sick nem

VitalApparatus

New member
My RBTA is all closed up with just some skinny tentacles sticking out.Im sure hes a goner I should have never tried to raise an anemone :sad1:
He was fine yesterday and I fed him a krill.
slh3di.jpg
 
sometimes nems just have bad days but from the pic it doesnt look like thats the only problem here, how old is the tank? what are the params?
 
For an E. Quadricolor that isn't too out of the ordinary -- they will do that from time to time. You should be concerned if it is doing that daily, and/or the majority of the time. Though, if I remember correctly, you have a maroon clown that is fairly close in size to the anemone, that might be causing this.
 
Tank has been up for about 8 months (middle of Nov.)
Params are good , nitrates are a bit high but the rest are fine.

Yes the maroon clown is about 2/3 the size of the nem (nem is 4" clown is 3")
Ive got him in the refugium for now.
 
if that was not your first tank an immature tank was probably not the problem, even tho many reccomend you should wait 10-12 months before introducing a nem to the tank, but i believe that is only for beginners really. so i would suspect the clown is going a little rough on it.
 
Hard to tell, it could be either a waste ball (( how large was the piece you gave it? Want to make sure to use small pieces, even mysis instead )), or it is adjusting its internal algae.

With the info given, I am leaning towards a waste ball -- If I am correct, it should look normal in an hour or two.
 
The krill was about the 3/4 of an inch.The night before that I gave it a half of a silverside about an inch long.
I hope its a wasteball!
Should I cut the food smaller?
 
IMO/E, that is too much food, and too soon. Would let it fully settle in first - wouldn't feed it for at least a week.
Second, I (( along with other experienced anemone keepers )) have had bad lucky using silversides -- to the point were I blame them for me losing an H. Malu years ago.

If you can get your hands on some PE Mysis, that would be better, at least until the anemone is bigger.
 
Well I feel stupid if indeed he was just pooping...Thanks so much for all your replies and attention.Ill keep watching it and keep you posted.
 
I feed mysis to my mixed reef is that the same thing? I dont know if its PE or not.

That should be fine. PE brand is better, IMO, but that isn't an issue right now.

Well I feel stupid if indeed he was just pooping...Thanks so much for all your replies and attention.Ill keep watching it and keep you posted.

Sure thing. And if you don't ask the questions, you won't learn. Trust me, I had the same concerns back when I first started keeping anemones.
 
It seemed like you fed it on consecutive days. Remember, they expel waste from their mouths so it has to have time to do both processes. I wouldn't feed it more than every three days and that's assuming smaller, easily digested pieces.
 
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