D-Nak
Active member
I'm trying to test a hypothesis of mine.
Are any of you feeding your anemones table shrimp? If so, where are you getting them from? Are they fresh (live), frozen, or defrosted at the meat counter of your grocery store?
If you're feeding frozen or defrosted, the likelihood that it contains sodium trypolyphoshate ("STPP" for short) is high. Apparently its used to give fish and shrimp a better texture after its defrosted.
I have a hypothesis that anemones -- small ones -- may be affected by STPP. I have a pair of gigantea sharing a tank. One is 5" and the other is about 2.5" and I recently fed them small pieces of shrimp which I later learned had STPP. Both deflated a bit, but the smaller gig remained deflated and even partially detached. Both appear to be fine now, but nothing in the tank changed. I also have a magnifica in a separate tank, but connected to a central sump, that also ate the same shrimp, but is larger -- approximately 9" -- and showed no affects.
I usually feed the anemones salmon, and they never deflate after eating. I also run a lot of carbon on the system -- in the sump where the water is forced through it to get to the return section -- so I don't think it's allelopathy that's causing it.
Thoughts?
Are any of you feeding your anemones table shrimp? If so, where are you getting them from? Are they fresh (live), frozen, or defrosted at the meat counter of your grocery store?
If you're feeding frozen or defrosted, the likelihood that it contains sodium trypolyphoshate ("STPP" for short) is high. Apparently its used to give fish and shrimp a better texture after its defrosted.
I have a hypothesis that anemones -- small ones -- may be affected by STPP. I have a pair of gigantea sharing a tank. One is 5" and the other is about 2.5" and I recently fed them small pieces of shrimp which I later learned had STPP. Both deflated a bit, but the smaller gig remained deflated and even partially detached. Both appear to be fine now, but nothing in the tank changed. I also have a magnifica in a separate tank, but connected to a central sump, that also ate the same shrimp, but is larger -- approximately 9" -- and showed no affects.
I usually feed the anemones salmon, and they never deflate after eating. I also run a lot of carbon on the system -- in the sump where the water is forced through it to get to the return section -- so I don't think it's allelopathy that's causing it.
Thoughts?
