shipped BTA arrived in TERRIBLE shape... any hope?

where did you get it from? selling/shipping a nem that bleached should be a massive black mark on the vendor so the rest of us can steer clear
 
I should have known better, but saltwaterfish.com... I have heard conflicting reviews, both good and bad. The price was right so I went with it. The rest of the shipment (conch, cleaner shrimp, and 2 frags) look great and are thriving so far, it was just the 'nem that was in such horrible shape.
 
the left side of his foot looks like it's inflated, which points to it's still on the move. Keep an eye out on it. Hope it pulls through for u!
 
You were right overnight he crossed the rock and is now attached to the next one over, facing the back of the tank! (of course) but his foot is mostly wedged in and he seems pretty secure where he's at now... Here he is this morning I had to get creative with the camera phone so its from a few different angles...

Any suggestions on how/what/when to feed this guy? I'm thinking food should wait a few more days I think he's still just using all his energy to recover lol I don't want to overwhelm him with food if he's not ready but I don't want him to starve either since he probly isn't getting much from his little zooxanthellae buddies :lol:



 
in my research, I read somewhere silversides that are cut to the size of the mouth. Done twice a week.

However I don't know how good the feeding times advice is (I read it on a blog where this chick had a huge tank full of rbtas). Also if you have any fish or crabs/shrimp, they will get to the silverside before it can eat it; I had to guard the nem along with making sure it was small enough for it to consume it within a decent time. 5-10 minutes maybe?
 
You were right overnight he crossed the rock and is now attached to the next one over, facing the back of the tank! (of course) but his foot is mostly wedged in and he seems pretty secure where he's at now... Here he is this morning I had to get creative with the camera phone so its from a few different angles...

Any suggestions on how/what/when to feed this guy? I'm thinking food should wait a few more days I think he's still just using all his energy to recover lol I don't want to overwhelm him with food if he's not ready but I don't want him to starve either since he probly isn't getting much from his little zooxanthellae buddies :lol:

Feeding or not is up to debate. I personally don't think bleached nems should be fed so that they can use their energy to recover.

in my research, I read somewhere silversides that are cut to the size of the mouth. Done twice a week.

However I don't know how good the feeding times advice is (I read it on a blog where this chick had a huge tank full of rbtas). Also if you have any fish or crabs/shrimp, they will get to the silverside before it can eat it; I had to guard the nem along with making sure it was small enough for it to consume it within a decent time. 5-10 minutes maybe?

As many of us have said time and time again, DO NOT feed anemones silversides. There are stories of nems dying after feeding them bad silversides, and there's no reason to do so since there are far superior food choices that are less work for the nem to digest. Salmon soaked in Selcon is my food of choice, but you can also feed shrimp or scallops. The pieces should be no larger than the size of a standard pencil eraser. With these types of food, there are no bones for the nem to have to digest. Silversides are not meant for human consumption, so they aren't regulated or inspected for quality.

My carpet anemone is at least 18" when fully open, and is very happy just getting whatever food floats by. I feed my tank Rods Food, which has a lot of larger chunks -- none larger than an eraser though.
 
I think I'm going to give him a few more days then shoot some thawed mysis his way and see if there's a feeding response... I think if i do feed it will be small amounts maybe like ~1x/week
 
One thing i do when an anemone has gone thru the mill like that, If it is bad looking because of bad care or tramatic events and not from disease or infection. Typically check very closely to make sure no damage to the foot, some places will just rip them off the rock and throw them in a bag, i've seen it happen.
But i will put the anemone on a rock that has a good cave like area about 2 inches across and like 1.5 to 2 inches deep. Keep them under only actinic lights and very low moonlighting at night for the first couple days. I also take a smaller skimmer pump and point it towards the anemone to so he is getting a small amount of super fine micro bubbles blowing on him, very gently though not enough to hardly even move the tentacles. I hook up pure O2 to the airline on the pump. After 4 to 5 days ill know if he's going downhill. If he looks like he is getting a little better i'll increase the lighting for short periods throughout the day, like 2 hours on , hour off, but not strong lighting just more than actinic. increasing the time of exposure as days go by so he slowly acclimates to the lighting.
after 4 days i turn off the O2 gradually, over about 12 hours ill back off the O2 and just run solid fresh air. little amounts at a time though.
On the 4th or 5th day depending on how it's looking ill feed only reef chili mixed with cyclopeeze coral food after it has been soaking in selcon or vit C or both. Selcon has Vit C but it really depends on the anemone and how bleached it is if i raise the amount.
Keep a close eye on water parameters, they must be maintained to pristine quality,no sudden changes of anything. I will usually feed very very little to my fish if im aiding an anemone in my tank. I also keep the water at 82 to 83F during the first week at least. Sometimes though they are just too far gone to recover.:( So good luck to you and i hope your anemone gets healthy fast :)
 
Feeding or not is up to debate. I personally don't think bleached nems should be fed so that they can use their energy to recover.



As many of us have said time and time again, DO NOT feed anemones silversides. There are stories of nems dying after feeding them bad silversides......
I agree with D-Nak regarding silverside. However, I think that as long as the bleached anemone is otherwise healthy, he should be feed. If he is bleached he will not get any energy from light. You got to give him some food or else he will just continue to shrink. Metabolize himself to keep alive.

If you can, feed him some food with a tentacle or two of another anemone of the same species that is not bleached. Zoo transplant so to speak.
 
Agree that a bleached anemone should be fed. I take frozen scallop and thaw in tank water. Mash them up into small pieces and target feed using a turkey baster. I feed them at a minimum 2x per week and they have grown huge.
 
Wow, what a comeback! Glad to see he looks so much better, despite the bleaching. Hope he continues to improve! I recently had a scare with one I just received - he just wasn't sticky...thankfully, he regained his stickiness after a few days. Doggone anemones.
 
update!

update!

"Frankenstein" is alive and well!!! (aside from still being super-bleached :uhoh3: hubby calls him "Casper" instead :lol:) I tried taking pictures again but he's still in that weird awkward spot facing the back of my tank. Which, to me, is a good sign because he's planted his foot and not moving! He's kinda bubbly and sticky, I caught him eating some fishfood flakes as they floated by this morning! :dance: I haven't target fed yet, still just trying to give him time to recuperate. I swear I'm seeing improvement day by day! Just wanted to thank everyone for all the advice and pointers... It has literally made the difference of life and death for this poor guy! I'll try to photo update if I can figure out how to get a good shot!!
 
wow glad "frankenstein" is doing alot better, how often are you going to be feeding him now since hes pretty bleached.
 
I'm going to start with 1x/week and work up to 2-3x/week depending on how he tolerates the feedings. Gonna start out feeding mysis, then when I go grocery shopping next I'll get some shrimp and scallops and make a frozen seafood mush for him. I'm pretty much just flying by the seat of my pants here, just gonna try stuff and see what works! So far everything I've done I learned here... This is my FIRST anemone. Awesome way to start out, eh?
 
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