sick carpet anemone

Question
QUESTION: Hey Jen...you like things simple...as do I.  I have a 55 gallon reef with about 55 lbs LR, about 80 lb LS(a bit much...lol) a prism protein skimmer(up to 80 gallons), a aquaclear 300 filter and a powerhead(not sure of size). Simple enough for ya...lol  About a week and a half ago I added 5 new corals to my tank and noticed that all of my existing corals(hairy mushrooms, red mushrooms, star polyps, and a brain coral) shrink to almost nothing. By the next morning, the blue sponge I added lost all of its color...I should have known something was wrong cause the bag it was in smelled pretty bad and all the hitchhikers were dead, the water was also dark in color...but...like an idiot I added it anyways.  I came home for lunch and the tank didn't change.  All my corals were still small so I took the sponge out and tossed it.  Now the corals are coming back except my carpet anemone.  It is a different tank right now but hasn't changed.  It has shrunk to half its size and turned a pinkish, skin color(used to white).  Its tentacles are tiny and when I took it out of my show tank, it wasn't sticky.  Its skin is almost transparent as well.  It also doesn't seems to like the light(18 inch aquaglow...came with tank).  its stickiness has come back but thats about it.  I keep moving it so I can see what it is doing but it always hides by the morning.  Its moving as I type this...lol.  Any thoughts??  btw...now that I have found this site...you may hear ALOT from me...sorry in advance.

ANSWER: Hi Scott. Ask away! When sponges go bad in an aquarium they can release a nasty toxin into your water. This may have been the cause for you initial problem of having your corals look bad when you added it to your tank. Getting rid of it was a good idea! As for your carpet anemone, how long have you had it and have you been feeding it regularly(how often) and what are you feeding it? Usually carpet anemones need very frequent feedings and often will shrink over time if not getting the proper nutritional requirements along with bright illumination. Poor water quality will also make them shrink. Another problem may be the fact that you are moving it around too much! Anemones do not like to be messed with at all and should be left to find a place to settle on their own. They know what is best for them and if your anemone is hiding from the light or current it knows what it is doing. Try leaving it alone for a few days and try feeding it. The toxins that may have been released by the dying sponge may have really effected this anemone. Then you moved it to another tank(more stress) and now you keep moving it around to keep an eye on it.(your very well intended) It may be very stressed out and it may be losing its color because of that. Also some anemones will appear different in color according to the lighting they are put under. If you changed the lighting it may change its color. AS long as the water it is in is of high quality and all your water parameters check out good and the lighting is adequate for this anemone the only reason I can come up with for it shrinking is stress or underfeeding. Try giving it time and see what happens and stop moving it around!(lol)

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QUESTION: After the mishap...I checked the water and the ammonia was high.  I did three 10 gallon water changes in four days and doing another 10 gallons the is weekend. I've had the anemone for about three months and feed it a piece of shrimp meat once a week.  The host clowns were also feeding it brine shrimp.  Should I maybe put better lighting on the other tank(I have an extra 24 inch T5 light strip).  I am also thinking about taking the aquaclear 300 out and just running the skimmer...too simple?  Should I move the anemone back to the show tank(Clowns are pissed at me).  I moved it in the first place cause I read that they give off a nasty toxin when they die.

ANSWER: Hello again. I don't think you should take your aqua clear filter off of your tank. With the high ammonia due to the sponge dying the good bacteria that is inside that filter is much needed to help combat the ammonia. If you take it off then you will lower the amount of your good bacteria and thus may cause further trouble in your tank. Also carbon is also very helpful in eliminating ammonia and any other toxin that may have built up in your tank from the sponge. As a matter of fact the carbon may have saved your corals. Also you would be losing water flow and some corals require a good water flow in order to be happy, and by taking this filter out you may inadvertently cause some stress to the other inhabitants of your tank. If you have more lighting to add then add it. You really can't over illuminate a tank that houses a carpet anemone. They do require intense lighting. Any anemone will pollute the tank when it dies. Weather to move it back or not is up to you. If you feel that the anemone is going to die then leave it where it is. If you feel it is suffering because of moving it into another tank then you may want to consider putting it back. If your ammonia is still up in your main tank and the ammonia is 0 in the other tank then do not move it back until you have your water parameters under control in your main tank. It is kind of like a game of chance. The anemone is very stressed out from the pollution given off by the dying sponge and from being moved. It is also stressed out because it lost its host clownfish too. Anemones will actually do better with their host then with out. Look, I can't tell you what to do. You have a fifty-fifty chance no matter what you do. If you put it back in your main tank and it is dying it will pollute your tank. If you leave it where it is and it is not dying but extremely stressed out it could end up dying there too from this stress. Use your best judgement. Only you know the whole story and follow what your instincts are telling you to do. I can only give you advice because I am not there. I don't know what the anemone looked like before all this happened and I don't know what it looks like now. You can see the difference. You may lose this anemone and have to chalk it up to a learning experience. Sponges are bad news in an aquarium period. Whether they are healthy when you get them or not. I don't even sell them in the fishroom that I run because I don't believe they should be kept. It is up to the retailers to offer only those animals which will thrive and be happy in a tank. And to use good judgement about what not to carry. It is also our responsibility as consumers to research any animal before we buy it, and to not purchase those creatures which will eventually die in our tanks anyway. Now that I went off on a tangent(I have a habit of doing that sometimes:) ) I can only say for you to follow your gut instinct. If you feel that this anemone is dying, by all means do not put it back into your tank where it could potentially take some other inhabitants down with it. I feel that you should probably leave it alone for a while and see how it does. Make sure the tank that it is in has great water quality and plenty of current and sufficient lighting. Give it a few days and try to feed it. You may have to feed it every other day to nurse it back to health if it is still eating in the first place. If it is eating that is a very good sign. I have seen anemones half decaying in a tank come back to its full potential with a little TLC and very frequent feedings. Your anemone could very well be one of those happy cases!

