Help, Anemone dying?

[Pokerdave]

Ok, I'll try to give enough detail here to get some help... not sure how to post a picture...

Aquarium, Red Sea Max 250
2 months going now
started with 50 lbs live rock and salt water from the LFS.
Went a little faster than likely some would recommend...
Went a week before putting in the clean up crew.
Went a week with the CUC, then added a Damsel, a cleaner shrimp, and some some snails and a Flame Tail Blenny
At around a month added a Green Torch, a Green Star Polyp, a Frog Spawn, a couple of Zoanthids and 2 Clowns... not all at once...

Everything was doing great all along the way... Only issue we had was heat, and we got a chiller after a few weeks.

We got a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone maybe 3 weeks a ago. After a day or two he found a spot he liked and got attached into a crevice in the edge of the bottom of the live rock. He has been doing great. Seemed happy in his spot, nicely colored and full most of the time. Would pull in if something bothered him, but would be back out and fine soon enough. We've been feeding him a piece of thawed raw shrimp about the size of a small gum-ball once every 3 or 4 days. Happy to have it, took it and gobbled it up quickly...

Well this morning the Anemone was floating around the tank not looking great with his tentacles deflated and his mouth open... Not good.

Can they go from looking great one day to so bad I have to remove him from the tank that quickly? Right now I have him in a plastic bag like I was acclimating him. Still has plenty of color and his mouth has closed to only open a little... I little bit of mucous coming from his foot perhaps. While I've been writing this post he's even swelling his tantacles and they are bubbling... Wife was sure he was dead this morning but he seems to be coming around.

Salinity is 1.025 measured with a refractometer. Been measuring all water parameters almost daily all along. PH mostly at 8.2. Alk 4.0, Calcium 365, Ammonia .25, Nitrate 0, Nitrite .1

We've been using a chemical suggested by the LFS lady back when we added the clowns because we were going fast with the tank. It's called Alpha for reefs and is for controlling the ammonia and nitrates/trites.

What should I use to determine whether or not to put a potentially dying Anemone back in the tank?

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

That doesnt sound too good to me. Nems are some of the hardest animals to keep in this hobby, they require pristine, stable water conditions and higher than average lighting. We dont recommend nems for tanks younger than a year old because of this. What is even more challenging about nems is that when they die, the toxins they release can nuke the whole tank.

The both ammonia and nitrites are deadly to inverts, so that is your first issue. Water change, water change, water change, the ammonia is deadly to all of your animals. Also are you using test strips or liquid drop kits.

Stop adding that chemical stuff, its not going to do you any good.

Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

Can you give us a complete run down on your equipment as well (power heads, filters, lighting etc) so we can get you going down the right path?

 

[Pokerdave]

Did a 25% water change today. Done several already so far.

Liquid Drop kits...

RSM 250 has 3 T5 10K and 3 T5 actinic...

No powerheads, unless you mean the main pumps ( 1 320 gph & 1 640 gph)

Filtering is a sack of biomasse stuff and a sack of active charcoal. Changed the Charcoal recently and then again today...

 

[ErinCahir]

Honestly it sounds to me like you're still cycling. I'd take everything back to the store.

 

[little_fish]

Ya, for starters, you need way more flow than that for a reef tank. You want your tank volume turned over around 40x per hour.

 

[Pokerdave]

Honestly it sounds to me like you're still cycling. I'd take everything back to the store.

So EVERYTHING in the tank looks great but my Anemone and that's your advice? Seriously?

 

[Pokerdave]

Ya, for starters, you need way more flow than that for a reef tank. You want your tank volume turned over around 40x per hour.

It's made to be a reef tank...

Red Sea MAX 250 | Specification

 

[little_fish]

trust me, i am aware of this, most of the plug and play reef tanks still need a little more flow

 

[fastrd400]

What lilfish is aging is you need to add flow to the tank itself. Adding a couple powerheads will increase gas exchange in the tank, as well as move water and nutrients around to your live stock. A basic reef ready 90 gallon tank is set up to be reef ready, but you still must add internal flow to the tank itself.

 

[Pokerdave]

Anemone's mouth is tightly closed now. He re-attached to the rock we originally got him on while in the plastic bag. Clearly not dead and not in as bad a shape as I had feared. Have put him back in the tank and will be watching him closely...

The mucous that was on his foot seems gone and he doesn't seem to be creating more...

Link to a tank pic...

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5G-jl3cTNcoqEfo1PNd0_bqnCju_Yei9iLAo33uRbVM?feat=directlink

 

[Pokerdave]

What lilfish is aging is you need to add flow to the tank itself. Adding a couple powerheads will increase gas exchange in the tank, as well as move water and nutrients around to your live stock. A basic reef ready 90 gallon tank is set up to be reef ready, but you still must add internal flow to the tank itself.

Ok... she mentioned the turnover wasn't adequate though and a powerhead wouldn't help that...

 

[little_fish]

actually, all powerheads do is move your water around, that is how you get water movement in the tank

 

[yote]

Retest the ammonia and nitrite.While an ammonia reading of 0.25 is most likely just the kit not reading any lower,it wont hurt to double check it.
Nitrites at 1 can be deadly to inverts.If it's reading anything but zero,then steps need to be taken ( water changes ) to lower it,which according to your post,you've already done.
And on the flow.Little Fish is right.That RSM 250 holds right around right around 66 gallons if I remember right.While the pumps it comes with are good for the filtration,they ain't much for producing flow inside the tank.You need add a couple more power heads to get flow inside the tank.

 

[Pokerdave]

Retest the ammonia and nitrite.While an ammonia reading of 0.25 is most likely just the kit not reading any lower,it wont hurt to double check it.
Nitrites at 1 can be deadly to inverts.If it's reading anything but zero,then steps need to be taken ( water changes ) to lower it,which according to your post,you've already done.
And on the flow.Little Fish is right.That RSM 250 holds right around right around 66 gallons if I remember right.While the pumps it comes with are good for the filtration,they ain't much for producing flow inside the tank.You need add a couple more power heads to get flow inside the tank.

Thanks, will do some pinging of the RSM community and see what they've done...

 

[Pokerdave]

Update:

BTA back in the tank looking healthy and happy as a clam... go figure...

 

[Northstar24]

my guess is that it was reacting negatively to the Ammonia and or Nitrites, and your water change reduced both to a level that no longer upset the anemone.

Keep an eye on your water parameters, and slow down. Nothing good ever happens quickly in a reef tank