High Tide Aquatics

Anemone Problems

Euphyllia

Euphyllia

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About a week or so ago my 8" RBTA has been having some troubles. It has been opening up in the mornings like usual, but after about 4 hours of being open it deflates to nothing and expels lots of poop. I can't see the guts of the anemone when it expels poop, so I'm guessing that is good. I worried because it is deflating a lot, and I've heard that lots of deflation could be a sign of an unhealthy anemone. I think it is pretty healthy. It is deep red in color. It has been int the same spot since two days or so after I got it. It reaches up the about 2-3" below the surface of the water to get light. My 12" RBTA is also up there with it, and covers a few inches of the 8" anemone, but the 8" still gets a lot of light.
I hand-feed all my anemones as much mysis shrimp as they will eat twice a week, but the 8" one hasn't been opened when I feed them, so it has only been fed as much mysis as it can take once a week for the past two weeks. My pair of Black Ocellaris clowns have been hosted by that anemone since a week after I got it.

Here's the latest tank video so you can see what everything looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iGK9HeV6L4

What do you think could be effecting the 8" RBTA?
 
The tank has been set up 7 months. pH 8.4, Salinity 1.026, Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0....
I've had the 8" RBTA for about 3 1/2 months and I got the others at different times.
 
Matthew,

He's asking for more parameters then that. Typically the ones you supply when asked are CA, ALK, MG, and Salinity. Ammonia is usually only tested for during the first few months of cycling. Nitrate is a good one to add on if you have that data handy (like you did).

From looking at the video it looks like some of the anemones are a bit bleached. They could be, or it could just be an artifact of the video. Do they look more white then brown (base color) to you in person? what lighting are you using again (I forgot if you updated or not)?

BTW I look that tags in your video that point to each animal....pretty cool and perfect use for a thread like this :)
 
The lights are 110w 50/50. In my 4 month video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX4rew_J3J4) my 5" RBTA was a bit bleached, but it got is color back in a month. I got the really light pink one from Fingerwrinkles (AKA Robin) and it has picked up a lot more color since I put it in my tank. He weened the anemones he was selling to low light so that people could keep them in their nanos. I'm not sure if it supposed to look like that or if it is bleached. I'm guessing bleached... bleached or not, I still don't regret trading my frogspawn for it. I'm pretty sure I can get it back if it is bleached because it eats a lot and opens up bigger each day. Anyways, they 12" and the 5" at the top of the tank have oral discs that are brown mixed with a very dark pink. The tentacles are red-pink and their foots/feet are a true purple color. The other anemones have a tan foot and they all seem to have no signs of bleaching except for the very light pink one in the bottom-middle that I talked about above.

Also, I read on Karen's site (http://www.karensroseanemones.com/) that some RBTA will deflate to expel waste daily. I'm not sure if that is correct or not...
 
It's not uncommon at all IME. It may not be any problem at all, but it's well worth investigating like you are :) From the sounds of it, eating, not bleached, not moving, it sounds fine to me.
 
I'll try and take a picture of it when it is all shriveled up.

BTW, I posted this topic on RC and they suggested to feed a more binding food than mysis. They said to try muscle or cockle. Would those be better and are they easy to digest?
 
FWIW I have not fed my then 5" rbta in over a year.
Now it is over 12" and growing.
It shrinks at night.
Loves the lights.
 
When I was feeding my anemones, they got mysis, and loved it. My reasoning for using mysis with things like silversides,they always ended up pushing out a bolus. I have not fed them in a long while now, and they are growing still -and just like JAR mentioned, they love the lights.
For a while my BTA's will shrink and deflate and looking really nasty, but soon after they ended up splitting.
 
Euphyllia said:
I'll try and take a picture of it when it is all shriveled up.

BTW, I posted this topic on RC and they suggested to feed a more binding food than mysis. They said to try muscle or cockle. Would those be better and are they easy to digest?
Click to expand...

Poppy cock! How often does a clam or cockle end up in an anemones stomach in the wild? probably really a one in a billion experience for them. You're feeding a more natural diet and a good one. Mysis IMO is a good way to go. What RC forum did you post on, link?
 
2 replies and the first one to reply, that was his first post ever on RC.

IMO stick with what you are doing. Want some variety, try a small particulate feed like Arcti-Pods or Roti-Feast >shameless plug<

Squid is not easy to digest and is pretty fatty. How often would a tuna land in a anemone?
 
A_Lee said:
For a while my BTA's will shrink and deflate and looking really nasty, but soon after they ended up splitting.
Click to expand...

On Tuesday at about 12:00PM it shriveled up really tiny and at 8:00PM (with the lights off) it's mouth opened 2-3 inches. It looked like it was going to split but didn't. It shriveled at the same time today (12:00PM) and it is doing that same thing with the mouth. The mouth is opened about 1-2 inches so far and is stretching more. I hope it splits soon! If I does, I'll take a video of it and some pics! :)
 
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