# Bubble Tip Anemone powerhead



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

So I introduced a BTA to my tank last night (I used a two and a half hour drip acclimation, at about 3 to 5 drips a second) And it seemed to be acclimating well when I went to bed, but when I woke up in the morning, it had gotten itself stuck on one of the powerhead intakes. 

I turned it off and detached the intake and eventually it came off, but pieces of it had already broken off. I removed what pieces I could and the anemone is still alive and its tentacles look fully and healthy, no slime or brown zooxanthellae being expelled. However, it's now started climbing UNDER a rock out of the light (I use an LED set equal to about a 250w halide)

What I wanna know is, is that normal and is there anything I can do to help it heal?


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Its normal, he's trying to find a spot he likes. No matter where you put him, if he does not like it, he will move or detach from its current spot. Now, to keep them out of the power heads, you need to put one of those black sponges over the intake, that'll do it.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Thanks. What kind of black sponge and do they have it on amazon? 

Also, I have some pima fix lying around. Would putting that in possibly help it heal its damage?


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Reverse Flow Pre-Filter Sponge

No, don't put anything into the water. Thats for bacterial and fungi infections. He can heal himslef without any help. Just keep your water in good shape for him.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Ok, I have an update. It's still alive and in mostly the same condition. But I'm worried that it's hiding under the rocks even still. I know they are largely photosynthetic, after all, though I imagine it's just avoiding predation at this point.

One bit of good news is my clownfish appears to be taking to hosting it.

I took the back off and got a video and picture so you can see it. Tentacles still look healthy to me (in fact, it looks better in my tank than in the store, though that's probably the LEDs)

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd310/Archilocos/DSC01249.jpg

MOV01254.mp4 video by Archilocos - Photobucket

My water is stable. My chemicals are presently: 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 1 ppm or less nitrate, 440 calcium, 9 dkh. specific gravity 1.025.

What do you guys think?


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Wow, yea he's pretty beat up. Hopefully it didn't tear his mouth apart. But, he does look to be in good shape, the part that isn't all chewed up, he may just survive this. If his mouth is chewed up, the clown hosting won't have any impact, as it won't be able to eat what the clown gives it. When its ready it will come out of hiding. You can try to just flip the rock over, but if it doesn't like it, it will just go and hide again.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Yeah, I haven't been able to tell if the mouth is damaged or not. Feel dumb, though. I watched it really carefully when I put it in, and it wandered a bit close to the powerhead at first and I turned it off, then it wandered well past it so I turned it back on and went to bed. 


Anyhow, if the mouth is damaged, can it regenerate?


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Now, that one I don't know about. I know they can regenerate limbs and grow, but idk about the mouth. I would think it can. They split when they reproduce, so i've a pretty good idea that he will.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

It occurs to me I could try feeding it to see if its mouth is intact, but I've no forceps yet. Is hand feeding it safe for the anemone? (I've never had an anemone before, so I'm fairly ignorant here)

Oh, and would a thawed piece of shrimp from a grocery store be ok to feed it?


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

No need to feed, your Clown will do that for you. I'd just let the fish do it for now. Later on, you should start with Mysis Shrimp first, then move up the chain when he gets bigger. But for now, Id just leave him be.


----------



## whitetiger61 (Aug 2, 2011)

i think it will be ok..he is pretty beat up but i have seen worse..nem's regenerate themsleves really good as long as water conditions are good..the mouth wont make any difference..they split that way anyway..its the foot you dont want damaged..worse case with the mouth is you get 2 nems..going to the back he is in self preservation mode..when he heals it will move again unless it likes that spot..lol

Rick


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Thanks. I'm doing what I can to keep water parameters good. I've reduced feeding for now. As it so happens, I'm getting four of these in today: Saltwater Aquarium Plants for Marine Reef Aquariums: Shaving Brush Plant

I'm hoping that'll get my nitrate to zero or nearly so.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Update, it looks a lot better today, and is starting to creepy out towards the front of the tank into the light. His coloring is absolutely STUNNING. I've NEVER seen one this green. 

MOV01270.mp4 video by Archilocos - Photobucket

I'm thawing out some mysid shrimp to put in the tank after the plants get here. I'll see if the clown gives him any.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Ningal said:


> Update, it looks a lot better today, and is starting to creepy out towards the front of the tank into the light. His coloring is absolutely STUNNING. I've NEVER seen one this green.
> 
> MOV01270.mp4 video by Archilocos - Photobucket
> 
> I'm thawing out some mysid shrimp to put in the tank after the plants get here. I'll see if the clown gives him any.


*w3


----------



## whitetiger61 (Aug 2, 2011)

nice..glad to hear it is doing better..

