sick anemone help

[abr8k]

I need help with my bubbletip anemones....they always seem sick! All my other soft and hard corals are happy, and my water is dead on (3.5-4 alk, 8.2ph, 420 calcium, 1.024 salinity, 80 degrees), so I can't figure out why they're unhappy.

I have 5 perculas that live between the two anemones, but the anemones don't seem right. They're never as big as they were early on, and the one is just like a big disc now (most of his tentacles seem to have withdrawn so he's a big disc in most parts). They've seemed off for a few months.

Neither seems sick (gaping mouth or completely deflated) but they just don't seem happy and don't look nearly as nice as they should. Any advice?

 

[SVXH6]

what lighting do you have and what do you feed and how often do you feed them?? usually when there are no tentacles or they are really short they are not being fed enough..i would try feeding either silversides, scallops, squid ,clams or krill maybe once a day and see if that helps them..

 

[Blown 346]

How old are your bulbs for your lighting? Are they new? How is the water flow by the anemone's.

 

[abr8k]

I have plenty of light, and the bulbs are new. It is a 58 gallon tank, and I have a 150W 10K metal halide and two 65W actinitc PC's. The water flow is pretty good past them.

Someone else suggested feeding as well. Previously I had never fed them, I thought that colered anemones got enough energy from the light. That being said though, how do you feed them? I had one of them eat successfully the other night, but I can't seem to get the other one to "hold on" to the food. I'll put it in there and he'll just slowly kind of release it and it'll go floating away. Also, what on earth do you do when you've got all kinds of shrimp trying to steal the food, and clowns trying to get you out of the anemone?

 

[Gwoardnog]

Feed them. Keep trying with the food, pick out the leftovers to keep them from rotting in the tank. They will eventuall hold on, they're probably a bit weak from the lack of food (hold it over their mouths/tenticles for a while and see if they hold on). I feed mine, silversides, formula 1 cubes, scallop, squid, krill. Something about the size of a formula 1 cube everyother day if it'll take it (a little bigger won't hurt). To get rid of the shrimp I have to give them a piece of whatever I'm feeding the anemone before hand to keep them occupied.

5 clowns is definately a lot of "love" and rubbing going on for your anemonies so feeding is a definate must so that they can keep themselves repaired.

If you can find a way to seperate the clowns from the anemonies while you're bringing them back up to par, it'll help speed up their recovery.

 

[smp]

Try mysis, mine eats it with gusto and they're small and light, easy to 'stick' hopefully.

 

[abr8k]

I was thinking about putting the anemones in my refugium for a little while so that they could eat without being bothered until they regain strength, but I'm concerned there's not enough flow for them. I have lots of baffles set up so that the macro-algaes and things can grow calmly.

Should I move them down there or leave them be in the main tank and play squirt the shrimp with the turkey baster for 15 minutes while the anemone swallows his food?

 

[smp]

I wouldn't. I think it's more stress than it's worth. Just be patient with the baster. I often have to use my tongs in one hand while I baste with the other just to keep my coral banded shrimp away from the anemone.

 

[abr8k]

Regarding the feeding, I have some frozen foods but I have also purchased some fresh seafood at the grocery store. I bought some white shrimp and just cut it into nice sized chunks to feed the anemone, this worked for the one. Is that an ok item to feed them?

 

[abr8k]

Yeah I have several types of shrimp and 4 types of crabs in my tank, it's like a joint attempt to storm the fort......I like the diversion idea, I'll make sure to feed them all well while I try to feed the anemone.

 

[REV]

I have a bubble tip that move and nearly died. I've been nursing it for about three weeks now. There is only about one third of it left, but I use an aquatic gardener to feed, at first it right on its mouth. I had to fend off my shrimp and crabs from robbing it as it was very slow to get the shrimp all of the way into its mouth. It took some time, but mine is gaining strength and eating better now. Although, I'll tell you it shrivels up and looks aweful for a few hours when it poops... It's patient work...

 

[abr8k]

So I've succeeded in feeding the one, and he is loving it. His tentacles are still very small, but he looks like a ginormous happy disc. The other, however, I can't seem to get to eat......any advice on force feeding? Also, are you more successful when they're weak with very small pieces of food, or rather one larger piece, etc? It looks like he'll take kind of hold the food but I can't seem to get him to swallow anything.....and its hard for me to sit there and guard him for much more than 20 minutes or so...

 

[physicslord]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6519811#post6519811 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abr8k
I have plenty of light, and the bulbs are new. It is a 58 gallon tank, and I have a 150W 10K metal halide and two 65W actinitc PC's. The water flow is pretty good past them.

You don't have enough light. Anemones need 5W per gallon of MH in a home aquarium or they just don't last very long.

You have less than 3W of MH and it should be 14K. PC doesn't really do anything for anemones for some reason.

 

[REV]

I had to back of on the size about a third of what I was originally feeding, though I had to feed about every 2-3 days with the small portions. As far as force feeding, you almost cannot really force the animal to eat. Really forcing it will stress it. Just get the food right on top of its mouth and if it begins to take it then just do all you can to help it as gently as possible. A big problem once the anemone gets weak is ho long it takes it to get the food internalized. If you are successful, you should see in the next day or so, stringy looking things inside of some of the tentacles. That's food! The "bubbles" should return after a feeing or three, when it gets any kind of strength. Also, don't worry about your light if the animal is in a well lit spot. The ANCIENT idea of watts per gallon... a watt of light from various sources does not even give a close comparison for lumens! Anyway, the animal needs to be in a well lit area of the tank.

 

[REV]

P.S. My Anemone is thriving now and I have 260 watts of pc - TOTAL!

 

[SVXH6]

anemones do not need 5W of MH to survive in the home aquarium.. i have a few anemones that are very happy and look great without the use of MH.. they need great and stable water quality, and regular feedings..why should it be 14K?? technically 6700K or 10K is going to be the best for growth..the higher spectrums are just going to give you a bluer look.. the whole watts per gallon does not work IMO because it really is going to depend on the depth of the tank, placements of the coral and or anemone in the tank, and with all your rock, how many gallons of water are actually in the tank??..the use of MH is way overrated and you can have a very successful tank without it..

 

[SEAFLOWERS]

some good info on anenome keeping is on the tank of the month pages, look for Kevin kuykendall's tank from 05'.