Anemones are Dieing

[RTee]

Just checked phosphate with Hanna checker and it say .33. Is this problem?

[RTee]

Oh okay. And yeah that what I am afraid of with lights. I will try less light. Any one thing particular nems dislike more?

[RTee]

Thanks everyone btw
Gonna try turning off the light to see what happens, please offer any more suggestions you have. Also tested Nitrates and were at .5. Do nems like particular alkalinity? I just dunno what to do.

[sdnd]

yea i think your phos is kinda high. with all these water changes i don't think the nems are going to like that. probably cause further stress on them. i've had this issue before and lost a few. once they get that bad its hard to turn back. but good luck anyways!

[knightnsd]

yes burning them with the light, not the temp. as Jason 142 said, they move to their desired lighting and flow and that can be the problem with them as they mow down other corals with the stings. In your tank they really have no where to go to find less light or more or find the flow they desire, too much light is just as bad as too little, you can bleach anems like any other coral in your tank. You may try moving the light back from the tank so it is less direct. They need a certain level of light to keep the their color which is from algaes inside of them, too much light or too little, or bad water parameters can affect their algae and cause them to wither and die, if they are bleaching it is usually the loss of the algae from any of these factors. Hate to say it but too many changes are about teh worst things for corals, you can borrow a larger tank from me if you want if you are close.

[RTee]

Thanks I appreciate that. I'm an gonna try less light and keep with the water changes to see how it goes. I have a 20 gallon cycling now that they will move too soon, if they survive.

[jkennedy1007]

Man was thinking about this earlier
hope it all goes well bud

[Sancho]

Nems can be very sensitive to any changes in the tank. I sort of disagree that a 5.5 is to small. With proper water chemistry, flow and lighting a nem will do just fine in a small tank. The issue is that can will outgrow the tank quickly. Mine was very happy in my 5 and is now very happy in my 8. Although it is getting big, as i put in in my 5 last year after it split in my larger tank. I am also super anal about my small tank. I rarely test the water or do anything to my larger established tank. But my 5 now 8 I check regularly. Smaller tank = less water volume. That means small fluctuations in water chemistry have a huge impact on the tank. Your water levels concern me. What are you using for top off water? How often do you top off? My 8 losses about 1/8 gallon per day. Huge salinity swings can be bad for nems. What kind of flow, filtration, oxygenation do you have on the 5.5? Like Jason said it may be chemical warfare. But I think it is a combination of way to much light, lack of flow (oxygenation) and not using 0 TDS top water. The Coralcomplusion LEDs are very powerful. They are meant for tanks with a 20 inch plus depth. I assume it is one of the PAR38 variations. If it is not dimmable raise a foot or two higher than you have it. If it is dimmable still raise it and dim it down.

With my very small tanks I try do 60% to 80% water changes once a month but sometimes it will go a month or longer. When i got the 5 gallon based what others were telling me I was changing 90% twice a week. That was totally unnecessary.

[Sancho]

Someone please help, I have 3 rose bubble anemones that are Dieing and I do not know why. They have all shrunk to almost a dime size, and haven't opened for almost a month. A couple weeks ago I was doing testing and the nitrates were just a little high and so were the phosphate. I have done four water changes since then and the nems still won't open. I am afraid they will die and kill everything. Could it be the lighting is too much?

it is hard to tell from your pics. Is that a euphillia next to the nem or palys? both will sting your nem and visa versa. The stronger will survive. 3 nems in a 5.5 with other soft stinging corals and palys is pushing it. But from what I can see growing on your glass you have high phosphates.

[RTee]

Wow 60 - 80% sounds like a huge amount to me how does that not upset the cycle? I do 20-40% at least once a week. I top off with 0 TDS with ammonia remover once a day. I'm running a red sea nano hob with phospure plus zeolite and carbon and small protein skimmer. The light was a foot and 3/4 over the tank but still may have been too much. I get a lot of green algae on the glass for some reason. What is a euphilla? I am gonna look it up after i post this. The only thing in the tank I am unsure of is a weird looking coral that has polyps that shrink in and out of it about an inch and is pink, but it is not near the nems. Another thing I thought of is there was aptasia the tank and I used aptasia x, which I thought was safe for nems.

[RTee]

I believe what you are seeing in the picture is the stems of some clove polyps. BTW thanks for the help.

[Sancho]

Wow 60 - 80% sounds like a huge amount to me how does that not upset the cycle?

No once the tank has cycled your beneficial bacteria are in the sand, rock and even the tank itself.

I top off with 0 TDS with ammonia remover once a day.

0 TDS water should not contain ammonia.

I'm running a red sea nano hob with phospure plus zeolite and carbon and small protein skimmer.

When I was dealing with high phosphates i tried the phospure pads they never really made a difference. I like chemipure elite and chemipue blue over phospure. As for the Zeolite that is above my skill level and have not used it I thought you had to have your system set up to run zeolite.

The light was a foot and 3/4 over the tank but still may have been too much.

I tried a PAR 38 over my 5. I had it about 2 feet above the tank next day nem moved under a rock and balled up and some shrooms shrived up and died, It was to much light I should have slowly acclimated the LED to the tank but I had no more room above the tank and it was not dimmable. I actually went back to the lower intensity stunner strips and that was ample light for that tank.

I get a lot of green algae on the glass for some reason.

Has this tank fully cycled? The algae could be normal symptom of your cycle and or excess nutrients in the tank.
this is a pretty good article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/9/chemistry

I used aptasia x, which I thought was safe for nems.

As long as you dont inject it into the nem

[RTee]

Ok thanks. Another problem may be the pistol shrimp is always stirring the sand.
It is cycled for sure. Not sure if the light is a par 30 or 38, it is actually the refugium light.
Pretty sure it is too much light although the corals love it.
The ammonia remover is just to make sure since you could show 0 TDS yet still have chemical if you don't have right carbon and cartridges. I do, just want to be extra careful.
Good advice on the phospure, thanks. It must not work well if I am still showing phosphate. Gonna switch to chemipure.

[knightnsd]

BTW if you removed your anems manually they can look really bad or die, any damage to their foot is a slow heal and they tend to hide and shrink a lot if you ripped them from their base till they heal. I have one I bought that was like that but it's slowly coming back. You have to carefully remove them from their rocks or they dont fair well.

[RTee]

Ok thanks, I tried to be careful but they were on rock so that could have happened.