BTA deflating, inflating

[dumpsta]

http://imgur.com/a/lyVBr

I have an anemone that's about a week old. A few days ago, I tried feeding it and small piece of raw supermarket shriimp. It didn't take it, the tentacles deflated, spit out brown goo, and went from the bottom picture to the top picture in about 2 hours.

In about 7-8 hours it'll open back up and bubble its tips and return back to looking like the bottom picture. I've decided to stop feeding it directly.

This morning, I turned the lights on. Anemone was looking nice, tips were starting to bubble. I dropped in maybe 1/4 of a block of frozen mysis shrimp (recently purchased), 10 minutes later, I see the anemone going through the whole deflating thing. I usually feed my fish pellets and flakes and supermarket shrimp.

specs: 40 gallon breeder - 20 gallon sump
Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites - 0
Alk - 7 (im slowly increasing)
Calcuim - 450

I was excited because the anemone actually looked healthier in my tank than at the LFS. I seem to be doing certain things to trigger this behavior. I can notice the anemone starting to bleach as well.

I have DIY LED lighting. There's about (5)- 3w leds in a 1 sqft area over the anemone. Light is 8" above surface, BTA is about 6" below water surface

Suggestions on what might be causing this? Thanks

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Nothing is causing it per se, it's just how the thing lives.

 

[jacojs]

Mine also deflates and inflates regularly, I can however not MAKE it do it, like you said it happens when you feed?

I am really no expert but the brown goo could have been zooxanthellae that it expelled and thats why its looking bleached? Maybe it just needs to adjust to your lights.

Hope its okay.

 

[bshow24]

From what I've seen, this is normal behavior.

Remember, the anemone uses it's mouth to eat and expel waste. Most likely this is the brown goo.

Also, anemones typically inflate and deflate throughout the day, but I have found whenever my anemone is deflating, it is also releasing waste. As long as the mouth is closed, and it doesn't remain deflated, it should be ok. The only thing I would be worried about is if it was sick or not when purchased, since the biggest issue with anemones is they aren't healthy when purchased by LFS. I cannot fully tell from the pictures, but the mouth may be open. Leave it be for a while and let it grab some light, see what happens from there.

 

[dumpsta]

ok thanks. im just going to leave it alone

 

[Tgionet]

It's expelling waste, nothing to worry about. As long as it's not spitting out chunks of undigested food you're fine. If it is, feed it less.

 

[Dapg8gt]

You should stop feeding it imo. No need to feed a nem that much, especially a new to the system one..