Mert's rehab

[Winwood]

I recieved this anemone from fellow RC member Ron Popeil. Normally I would not try a nem so badly bleached (whitest anemone I have ever seen), but being a merten's I am trying.

Ron had this nem for about 2 months I believe and it has been under my care for about a month now as well. In that time it has remained the perfect specimen to put a black light over and so my question to you all is how long does it usually take for a nem to start gaining back zooxanthellae? I would love to hear from those who have successfully recooperated badly bleached anemones back to healthy colored specimens.

Here are a couple of photos for a reference point. They are iphone pics so not the best quality but gets the point across.

 

[t4zalews]

Is it still sticky and respond to food? I also believe keeping high water quality is essential for bringing back anemones. My gig has gotten a little bleached recently, due to water quality issues I believe. I'm working on that and trying to feed it more. I've done this before with a bleached BTA and it completely came back in about a month.

 

[Winwood]

Is it still sticky and respond to food? I also believe keeping high water quality is essential for bringing back anemones. My gig has gotten a little bleached recently, due to water quality issues I believe. I'm working on that and trying to feed it more. I've done this before with a bleached BTA and it completely came back in about a month.

Yeah it still has some fight left in it. I have fed it mysis with hit and miss success 3 times now. It seems to get atleast a couple of shrimp pieces down each time. As far as water quality goes it looks like this

Nitrate 0 ppm
phosphate 0 ppm
pH 8.0 to 8.2
calcium 440
dKh 7-8
top off and WC done with RO/DI water

 

[ezhoops]

nice chrys. Yeah keeping attempting to feed, Carpets seem to be better eaters and that seems to help.

 

[t4zalews]

are the clowns rough on it? sometimes too much attention from the clownfish can be bad. I had a gold stripe love a small anemone to death one time

 

[Winwood]

are the clowns rough on it? sometimes too much attention from the clownfish can be bad. I had a gold stripe love a small anemone to death one time

No, they're not that rouph. They kinda hover over it and visit for an occasional wallow. At night they all sleep in it though.

 

[Winwood]

nice chrys. Yeah keeping attempting to feed, Carpets seem to be better eaters and that seems to help.

Thanks they are my fav's.

 

[Reefvette]

Winwood

Winwood

I would try to feed it everyday or everyother day. My mertens was a little bleached when i got it but i fed it everyother day and it grew and colored up nicely.


They are awsome carpets.

 

[Ron Popeil]

YOU ALREADY BLEACHED OUT MY MERTENS?!

jaaaaykay.

i believe if you can just keep it out of a tank with a magnifica in it (something i was unable to do) i think it should recover just fine. it certainly was the most resilient anemone ive ever owned.

good luck!

 

[reppo13]

If your feeding mysis every once in a while try switching it up with little chunks of other shrimp. Something less dense than a fish though. It seems that every time I fed a silverside (don't do that anymore as I lost a haddoni) it wouldn't digest the full thing. As with shrimp I feel its easier to digest. If we were fed the same meat every day I garauntee you we would not be as strong as if we ate different meats ie. steak, chicken, fish... that way we get more nutrients. Somewhere on here I read that you could harvest zooxanthellae from one nem and feed it to another so if thats even true you could try that. Either way give it time as it will probably take a while, I had a sebae that I bought when it was almost fully bleached and took nine months to regain some color but that was under t5s.

 

[Winwood]

Sorry Jordan, LOL!

If your feeding mysis every once in a while try switching it up with little chunks of other shrimp. Something less dense than a fish though. It seems that every time I fed a silverside (don't do that anymore as I lost a haddoni) it wouldn't digest the full thing. As with shrimp I feel its easier to digest. If we were fed the same meat every day I garauntee you we would not be as strong as if we ate different meats ie. steak, chicken, fish... that way we get more nutrients. Somewhere on here I read that you could harvest zooxanthellae from one nem and feed it to another so if thats even true you could try that. Either way give it time as it will probably take a while, I had a sebae that I bought when it was almost fully bleached and took nine months to regain some color but that was under t5s.

