendation on how to remove the anemone from the rock to treat with cipro?

Nitrate to phosphate ratio should be at 16:1 , nitrate is very low get some neo nitro to increase at precision or feed more