bubble tip anem

[Rockyreiter]

so it was labor day weekend, so of course i went out of town, and i had the usual done: turning off the light and covering the tank with towels. after unveiling the tank, found that everything was still alive and happy :) and the anemone finally came out of the rocks! but he is usually a shade of red. now all but the base is completely white! is that a problem? will it get it's color back? (this is my first time leaving my tank for a weekend with the anem in it so im not completely sure about everything that it does)

 

[BL1]

Anemones being white is usually the sign of a very unhealthy one. Did you say you left your tank lights off? If so, that MAY be your problem, anemones are photosynthetic creatures and get a majority of their food from bright light.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Bl1

 

[Dakwan]

Get some timers for your lights then you don't need to worry about it

 

[yote]

How long were out for? A couple of days isnt going to hurt or bleach anything,Its not bright and sunny every day of the year on the wild reefs.

 

[Bifferwine]

I assume he was just gone for the weekend. That shouldn't be enough time to start to bleach the nem.

 

[the reef kid]

What are your water params?
what lights are you running?

 

[Rockyreiter]

i was only gone for 3 days. i didnt think that that short of a time would make that big of a difference. especially since it doesnt get too much light anyways since it moves away from it under the rocks.

 

[yote]

Can you get us a pic of you anemone and post your water parameters?

 

[Rockyreiter]

i cant figure out how to post pictures on here.. the url thing doesnt work for me for some reason...

salinity: 1.021
nitrites and ammonia: 0
temp: 75
pH: 8.2

 

[BL1]

Salinity is slightly low, should be 1.025 optimally ... And what are your nitrates?

 

[Bifferwine]

The easiest way to post pics, is to upload them to Photobucket (free). Then copy and paste the

 

[Rockyreiter]

nitrates are there but low. not even on my chart.

before:

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after:

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[the reef kid]

Yeah, that's bad...what're your lights?

 

[Rockyreiter]

thanks for the pic advice, bifferwine :)

 

[Rockyreiter]

i dont remember.. the guy at the LFS gave it to me and said it would be ok for an anemone.. the anemone went back behind the rocks today and it getting some of it's color back. cant get a pic of it there though :/

 

[Bifferwine]

If you don't know what lights you're running, I'd bet money that they are not sufficient to keep an anemone. LFS often seem to lie about stuff like that to make a sale, unfortunately. Either that, or they just don't realize what strong lights anemones require to survive.

Bleaching is usually caused by insufficient lighting. That seems to be what's going on here.

 

[Rockyreiter]

well it cant be that bad if it never lost color until i left for the weekend, right? and it started to bounce back today.. i was just concerned at first.

i would be rather upset if they lied... i wouldnt even be able to tell the employee considering i bought it a year ago and they frequently get new workers :/

thank you everyone for your help :)

 

[yote]

Your salinity is to low for inverts like anemones.Slowly raise it to 1.025-1.026.The easieast and safiest way is to just top the tank off with salt water until your at the right salinity.

 

[Rockyreiter]

thanks, yote. how slowly should i add salt?