Ok, so I remember a thread where a guy took a bleached blue gig and fed it a tentacle or two attached to a piece of krill from a healthy green gig and the bLue one started gaining more zooxanthellae back. I have been thinking about this a lot but here's the problem. I don't have another merten's carpet so I was thinking about trying another species. What do you think? At the moment my nem only wants to eat mysis. I tried krill and no feeding response was triggered.

 

[ezhoops]

How did he get the tentacle from the other anem? cut it off? sounds like it could cause damage...but I guess it makes sense, I think?

 

[Conrad25]

Sounds pretty dangerous if its another species

 

[reppo13]

Sorry Jordan, LOL!



Ok, so I remember a thread where a guy took a bleached blue gig and fed it a tentacle or two attached to a piece of krill from a healthy green gig and the bLue one started gaining more zooxanthellae back. I have been thinking about this a lot but here's the problem. I don't have another merten's carpet so I was thinking about trying another species. What do you think? At the moment my nem only wants to eat mysis. I tried krill and no feeding response was triggered.

I really don't know if all nems zooxanthellae are the same or if there are different kinds I can't seem to recall if the zooxanthellae are all brown or if they give off pigment, if they give off pigment they might only function in one nem so that seems pretty sketchy. I wouldn't want to lose a nem do to zooxanthellae transfer. I would try to contact that OP of that thread and see what actually happened and how he did it. As for the feeding, try sneaking krill (cut it small) in when feeding mysis or try larger mysis unless your already feading PE. I know people buy shrimp from the market that they use to feed nems but I've never done that... anyone do that here? Maybe scallops or clams....

 

[Reefvette]

If i had a macro camera i would take a pic of a bleached haddoni i got that has greenish red speckles in its tentacles from about two weeks of feeding

 

[Winwood]

How did he get the tentacle from the other anem? cut it off? sounds like it could cause damage...but I guess it makes sense, I think?

Basically from what I remember the person got healthy tentacles from the healthy nem to latch onto a piece of shrimp and then rip it away real quick. A few of the tentacles would tear off in the process and then the shrimp was fed to the bleached gig. This is the first and only time ever heard of somebody doing this so it's hard to say if the return of the zooxanthellae was a coincidence or not.

 

[Sfork]

If it's any consolation zooxanthellae have been known to "bleed" onto nearby corals of a different color.

 

[reppo13]

I would wait on mixing nems zooxanthellae until more opinions have been shared, as I think it too risky.

 

[elegance coral]

I don't believe there is a safe option at this point. The anemone appears withdrawn, so it's energy reserves are probably running low. If nothing is done, it may simply die of malnutrition before zooxanthellae return. Even if it's fed on a regular basis.

I wouldn't transfer tissue containing nematocysts from another species.

Iodine, while it has its own risks, can be very helpful in situations like this. In small quantities, it speeds up the rate of zooxanthellae reproduction. This may be good for the mertensii, (if there are any healthy zooxanthellae left inside it.) but it can cause problems for other corals and anemones in the system. If the zooxanthellae reproduce inside an anemone faster than the animals can regulate the population, damage can occur. That green film that grows on the glass will also grow faster. If all goes well, the other critters in the system will begin discharging zooxanthellae as the population grows inside them. It's relatively easy to collect these zooxanthellae with a pipette or turkey baster. You'll typically see this as brown slimy looking stuff being discharged from the mouth. These zooxanthellae can then be mixed with food and fed to the mertensii. The mertensii also has the ability to take in zooxanthellae from the water column that have been discharged by tank mates. You just have to hope someone in the system has a clad of zooxanthellae that the mertensii can utilize.

 

[Winwood]

Interesting points EC. Upon your suggestion perhaps I will try dosing a low amount of iodine, and yes I agree with your statement of it looking withdrawn. That is why I posted this thread. Although the anemone isn't really worsening it doesn't seem to be showing much improvement either, so i was and still am looking at further options and opinions.