What is wrong with my bubble tip anemone?

[zmazza]

I've got a problem. I've had my anemone for about 2 and a half months now. For about the first month and a half, the anemone did great! I fed it Mysis and Brine shrimp every week... My clown fishes also bonded with it within the first month, but didn't seem to be harrasing it. After about a month and a half, it lost all it's tentacles except for a few. The clownfish don't go near it now. And every time I feed it, it blows up like a balloon. I guess he would look normal if he had all his tentacles. He looks really healthy and I've started feeding him half a silver side every 4-7 days.

I don't have exact water parameters, but my 20 or so zoanthids, tube worms, feather dusters, and fish aren't showing any signs of nitrates...

It's a 29 gallon tank. I've got about 80 lbs of live rock. a MJ600 and an MJ1200 power head, 192 watt PC lighting with 6700k bulbs (What it came with), 20 lbs of aragonite, about 7 snails, 3-4 dwarf hermits, a blue damsel, a yellowtail damsel, a yellow watchman goby, a firefish goby, 2 peppermint shrimp and my pair of ocellaris clowns and the bubble tip anemone.

The blue damsel and firefish goby we're just added recently.

Here are some pics my wife took this morning:

How can I get him to grow his tentacles back?

This was a picture of him just a month or so after I got him.

I've placed him high up on my liverock. He's not getting any direct flow. I feel I should add another powerhead though. Theres a slight current in the tank. I'm also turning both bulbs on now, instead of just one. I've got them both on timers. One comes on from 12-10, and the other one comes on from 2 to 8.

Can anyone help me figure out what's going on?

Thanks.

 

[GSMguy]

does not look good
have you been feeding him
you flow does sound to low but it would have to be more that that i think

 

[zmazza]

He hasn't bleached, and he's eating well. I feed him a silverside every 4 to 7 days and he really perks up. He looks healthy, just doesn't have any tentacles. I'm not exactly sure why he lost them. I can't remember seeing them one day and not seeing them the next... I believe he might have curled up so I couldn't see him, and then when he uncurled is when I noticed he didn't have any tentacles.

He gobbles down the fish that I feed him, so he must be healthy.

 

[pncstod]

How can it eat w/o any tentacles? Also, how does an anemone perk up with no tentacles? Not trying to be harsh at all, just can't imagine it.

Have you taken the anemone out and smelled it? I am no expert with anemones but I personaly would be inclined to take it out. A 29 gallon will go downhill fast with a decaying anemone. I hardly test water unless something looks off, but this is a situation where you really need to know your exact parameters.

 

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8985640#post8985640 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zmazza
He hasn't bleached, and he's eating well. I feed him a silverside every 4 to 7 days and he really perks up. He looks healthy, just doesn't have any tentacles. I'm not exactly sure why he lost them. I can't remember seeing them one day and not seeing them the next... I believe he might have curled up so I couldn't see him, and then when he uncurled is when I noticed he didn't have any tentacles.

He gobbles down the fish that I feed him, so he must be healthy.

You can feed it more often than once a week, daily would be okay especially with it deteriorating so quickly. The silversides are too large, I would go back to the mysis and soak them in something like Selcon for awhile first. My BTA's also eat chopped up frozen shrimp, scallops, and squid so if you can get those easier than mysis try those too. Food should be the size of a pencil eraser, especially for such a small 'nem. How often are you doing water changes and are you using carbon in the tank?

Some clearer pictures would help but it does look bleached to me, feed it small pieces often and see if that helps.

-Sonja

 

[zmazza]

He eats because I hold the fish up to him until he closes up around it. This keeps it from floating away. He then promptly eats the fish. Now, I have to hold it there until he gets a good hold, but he does. He doesn't smell decaying. I took him out just the other day. Smelled fine. I've heard of anemones losing their tentacles, but I'm not sure exactly whats going on. I just did a 50% water change just two weeks ago. water params always stay within normal ranges. I was afraid maybe the clownfish had beat him up. I hate to take him out until I know whether or not he's going to be OK. He acts like he's still alive.

He kind of deflates for lack of better words... like an anemone will extend it's tentacles when it's hungry, and then pull them back in when it's full. After I feed him, he blows up like a balloon. Over the week, he goes back down to normal sizes. He's definitely eating the food though.

 

[pncstod]

Thanks for clarifying that for me zmazza.

I hope you figure out whats going on and get the anemone on the road to recovery.

 

[zmazza]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8985843#post8985843 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RedSonja
You can feed it more often than once a week, daily would be okay especially with it deteriorating so quickly. The silversides are too large, I would go back to the mysis and soak them in something like Selcon for awhile first. My BTA's also eat chopped up frozen shrimp, scallops, and squid so if you can get those easier than mysis try those too. Food should be the size of a pencil eraser, especially for such a small 'nem. How often are you doing water changes and are you using carbon in the tank?

