Dying RBTA, or is this normal?

OK, just tested my water, PH is 8.0 and that is 15 minutes after lights out, KH is 8.3 and ALK is 2.97

I have an Aqua C remora on my 24 gallon, plenty of skimming going on. I do a 5 gallon water change once a week with IO salt.

I have 2 clowns(they are barely an inch long each) they have no interest in the anemone.
I have a purple firefish, a tail spot blenny a rainsford goby and a target mandarin.
I have sexy shrimp, bumblebee shrimp, skunk shrimp and anemone shrimp
I have blue legged crabs a couple red legged crabs 2 pom pom crabs
Tons of pods, a fuge and about 30 pounds of live rock and 30 pounds of sand.

The anemone ate today!! I used chopped Krill. It was soooooo hard to feed it because of where it is, but it ate and fluffed out a little.

I have to admit, when I was told not to feed formula one, I was surprised as it has mixed seafood plus vitamins. In any case, I ordered squid, krill and silversides.

I really hope she pulls through, I love her!
You should see her coloring, metallic green and bright fusia pink tips, just amazing.
 
I feed my anemone formula 1 frozen all the time, he/she loves it.

If nothing significant has changed with the temp/water/light etc. I would suspect that you have a case of allelopathy looking at the pictures I'd suspect the cup coral though I don't know just how strong they are.
 
Red, I have seen those, way cool, I think I will give one a try.
I have a great tong made by Penplax that works great but I am always trying out new things.
Thanks for that link.

AEA, I do want to mention, by the last pictures you posted with the shrimp on it.
If it were me,(and you arent):) I would remove the shrimp from it as it is only irritating the anemone further.
I see the head of the shrimp is right at the mouth of the anemone.
This can be very irritating to them and might just be with yours,
if there is a way to cover that anemone with a strawberry basket or something to keep it from the shrimp you might just find that it recovers faster.
I have had anemone crabs with shrimp and to say I severely dislike them is an understatement, the constantly pick at the mouth of the anemone looking for any last remnants of food, irritating it to no end.
I think your anemone would be well served if it doesnt have the added burden of something living/irritating it and it might just help it recover.
 
Finding Nemo, there is no way I can cover the anemone, it's completly squished in the rockwork, I can barely get my fingers in there to feed it.
As for the shrimp, when I feed the anemone, I"m like a mother hen, I guard the anemone from shrimp and crabs until the food is in its mouth, then I feed the rest of the tank and make sure the hosting shrimp has a nice big piece of food so as not to pick. I have noticed if I feed the anemone but not the shrimp it WILL pick at the anemone's mouth, so now I sit and watch while the anemone eats and feed everything else too.

The shrimp is kinda good though, it tends to sit pretty still on it and keep other shrimp and crabs away. I could try to catch the 3 shrimp, but the other 2 hang out on corals anyway and aren't bothering anything.

I'll take some more pics today, but it's still squished back in that rockwork, I really hope it decides to come out.
 
Mornin Love, great that it is eating, I was affraid that the shrimp was taking the food from the anemone as they sometimes do.
They can become pests, like parasites and you are doing what has to be done to make sure your anemone is eating so thats great.
Good luck with that little fella.
Have you tried putting a powerhead facing the anemone to see if that will get it to move out of its crevice?
Maybe that would help?
 
like what "finding nemo" said, I would remove that shrimp and place it in those guppy containers. I had one of those a couple years back and it hosted in my RBTA as well, but I noticed it getting smaller & smaller. I then realized because of the translucent body of the shrimp, I notice it's inside was reddish color and I figured wth, it's eating my RBTA, so I removed it and the RBTA expanded back out after that. I know have a couple of sexy anemone shrimps to host my RBTA :) So just to test it out, remove the shrimp from the RBTA and see how it does for a week or so. Good luck!
 
I have never noticed anything red in its body, owever, I think I will remove the shrimp anyway, maybe the clowns will host if the shrimp are gone!
 
Aea, I bet the clowns will go right in.
I have found that just because the shrimp and crabs host in anemones in the wild and it may be cute, they are detrimental to the health and happyness of the anemones.
I think, if something was crawling around my mouth 24/7 I would go nuts :).
Analogy of a human compared to an animal I know, but it is how I feel.
I wont keep anything that hosts in anemones except clowns, that being said, I wont keep maroons either, they are way to rough on anemones unless the anemone is at least 4 times or larger then the maroons are.
But this is of course just my opinion.
 
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Great Idea AEA. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how happy your nem will be once it is'nt being irritated all day.
Happy BD to your daughter to.
I forgot to send a card so hugs.;)
 
I have great news!!!!!! My anemone moved today to an awesome spot that I can reach no problem AND it ate a piece of silverside!!!!!! I watched it eat the entire piece and kept the crabs at bay!!!!

I also got another anemone, it's stunning. It's a bubble tip, but not a rose. It's flourescent green with flourescent pink tips and it ate a 1/2 of a silverside today. It's a little bigger than my rose, so I gave it a bigger piece. Both anemones look fantastic and happy.

So, let me get this right, I don't feed again for 5 more days, right?

I'll post some pics later, but I wanted to say thanks to all who gave advice and especially FindingNemo, you were very sweet to me in my hours of sadness for my little Rose. Thank you!
 
Ohhhhhhhhhhh Aea, I am so happy that he has moved and you have added a buddie for him, watch for them to move together and sit side by side, I know mine always do.
I would not wait 5 days to feed, mine get food every 3 days, sometimes 2 if there mouth is puckered up when I feed the mysis to the fish, they tell me when they are hungry.
Please post a picture of your new buddie.
Would love to see it.
Always here for ya gal
karen
 
I never feed my BTAs and they do find. Had them for years and they multiply like crazy.
 
Dag. I dont see any pictures in your gallery nor a web site. Can you post a few pictures or your non fed anemones for us to see please?
 
Karen, it almost sounds like you don't believe me. [violation]
 
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