LTA, need input

[SaltyWenStirred]

My LTA started deflating yesterday. I feed him shrimp. I fed him and he got big and looked healthy. Now this morning, he looks deflated again. Below are the before and after pics. When I fed him yesterday, he gripped the food hard. If he's dying I'd like to get him out. But I hate to pull him out if he's not.

My salinity is 1.23
0 Amm
0 Nitrite
<10 Nitrate
15% water changes every week
Calcium 400
38 Gallon tank with 92W LED tablet, 1400k

The tank is 2 months old. I know, it's too new. Didn't realize that component when I was in the LFS speaking with the owner. He has the nicest fish store in town, with excellent specimens. Seemed knowledgeable. Wasn't until I got him home that I read about not adding nems for a long time to allow the tank to settle.

I've had him for about 3 weeks.

This morning:

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

Also, the temp is 79

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

oh please somebody, answer

 

[sqwat]

He is fine that is what they look like when pooping.ltas don't fully close up when pooping.is his foot dug Into the sand bed? Ltas are easy if you have a dsb and they are dug into it.my ltas love to eat.get him a nice piece of silverside clam or shrimp something Meaty .he just look very hungry he is not bleached. If he isn't dug into the sand or you have rough gravel add soft sand about 5 in hes in a bright spot.first remove some gravel.get a 3 inch wide 3 inch tall pvc pipe and dig it into the soft sand take sand out of middle of the pvc and put lta in.he will dig in and attach to bottom of tank.feed him a meaty meal e dry three days the size of his mouth.if gets to big cut down feeding.ltas just deflate a little to poop so don't sorghum.what kind of leds are you running?.are they bright?

 

[All6Fish]

This anemone is a carnivore. Feed it chopped silversides, shrimp, krill, and mussels, fresh chopped fish (from your grocery store), as well as frozen carnivore preparations. Feed once a week, unless the mouth is open, then feed as often as it is hungry. Younger ones seem to need smaller daily feedings with food that is finely clopped. The old adage that anemones should be fed once a month is false and has led to many deaths.
•Diet Type: Carnivore
•Meaty Food: All of Diet - They can be fed chopped silversides, shrimp, krill, and mussels, fresh chopped fish (from your grocery store), as well as frozen carnivore preparations.
•Feeding Frequency: Weekly - Feed once a week unless their mouth is open - then feed more often. Also, younger anemones often need daily feedings.

Anenomes deflate to get rid of waste, that is to say, poo and expel water.

They will expel at least every 2 days,sometimes daily.


It is a process that is done by(sometimes) shrinking up so much that you think they are dying but are not. I have not however seen every Anemone

shrink when expelling so not all do it.

They need to expel their waste and replace their body and Tentacles with fresh water regularly

 

[sqwat]

Ltas do not shrink up all the way like the bta.ltas are sand anemones and need to be put in the sand.not to say it hasn't worked the otherway but we try to mimmic the way they like it

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

I had to leave. Just got back home and he looks normal again. His foot is wedged at an angle so that part of it is in the sand, but he's also attached to the rock behind him.

Scares me when he looks like that. I think mine likes to eat. I feed it scallops or shrimp every other day. I know not to feed it anything bigger than his mouth, which usually doesn't look nearly as big as it does in the second pic. So I'd feed him 2-3 pieces of meat, about the size of an eraser head.

Last night I fed him almost 1/2 a piece of shrimp, cut up into little pieces. That's more than I usually feed him, but I was wondering if I wasn't feeding him enough.

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

Here's what he looks like now:

Look okay?

 

[sqwat]

Good he will fig his foot down.he looks healthy and I'm just sure he was hungry then looping.I would tun dome chemist pure elite carbon just incase of some chem warfarehis color is deep and full very healthy.ltas deflate just a couple of tentacles when pooling like the first pic some will be full and some allmost dead like they are going to fall off this is fine.keep him fed well ltas respond verywell to steady feedings and those tentacles will get allot longer.u got lucky with a nice healthy specimen just leave him be and feed him keep water perfect and he will get big and mean like ltas should be don't worry when popping takes awile

 

[SomeDude12]

I believe I've stated this before. It's quite amusing when first experiencing something new (or new to the hobby), we quickly assume something is wrong when something isn't as we assume it should be. I would suggest, that more anemone's are killed by random overreactions of their owners, than the circumstances themselves. This could also be said, for anything else in the hobby.

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

I agree, however, the majority of people who come here aren't motivated to post about how terrific everything is going in their fish tank. The majority of stories we read are about what can go wrong, so it seems like something is bound to go around.

I've consistently read that if the anemone is starting to die, that he needs to be catapulted out of the tank in a sling shot before he destroys the tank, so I'm on the look out.

 

[sjwitt]

I would suggest you slowly increase the SG (salinity) to 1.025-1.026. Anemones seem to do better at that level, yours is a little low.