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QUESTION: Thank you for the info Jen...I think I am going to leave it alone for awhile and add the T5 light. I was wondering to if you ever had experience with sun corals.  I've had mine for a couple of weeks and I know they need target feeding but only three out of the twenty or so polyps have opened to say hi.  They start to come out then stop...will they still eat being closed.  Maybe shade them better?  How is the best way to feed them?  My brain coral too has lost some color(not because of the sponge mishap), should it be shaded better to? Green and red open brain.  You're gunna get tired of me...lol

Answer
Hey Scott, just keep the questions coming....! I have had some experience with the sun corals although they have been a little hard to come by recently. They lack the zooanthellae so lighting is unimportant to them. The only reason it is recommended to keep them in dim lighting is to keep them from getting overgrown with undesirable algae. They do not suffer if kept in bright lighting and it is better to be more concerned about what kind of current you are placing them in then lighting. They prefer a high current area. They can withstand any kind of lighting even that from metal halides! Have you tried to observe this coral after the lights have been off for a few hours? Do they extend more then? You are going to want to try to feed them whenever the most polyps are extended if this means that you have to get up in the middle of the night to feed them then this is what you should do. Over time Feed it earlier and earlier increasing the time by one hour until you can get it to acclimate to being open and fed when the lights are on during the evening. This is a very difficult coral to keep and takes allot of frequent feedings in order to survive. They must never be fed less then twice a week and three to four times a week is better. If only a few polyps open even at night then feed those polyps directly. They like prey that is large so don't feed a regular coral type liquid food. Mysis shrimp makes a good food for this coral. Try soaking the food in a high quality food supplement like Selcon before target feeding. Use a turkey baster or large syringe(with no needle) to get the food directly to the polyps. A well fed polyp will have a bloated appearance. Newly acquired colonies will need to be coaxed to feed by blowing food across a closed cup for several nights in a row. Within days, they will extend as soon as the lights go off like a faithful pet waiting for dinner. If not adequately fed sun corals will fail to open and tissue recession is inevitable. If you are getting a few polyps to open then all hope is not lost. Just be persistent in your feeding however don't over do it as to pollute your tank either. There's a fine line to feeding enough and over doing it.
As for your brain coral it is common for them to lose some color when newly queried. It is suggested that they don't transport very well and the stress from collection and transport and the changes in water chemistry often take a toll on these delicate yet hardy corals. You also should not keep an open brain coral in the same tank that houses any cabbage leather or finger leather corals. They are very sensitive to the mucus that these corals excrete. These corals should also be placed in areas of moderate current. If they get covered in any debris they must expend allot of energy to cleanse themselves of this build up which in a sense can tire them out and tissue recession may follow because there is not enough energy left to grow. You say it is green and red open brain but which color is the predominant color? Red open brain corals come from deeper waters and require lower light levels while green ones come from shallower waters and need brighter lighting. Which ever color it is mostly is going to make a difference as to where to place it in he tank. Most will acclimate over time to whatever lighting you have it in but it is good to know where to start acclimating it from. These corals also need to be fed regularly and prefer larger food particles as well. Mysis shrimp soaked in a food supplement fed at least twice a week is recommended. If it is losing its color keep a close eye on it to make sure it isn't bleaching. When a coral bleaches it will appear white or unusually light in color. Some causes of bleaching are bacteria, chemicals, not enough lighting, heavy metals,lack of water movement,starvation or stress. There are many other reasons but these are the most common. Too much light is not a cause for bleaching however so shading it may not do you any good. Try to get it used to being in the light you have it in. If it starts to look worse you may not be giving it enough lighting.