rsarvis May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 Can anyone please suggest how to diagnose what's wrong with my bubble-tip anemone? He's been in slow decline for a while now. He wedged himself back in a cave a while back and has withered away; now he's barely got any tentacles out and looks to be close to death. Everything else appears to be doing really well. What water params should I test for that are specifically important to BTAs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 Have you fed him at all? Typically (as I recall)... receding tentacles means not enough nourishment. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsarvis May 7, 2007 Author Share May 7, 2007 He was eating a little bit but stopped eating what I was giving him and I haven't gotten him to eat since then. I was trying to feed him small mysid shrimp and pieces of table shrimp. Do you suggest trying something in particular? I'll try to get him eating again. Have you fed him at all? Typically (as I recall)... receding tentacles means not enough nourishment. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 When their tentcles get short they will usuall at that point have trouble capturing and retaining food. I have feed mine: table shrimp (smaller cut up pieces), and silversides (again cut up)... I would definitly try to get him/it some food. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 He was eating a little bit but stopped eating what I was giving him and I haven't gotten him to eat since then. I was trying to feed him small mysid shrimp and pieces of table shrimp. Do you suggest trying something in particular? I'll try to get him eating again. Definitely try something fish based, cut silversides or lancefish. If it is stressed out, no larger then 1cmX1cm pieces. As Dave said, they may have trouble eating while in decline. You may need to hold the food against the oral disk (by the mouth) for a few minutes and look for signs of its mouth opening and turning slightly inside out as an eating signal. Once the anemone wraps around the meal it should be good to go....again this process may take a few minutes in stressed specimens. Shrinking tentacles are typically the result of a few things: starvation, predation, or water quality. Smaller and bleached specimens really need to be target fed, larger BTA may catch food added to the tank, have enough symbiotic algae to sustain them selves. If you look at the TOTM page, the large specimens in my tank do not get target fed, the small 3"ers do. Predation is typically caused by a clown, shrimp, cowries, Eunice worms, and butterflies. Have any? Are some tentacles still long, some short? On the water quality side, these little bags of water do not like being near the kalk/Calcium dosing points, do not appreciate pH or SG swings, and IMHO appreciate a bit of Nitrates in the water. Bottom line: If it is stressed out and the key point can't be immediately identified, it would likely be best to put it in a fuge environment, feed it small fish based meals frequently, and provide mild lighting. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Bui May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 the key to keep the Anemone healthy is you need to have a pair of clowns fishes or single to hosted in it so it can feed the Anemone. That my experiences I keep quite a lots of Anemones in my time, but I alway find it easy to keep the Anemone healthy and split once you have clown fishes hosting it. as other mention below water paramater and also feeding it also important. hope it help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 Let me just state I don't belive hosts are required or necessary for good anemonoe health (sorry to contradict you Tri-Blu)... The hosts will help you (as stated about bringing food), but are not required. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 Sometimes having clowns hosting in a weak or small anemone can be very damaging as well as clowns, staying all the time in the anemone stress it even more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 My experience, leans far more toward Dave's and Inna's: Clowns hosting in a single anemone is net negative impact, for as many that are good feeders, there are more specimens that are quite abusive, bite off tentacles, and steal food from the anemones. After an anemone reaches 3x the size of the clown, the combination has a much greater chance of success, because the anemone has greater reserves to tolerate abuse; not because the clowns are better for them. If you have a stressed anemone, clowns all too often "love" it to death. One clown benefit, some clowns keep predators away from the anemone, i.e. shrimp, fish, etc. Unfortunately, when you have a clown locking down it's territory, you have new trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsarvis May 7, 2007 Author Share May 7, 2007 Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Regarding the suggestion to put it in the fuge, I'd thought about that. (He was in my sump for a while and actually ended up over in the skimmer portion, where he seemed to be doing okay, and was eating mysid shrimp that I was feeding him; I eventually put him in the main tank.) But I don't know if there's any way I can do that, because he's wedged pretty far in a crevice and I probably wouldn't really be able to get him off without just trying to pull him off and thereby damaging his foot. Any thoughts in that regard? To answer some other questions, most of his tentacles are gone entirely, though some on the bottom are still there. When his tentacles were still normal sized and he first started declining, he would grasp onto food but then release it soon thereafter. Maybe he needed more variety. I will continue trying to get him to eat, and I'll try some fish pieces instead of shrimp. Last night, I only had shrimp on hand, so I tried that and he eventually closed around it with his body, though I don't know if he was trying to eat it or just protect himself. Don't know if he ended up eating it. Re clownfish, I actually just moved my new clownfish from my quarantine tank to the main tank this weekend. They just swim around the front glass all day and haven't explored the tank at all (is this normal?), so I imagine they won't be finding the anemone for a while (which, again, is wedged pretty good in a crevice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 May 7, 2007 Share May 7, 2007 Any thoughts in that regard?Move the whole rock to which the anemone is attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsarvis July 9, 2007 Author Share July 9, 2007 In case anyone is curious, or for some future reader's reference, my anemone is on the mend... I've tried feeding him over the past several weeks; it's a hard angle to get at, esp. 'cause i've just been using chopsticks (need to get some tongs!!), but when I'm patient enough, the anemone closes around the food. I've probably fed him 1-2 times per week over the last several weeks. He started regrowing tentacle stubs a few weeks ago and they look like they're continuing to grow. Growing slowly, but growing. So maybe in another month, I won't have to hold the food at the mouth for a whole minute... Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Magnolia July 9, 2007 Share July 9, 2007 That's good news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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