Case of the shrinking Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone?

[tc2007]

I got a Rainbow bubble tip about 3 months ago. It's mostly healthy and somewhat nicely colored (vs bleached) and directly under my Radion XR30. It does not move at all. The only problem I see with it is seems to not grow. In fact it maybe shrinking

I don't feed it manually. Drop in couple of frozen cubes a day + Flakes pellets etc. No clowns are hosting on it. Not sure what else can I do.

 

[mussel and hate]

If you want it to grow target feed it. I have good results feeding frozen mysis thawed in tank water. I turn off the pumps and target feed with a turkey baster. Just let the mysis trickle out as opposed to directing a jet at the nem.

 

[BIGCYCS805]

How high do you have your lights turned up and how high off the water surface I used to feed mine silversides and they always blow up really big right after

 

[tc2007]

8" from surface, the nem is at 15" below. In all 23".
Lights are at around 40%

 

[hotelbravo]

I agree with feeding it chunky foods such as squid, shrimp, fish, oyster, scallops. Stay away from silverslides they are not good there are a number of reports of them killing anemones sinnce they typically go bad during shipment and due to thawing and refreezing in the trucks they spoil. Stay away and buy fresh quality food (uncooked of course).

 

[tc2007]

Cool. Will try feeding it.

 

[mussel and hate]

Whatever you choose to feed make sure it is in small pieces. Fine granularity makes for quick digestion. A large piece of the same volume will likely be regurgitated.

 

[Ebisan]

I used to feed mine small cuts of silverside once every week or two but after many splits later I stopped and only feed small chunks of scallop once a year for the last 5 years. My nems are much smaller now, the biggest one is around 6" (used to be 10") while the others are between 1" to 3". They still split quite often though.

 

[tc2007]

I tried to feed it several times now including PE Mysis and Formula 1 using a turkey baster. It does not even try to feed. I would expect it to close instantly once food is placed on the tentacles, but it does nothing. The mouth seems to be puffy / swollen white. Not sure what else I can do. It is shrunk and place (but not completely white). There are still small bulbs on the tentacle.

 

[akida]

PE mysis is good stuff. If you really want it to grow and color up, feed fresh salmon. all of my nems go nuts for it and my sunburst really loves it. It's high in amino acids though so feed small chunks, if you overfeed it your nutrients will rise and algae may become an issue.

 

[tc2007]

There is no feeding response in the nem. Also I am vegetarian so I don't plan on buying salmon and processing it. Not sure if they sell frozen salmon cubes like PE mysis. Anything else that will help? I will try feeding Cyclopeeze too.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Need to see a picture of your anemone. Especially the mouth area

 

[KirbyBTF]

If its not eating that's an issue. Pics would help. My first thought is bacterial infection, but that's probably cause I just spent a month getting my nem back to health from one.

 

[tc2007]

OK. I will try to get a pic later. If it is bacterial infection, what is the treatment? Does the hospital tank need a powerful light?

 

[KirbyBTF]

There's a big thread on how to do it, or you can look for mine and see how I did it. It's called "bubbletip help". Short answer use Cipro for 7 days, 100% water change every day, and yes you need a good light over the hospital tank.

 

[tc2007]

I got it eating flake foods and high quality seafood mix made locally. I don't think it is unhealthy, just hungry

Will post updates next month.

 

[tc2007]

If its not eating that's an issue. Pics would help. My first thought is bacterial infection, but that's probably cause I just spent a month getting my nem back to health from one.

Here is a crappy pic. It is not fully bleached but not colored much either. It is eating frozen mix food. But acting "sick".

 

[bobbravo2]

Try getting a par meter and measuring how much light it's getting. I'd say 40% sounds a bit low. You could try bumping up intensity 5% a week for 4 weeks.

 

[tc2007]

Try getting a par meter and measuring how much light it's getting. I'd say 40% sounds a bit low. You could try bumping up intensity 5% a week for 4 weeks.

I tried 45% and 50% and it fried my small SPS frags.

 

[bobbravo2]

I tried 45% and 50% and it fried my small SPS frags.

That's why you slowly increase it. Corals acclimate to higher intensity lighting over weeks.