Can the food you feed your anemone kill it?

[raythepilot]

OK I know a lot of you feed your anemones seafood like frozen shrimp, silversides, clams etc.
My personal experience has been that I had two BTA go down with nem decline back to back after feeding them thawed frozen shrimp from Asia. This was before I knew about antibiotic treatments so they just wasted away. As a result I never feed anything to my anemone that could contain seafood bacteria.
What do the rest of you think?
Do you thing your nems can get sick from the food they eat?

 

[taylor t]

yes, for sure. Many report the same opinion/experience.

 

[ncaldwell]

I know if you feed pieces that are to large, it can start to rot before it's digested and make them sick or die

 

[Reefvette]

Some frozen fish is preserved with different Chems. Feed only aquarium specific. Foods I lost a magnifica to a bad supermarket shrinp

 

[ecksreef]

Someone on here recommended earthworms once. I lift a few rocks outside now and then and the anemones love them. My melanarus wrasse also loves the worms. Best free food.

 

[OrionN]

Some frozen fish is preserved with different Chems. Feed only aquarium specific. Foods I lost a magnifica to a bad supermarket shrinp

I disagree here. I feed them food that I would eat. I do make sure that the food are not preserved in any way. I only used unpeeled wild caught shrimp that not preserved.
Peeled shrimp, especially those that are farmed raised, sometime chemical treated to puff them up. That is why cocktail boiled shrimp from tray for sale at the supermarket have so little flavor and taste like rubber.
We eat so much sea food that it is easy for me to tell treated food from untreated food.
BTW, you really don't want any of those farm raised Shrimp or Talapia in your body, trust me.

 

[akida]

fish are friends not food

 

[raythepilot]

I only used unpeeled wild caught shrimp that not preserved.

The shrimp that I used were frozen EZ; peel so they might have been treated.
The resulting disease didn't seem like a toxic reaction. The healthy anemone went into the classic decline pattern. Shrinking back, inversion, expulsion of zoo, followed by recovery. The pattern repeated until the nem died.
Since lots of people feed things like shrimp and silversides without a problem my intuition was that the anemone were infected by something on my particular batch of shrimp. This was before I knew about antibiotic treatment.
If this happened today I would do a cipro protocol and I guess that might help confirm my bacteria theory.
Anyway, since then I have never fed my nems anything like seafood.

 

[DasCamel]

I disagree here. I feed them food that I would eat. I do make sure that the food are not preserved in any way. I only used unpeeled wild caught shrimp that not preserved.
Peeled shrimp, especially those that are farmed raised, sometime chemical treated to puff them up. That is why cocktail boiled shrimp from tray for sale at the supermarket have so little flavor and taste like rubber.
We eat so much sea food that it is easy for me to tell treated food from untreated food.
BTW, you really don't want any of those farm raised Shrimp or Talapia in your body, trust me.

I've gotten better responses from the fish also with unpeeled shrimp. The first time I used peeled they really didn't eat it. I didn't make much of it until I read your post. Once in month I chop up a shrimp for the tank, let them all get a different snack including the anemones. Guests love to feed the Haddoni also.

 

[D-Nak]

Regarding shrimp -- peeled or not -- most are frozen immediately after being caught and are treated with Sodium Tripolyphosphate (STPP). The shrimp in the seafood counter are rarely "fresh" shrimp but are merely bagged shrimp defrosted for the customer's convenience. The only shrimp that I trust are NOT treated are the live ones commonly found in Asian markets. I don't know if STPP even affects anemones, but I won't rule it out as a reason why some of my nems reacted negatively after feeding. Since I don't really know where shrimp come from and if they are treated or not, I no longer feed my nems shrimp.

 

[ThRoewer]

Why not feed anemones the same Mysis you feed your fish? It's what I do. It is the closest to what they eat in the wild.

Farmed table shrimp are often hardly good for people. Often they are raised in a soup of excrement and antibiotic. And the frozen ones may have all kind of bacteria on them.

If I would feed my fish or anemones fish or shrimp that are for human consumption I would go with sushi grade quality.

 

[jhowerton]

Does anyone use live shrimp you can get at the local bait shops?