Rick


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Now it looks like it's taken a turn for the worse. It's shriveled up under a rock, its back has turned brown (which had been basically white before) and its tentacles look shriveled and stringy


Best pic I can get:










So far as I can tell, there hasn't really been any change in water chemistry.

I do see that the clownfish is still trying to get at it, for whatever that's worth.

I'm gonna try a 15% water change tonight. I've had water brewing for a change tomorrow, but I'm pushing it up and I think changing to bi-weekly until it improves.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

The will do this sometimes, for reasons I can't explain. So don't count him out yet. Even perfectly healthy Anemones will do it from time to time.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Yeah, it actually got a little better since I posted this. Still, more water changes can't hurt, so long as I keep the salinity matched.


I do tend to get worked up when any animal is sick, though. Which I know is always a peril of this hobby.


----------



## whitetiger61 (Aug 2, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> The will do this sometimes, for reasons I can't explain. So don't count him out yet. Even perfectly healthy Anemones will do it from time to time.


.*i/a*..i have had several of mine do that..cant explain it..i do have a therory though..i think its expelling the waste from what its eating. i would definitely not count this nem out yet.

Rick


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Yeah, after going completely back to normal, today it's gone back to being brown and retracted again. Clownfish won't leave it except to eat, too.

But at least seems to have settled down in one place for the longest period of time yet. Lower in my tank than I thought it'd be, these apolloreef LEDs must be darn powerful.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Ningal said:


> Yeah, after going completely back to normal, today it's gone back to being brown and retracted again. Clownfish won't leave it except to eat, too.
> 
> But at least seems to have settled down in one place for the longest period of time yet. Lower in my tank than I thought it'd be, these apolloreef LEDs must be darn powerful.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Can I ask, how long is it normal for them to do this sort of thing? It's still at it and now the clownfish isn't even visiting it very much.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

No time estimate can be given. If he does not recover you will see him visibly start to decay. As long as you still see him, I'd leave him alone.


----------



## Noochy12 (May 27, 2011)

I've had my bubble tip for about 7 months now. He crawled around and found a comfortable spot but recently I moved my lights closer to the aquarium and he moved under a rock but stretches out when the lights come on. I moved the lights back to where they were hoping he moves back but your guy should be fine and he will move to where he's comfortable.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

I haven't seen anything fall off yet, but in another part of the tank I saw these green things getting stirred up, but when I moved closer they looked like balls of moss or something and just dissolved. Maybe they came from the shaving brush plants I got


It occured to me that if I turned the flash on, I could get a better picture in this case:










The clownfish not hanging around it so much anymore is worrying me. Probably more than it should, but still.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Can't really tell what we are looking at here. ??


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

I circled the base of the anemone with black and the tentacles with red:


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

Well, I got too worried about the nem, and I basically opened the tank lid, reached in and carefully moved the rock as slowly as I could without touching or causing to be touched the anemone. It LOOKS like its mouth is actually intact, though I'm not sure.

Anyhow, here are pics:


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Besides the battered tentacles I see, he has a good hold with his foot, and the other tentacles look good to me.


----------



## phil_n_fish (Nov 19, 2011)

Hi Ningal,

it will sometimes take a few days for an anemone to acclimate to its new environment. I wouldn't move any rock work or equipment to help in this process. I recommend making sure an anemone is the first one in the tank before any other coral to minimize stinging. 

It might still be getting used to the lighting which can be why its under the rock. it can take weeks it just depends on the anemone. Its a good idea to dim your lights and slowly adjust them until ready.

Make sure you supplement the tank with trace minerals like iodide, strontium, calcium, etc. Pretty much anything you can test for. And you don't have to feed an anemone but it wont hurt to feed it shrimp.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

There are only a few other corals, all of them placed low and out of the way.

I only moved the rock cause I was worried it was on death's door, given the wound. Won't do that again. 

Currently, I'm dosing with Kent Coral-vite


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

You guys might be right about the lights being too much. It was out where I left it all night, but when I woke up this morning, only the blue lights in my system were on (so only half power) and it was hiding.

With full power, at that depth, it should have been getting about 600 PAR


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

I think it's getting ready to split:


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Yea, stress can do that to a Nem. But, its not a bad thing.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

How like do you think it is that the weaker half will survive?

Also, I swear I saw the clown trying to pull them apart.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

LO, clown gettin in the mix too huh. You never know about the split, hard to say if the damaged one will live or not.


----------



## Ningal (Jan 28, 2012)

It's really really looking like it is splitting

MOV01492.mp4 video by Archilocos - Photobucket


----------



## Euruproctos (Mar 2, 2012)

Well, it's been over six weeks and it's still doing great. 










All the damage was on the right side and has almost completely regrown.

It's even started venturing out from behind the rock from time to time. Not fully, but enough that I can see it from my chair.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Lookin good man!!!

*w3*W*w3


----------

