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Anemone tentacles are odd.....

Kmooresf

Supporting Member
My Nems seem to be doing some strange things lately.

I have a long tentacle Nem......not really sure what the official name is, but I have had it for 7 or 8 years. It has been in several different tanks under several different types of light (MH, PC, T5 and LED). It has split about 7 or 8 times over the years. It has looked good since moving into the new tank, however over the past two months I have noticed the color is not as nice (It's pretty much brown anyway, however the tips are / were green). It is kind of faded looking and the tips are barely noticable as a different color. Over the past few weeks I have noticed the Tentacles are making what looks like a "Spiral." Not really sure how else to put it, but I will add pics to show what I am talking about. I am assuming it is a sign of stress?

I have no idea if this is my original Nem.......meaning it's 7 or 8 years old......or if it is one of the clones from the original. I have been spot feeding it a little more than usual lately thinking maybe it's just not getting enough, but it hasn't shown improvement.

My Rose Nem has been looking just fine, so I felt it was just that the other nem was being fussy for some reason. However a couple days ago the Rose nem started doing the same spiral thing? Now I am a bit more concerned.

Params have been very stable over the past two months thanks to a new doser and the tank just hit a year old, so I think in general things have stabalized.

Alk = 8.8
Nitrate = 0
Phos = 0.02
PH = 8.2
Temp = 78'
Mag = 1440
Cal = 408

The Mag was 1300 two days ago and I added about 1/4 cup of Brightwell mag. I plan to add the mag to the doser, but haven't yet. Is it just too high? Could that be the problem? I have been dosing mag like this for the last year and it has always read in the same range using my salifert kits.

The only other thing I could think of would be the lighting. Is it possible to over light a nem? They have both been under the kessils for about 8 months..... so it seems odd that they would now be complaining.

Anyway, I would love to figure it out and make them happier. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks. Here are pics.
DSC00348_zps72f0a6a2.jpg

DSC00349_zpsec0d1b76.jpg
 
I believe that patrickb and others have observed potential chemical interaction between multiple anemones in the same system. Could that be inducing dreaded curly nose hair disease?
 
lattehiatus said:
I believe that patrickb and others have observed potential chemical interaction between multiple anemones in the same system. Could that be inducing dreaded curly nose hair disease?

Thanks David. I am not really sure. They have been in the same tank for a year now though. No curly Q's till now?

@Denzil. I don't think it's my Alk. They have been in MUCH lower Alk since I got them as I have raised the Alk for the SPS. So if anything, it's too high.

My guess at the moment is still the Mag. I will let it drop a bit and see if there is any improvement. Lighting is also a possibility, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem. Just have to try different things to see if anything helps. I am not even certain that the curly Q's are actually a sign of stress, but the loss of color in the long tenticle makes me think it is. The Rose still has nice color. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts guys.
 
All LTA's I have seen long term tend to do that.

The other common name for LTA is corkscrew tentacle anemone ;)

BTW.. LTA = Macrodactyla doreensis
 
BAYMAC said:
All LTA's I have seen long term tend to do that.

The other common name for LTA is corkscrew tentacle anemone ;)

BTW.. LTA = Macrodactyla doreensis


MUCH appreciated! That is a relief. Thank you.
 
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