 

[elegance coral]

Yes. I don't do it any more simply because the bait shops are a little to far away. I would keep them in a fuge, then pull them out one at a time to feed the tank. Just a heads up. They can jump out of the tank.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I disagree here. I feed them food that I would eat. I do make sure that the food are not preserved in any way. I only used unpeeled wild caught shrimp that not preserved.
Peeled shrimp, especially those that are farmed raised, sometime chemical treated to puff them up. That is why cocktail boiled shrimp from tray for sale at the supermarket have so little flavor and taste like rubber.
We eat so much sea food that it is easy for me to tell treated food from untreated food.
BTW, you really don't want any of those farm raised Shrimp or Talapia in your body, trust me.

X2. As a matter of fact I purchase all of my shrimp that I eat from the shrimper and get them with heads on. I cut my pieces for my anemone's from that. :beer:

 

[raythepilot]

X2. As a matter of fact I purchase all of my shrimp that I eat from the shrimper and get them with heads on. I cut my pieces for my anemone's from that. :beer:

I'd have to move a lot south of where I live to do that!
When my father-in-law was alive and living in Florida we would buy shrimp, go fishing and the shrimp that were left we cooked and ate with whatever fish we caught.
I guess my nems have to live on frozen mysis, brine shrimp and live black worms.

 

[davocean]

Silversides have been an issue for myself and a number of folks I've seen on here.
I actually lost 3 healthy beautiful LTA's almost immediately after a silverside feeding, watched them eat, ball up, release, turn to mush by next day just like that.
So I don't do silvers anymore.
I like scallop, plus I love to eat them, so, treat for nem raw, then me cooked.
that's about how often I spot feed a nem.
I agree w/ Roewer mysis is probably about the best thing to feed, it certainly is what we advise in trying to bring an unhealthy nem back to life.

 

[OrionN]

I use salmon shrimps tuna and othe fresh seafood. I also used seafood medley minus the shrimp in there

 

[D-Nak]

Though I feed mysis to my fish, I typically don't feed them to my nems. The most commonly available Mysis are not the ideal foods for nems. PE Mysis is actually a freshwater species, and Hikari's is brackish with added ingredients (pyridoxine hydrochloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C), carotene, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, inositol, niacin) many if which I have no idea as to what it is or does. They also now have Okanagan Lake Freshwater Mysis Shrimp, which has no added ingredients.

As mentioned previously, the risk we take with all frozen food -- mysis included -- is that it may not have been handled properly along the supply chain. Concerns are that the frozen food may not have been kept at the proper temperature, it may be spoiled, or contaminated.

Therefore, I stick with fresh, saltwater fish -- salmon being the first choice.

 

[raythepilot]

Though I feed mysis to my fish, I typically don't feed them to my nems. The most commonly available Mysis are not the ideal foods for nems. PE Mysis is actually a freshwater species, and Hikari's is brackish with added ingredients (pyridoxine hydrochloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C), carotene, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, inositol, niacin) many if which I have no idea as to what it is or does. They also now have Okanagan Lake Freshwater Mysis Shrimp, which has no added ingredients.

As mentioned previously, the risk we take with all frozen food -- mysis included -- is that it may not have been handled properly along the supply chain. Concerns are that the frozen food may not have been kept at the proper temperature, it may be spoiled, or contaminated.

Therefore, I stick with fresh, saltwater fish -- salmon being the first choice.

Interesting!
I actually look for food that does not come from a salt water environment. I figure it is less likely to be contaminated with the bacteria that infect anemone.
As far as all those added ingredients go they are all vitamins and essential nutrients (for humans).
We have fresh fish here in the NYC area but I would not recommend eating it raw. I got pretty sick myself eating sashimi.
I suppose it comes down to trust. If you haven't had a problem, you are likely to trust whatever you get.

 

[D-Nak]

I suppose it comes down to trust. If you haven't had a problem, you are likely to trust whatever you get.

That's exactly how I feel. I've had best luck with salmon, so I stick with it. Here in CA, we're lucky to have salmon that comes out of local waters, so I trust that it's fresh.