Anemone w/holes on foot

[fishgirl88]

My boyfriend has been having problems with his anemone lately. It has become rather white in color and shriveled up and it has been moving around a lot into places were it wont get hardly any light. Tonight he was looking at it and noticed that there are holes on the bottom and there was a worm in the hole! He has noticed the worm for a while in a different rock. It has lots of sharp spines and is very quick. He has tried to remove it but has not been able to. The worm swam into a different rock when he tried to get it out of the anemone. He thinks that it is a bristle worm. He isn't sure what he should do now. He hasn't had the tank for too long (29 gallon bio cube) and only has the anemone, a porcelain anemone crab, a few damsels, 2 feather dusters, some mushroom coral and a handful of snails and crabs. If any one has any idea of what we can do to get rid of the bristle worm or if we will need to get rid of all of our live rock to make sure the bristle worm(s) are gone. Any advise would be a huge help. Thanks!

 

[babyb]

first off welcome to the board
second the anemone turned white prolly due to either old light, or to weak of a light, what kind of light does he have
from what i read about your anemone i would say it is dead
bristle worms are a good thing, they eat dead things, they are a free clean up crew, just dont touch them, they hurt from what i have heard
also how old is the tank

 

[pharaoh2387]

Hi there,
Thanks for the quick response BabyB. BTW I'm the boyfriend she was talking about in that first post. The tank is probably about 6 months or so old, but I just moved it and a lot of new water was put in afterwards during the re-setup process. However the health of the anemone has been declining long before then. The tank is a 29 gallon Bio-Cube which has pretty high intensity compact florescent and blue actinic bulbs in it. I've had the lights on timers to be on for around 10 hours a day. I agree that the whitening really sounds like a lighting issue but I'm not sure how that could be.
Another issue I discovered was that the temp. I was setting my heater to could not be trusted. After purchasing a thermometer (long overdue) I discovered when set at 78 degrees, the tank water was actually at 86 degrees! I'm still not sure what the ideal temp is as there seems to be conflicting opinions on the issue, but I've got it at a pretty steady 78-79 now. I'm hoping after awhile at this stable temp it might get better. And I know it isn't dead since I have been feeding it regularly still and seen it eat.
Sorry this got so long. But do you think the temperature issue might have been causing it? And what is a good temp. for a reef tank?

 

[babyb]

welcome as well,
if an anemone gets a tare or hole in its foot it is most likely going to die, they cant fix it, i have heard on rare ocations that some do make it
power compacts are not really enough to keep an anemone, they really need metal hailides (sp?), i think between the temp and the lighting that might have causes the health of the anemone to go down hill
also another thing to consider is your tank might of re cycled, about how much new water did you put in when it was moved

 

[perfectdark]

Just to point out a couple of things here.. First the lighting on the Bio Cubes are not high intensity they are standard Power compacts. Second you didnt specifiy what type of anemone you have, unless I missed that part. The power compacts you have will be sufficient IMO for a bubble tip anem if you can guarantee that it will sit high on your LR and only be a couple of inches below the surface of the water. And that the animal is in good health. It took me a month to set my cube tank up to where my RBTA would foot in a spot such as this. Now it has been in there almost 8 months and it thrives.
Having said that you do have issues with your anemone. They are not prone to parasites or being targeted by preditors. Unless its failing, then its possible to see worms start to eat it. You said it has turned white, not a good sign at all. Worm holes in the foot another red flag, while an anemone can heal its foot, with carful monitoring so infection doesnt set in. The manor in which it is getting these holes is bad. It appears that your inhabitants are already seeing a rapidly failing animal. Your only course of action is to take it out and place it in a hospital tank. Death is almost a certainty here. Good Luck... run carbon and test your water peram's dead anemones can throw a tank very quickly.

 

[fishgirl88]

I just talked to my boyfriend and he isn't sure if the anemone has holes in its foot or not. He might has just thought it was a hole but really it was the space between the foot and the rock that he saw the bristle worm swim through. He is going to check it out tonight. I am not sure what type of anemone it is, I am just a beginner! I have tons of pictures but I am not sure how to put them on here! I had no idea that the lighting was not that good. Is there anything we can do to make it better? Is the lighting ok for corals?

 

[pharaoh2387]

does anyone know if the HQI hood for a 24 gallon NANO cube would fit on the 29 gallon BIO cube? Found one of those for $299, but the equivalent mods for a 29 gallon biocube hood seem to be stuck around $500

 

[andrewskb]

The guy I work with is having the same issue with his anemone and bristle worms, they ate a hole in it. He is using a worm catcher and is pulling around 8 out a night from his tank. I have also heard that a certain type of dottyback will eat the worms. Don't know if it is true or not thou. Good luck.