Some clearer pictures would help but it does look bleached to me, feed it small pieces often and see if that helps.

-Sonja

Thanks Sonja. I assumed bleached would mean white all over.

I feed him half a silverside, just for clarification. I break them in half. They are pretty small. Not a pencil eraser, but he seems to eat them OK. Haven't thought about the shrimp. I'll definitely feed him more often. I am not running carbon in the tank, although I do have a P200 that I could throw on the tank with some carbon in it. That would also add some more flow. What do you think?

I removed my XP2 canister filter. I was running it just for flow. It took up a lot of in take space with the intake and spray bar. I wanted a much cleaner look.

I'll clean out my P200 and throw some carbon in there tonight. Hopefully it will fit on the back of the tank, although I'm not sure, haha!

 

[zmazza]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8985995#post8985995 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pncstod
Thanks for clarifying that for me zmazza.

I hope you figure out whats going on and get the anemone on the road to recovery.

Definitely. He was a birthday present for my wife in November. She absolutely loves him so I hate to lose him. I'd even quarantine him for awhile if I had a way to. Right now the only other tanks I have are a 10 gallon set up for a reef, which I moved everything back to my 29 gallon, and a 22 gallon rubbermaid tub. My 192w PC light is the only lighting I've got that puts out more than 15 watts.

 

[rssjsb]

Disappearing or stubby tentacles is usually a sign of starvation in anemones I think. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Sonia's giving you good advice - he could be taking the siversides and spitting them up later. Try giving him smaller pieces, like 1/4", and vary his diet a little.

 

[zmazza]

Sounds good. Never thought about him spitting them back up. I will pick up some shrimp in the next week or so from my local grocery store. I'll start breaking the fish off in smaller pieces. I do admit that I didn't feed him very often, per advice from pet store (I know, I know). For that whole month I may have used my turkey baster to put some mysis/brine shrimp to him, and of course when I fed flake to my other fish, he was always covered and ate it while I was watching him. I thought that was enough and anything else would be overfeeding. I think that was my first problem.

I've since started feeding him more regularly since I know better now. I'll start feeding him 1/4 silverside one day and 1/4 table shrimp the next day. He's still got a few of his tentacles left, but they never get very long.

Thanks for your help.

 

[55semireef]

Any anemone that loses its tentacles is starving. It consumed its own tentacles in order to sustain its hunger.

 

[zmazza]

Wow. So definitely start feeding it more. How long does it take for the tentacles to grow back?

 

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8987119#post8987119 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zmazza
Wow. So definitely start feeding it more. How long does it take for the tentacles to grow back?

No way to know how long it will take or if it will happen at all. The sooner you start feeding it more appropriate-sized food the better it's chances though.

Oh and I know it's probably not necessary but just to clarify what I said about frozen shrimp, etc.... Thaw it first.

-Sonja

 

[zmazza]

Sounds good. Thank you very much for your help, Sonja.

 

[raoul]

I've seen start appearing within the first week of proper feedings on a nem, but it is not a bta, nor was its condition as bad. You've received great advice, and I wish you luck!

 

[zmazza]

Thank you. I really wish I had known all of this and been given proper advice when I got started. Thank you all for your help. I'll keep you posted on his/her/it's progress.

 

[israelnajar]

My BTA is doing the same thing right now. When I first got it a month and a half ago it woundt eat so I figured that it was a little stressed from the move from the LFS to my tank. So I waited. Wouldnt eat. Waited some more same thing. Started bleaching ans still no eating. The past two weeks I have been force feeding it a 2 cubes of mysis whenever I can get the syring into its mouth. The tentacles have started coming back since I started force feeding it 2 weeks ago. Also I started double dosing reef plus twice a week to help with bleaching.

 

[zmazza]

You just put the whole cube of mysis in his mouth? I had sprayed him with the mysis with the baster, but few stuck to him. Do you wait for it to thaw out? Or do you put it in a gel so it's easier to feed?

 

[israelnajar]

It is a must to thaw it out. If you dont then that will cause the nem to get stressed from the cold. I use a plastic syring with about 3 inches of airline to insert into the mouth. The syring I get from the pharamcy at wal-mart, usually they are free. I put two cubes of mysis in my syring and then fill it with water and float the syring in my main tank to thaw the mysis and reach tank temp. Prime the airline with water and then insert the airline in the mouth and slowly empty the syring into the nem.

When I do this I also make sure to read my main display and make sure my cleaner shrimp gets fed also otherwise it will take the mysis out of the nems mouth.