Anemone Rescue....

[CurvBall]

Hi everybody,

So I read everything there is read about anemones and I know they're crazy difficult to take care of, but I still went and got a H. crispa when I got my saddle back clowns. That was almost 4-5 months back.

For the first 2-3 months the anemone was thriving, fed it once a week either small peice of shrimp or hake fish. The tentacles were sticky and it went from white to a lovely pinkish colour. Before I changed my MH bulb, the anemone retreated under a rock and remained hidden for a few days only to re ermerge at the back of the tank under less lighting (the bulb was still not changed)(the bulb was a 150w DE 5500K which was replaced with a 150w DE 18000K). This is when the anemone hit the downward spiral. Nothing changed during this period that I can think of, although I did add an extra sump and started to run my Berlin Classic skimmer. Water parameters haven't changed much with PH being 8.3, Alk 11Dkh, Nitrate 5ppm CA 440ppm. Temp is 80 but rises to 82 during main photoperiod. I add kalkwasser via top off system. The system in question holds roughly 120litres or (30-35g). I have a in sump 'fuge with caulerpa with reverse lighting. I also run carbon a few days every whenever I remember.

The anemone has moved back to it's original location now but is only 1/4 of it's orginal size. The tentacles aren't very sticky anymore and refuses to eat. It seems healthy, expanding when the halide kicks in and deflating at the end of the photoperiod. It hasn't moved from it's current location. It is getting adequate flow as the tentacles 'ruffle' through the current.

I really don't want to loose this guy.
Any advice or suggestion pls. (and pls lay off the 'We told you so story about keeping anemones' )
Thanks.

 

[gobie]

non sticky tenticals is a bad sign, but not reverseable.2 good signs, it still attaches it self to rocks and substraight. and it still expands during photo peroid. i would keep an eye on it though if it falls off and lays tenticals down or stops expanding get it out of your tank. you dont want that kind of mess swirling around and fouling out your water.
anemonies hate wide ph swings and this what oftentimes kills them. take several readings of ph thru out the day and night try to find out what the lowest ph is on your tank this should be right before the lights come on. also what is your salinity?
this also plays a vital role in the health in anemonies. I have seen people do water changes with water salinity that either drops or increases the tanks overall s.g. tempature is also another aspect if it increases/ decreases too fast or too much.
Lighting this is the one that is the one that is prob going to be your culprit. You went
from a 5500k to 18000k mh bulb so you went from a warm white to an ice white mh bulb and this is quite a kelvin change. I had a large carpet anemonie that touched the front and back glass of my old 55 gal tank. it was kept under 4 95watt pc's i decided that it was getting too big for my tank and took it to a local lfs who put it in a tank with 14000k mh bulb. it never opened up like it did in my tank and the owner of the lfs knew it cause he had seen it in my tank. it got moved to a store display with pc
and it opened right back up like it use to.

 

[uwscotch]

Funny thing with H. crispa. We think of anemones moving to a place they feel is suitable for their survival. My H. Crispas are a few years old. Dark in color and very healthy specimens. They are kept under p.c.. Recently, one of them decided to inflate in the back of the rocks where there was very little light. I could see it getting lighter by the day, it was essentially killing itself. I decided to take action after 2 weeks. I continually aggravated it with my finger and a ridged air line tubing. It finally deflated and I packed the hole it was expanding thru with rocks. It reinflated back to its original position only to be bleach white and no longer sticky. This was very similar to how I received the specimen. I went back to the daily feedings of Ocean Plankton, Mysis, etc. It recovered in about another 2 weeks, although it is now a little smaller. This works for me since my anemones are too big already. I feel once your anemone adjusts to the new light, it will be fine, just keep up with heavy feedings during this time. Even if they are not sticky, shoving a ball of food next to their mouth will cause them to close up and they will at least receive some nourishment.

I think you are fine and good luck.

Aaron

 

[CurvBall]

Hi Everybody,

I lost my anemone It was 'melting' away when I checked on it on Saturday morning. It basically disintegrated when I removed it from my tank. I'm very upset about this lose as it was 'apparently' doing so well. Now my poor saddleback clowns are homeless and actually look pretty lost in the tank... oh well. Thanks again for your support and help.