Anemone help

[pnkrcklives]

I have had no luck with anemones. What does it mean when they emit a little bit of brown slime? My water parameters are great. I even took samples to a couple stores. They said it looked good. This was yesterday before the slime. The other RBTA I had did the same just before detaching and turning into a slime ball. I am new to this saltwater game. So I dont know what information will be most helpful to determine the problem. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Emerald525]

Is your tank new. They do better in an established tank and also what kind of lighting do you have?

 

Here's a great link as well about anemones. It's about rose anemones but it applies to other nems:

 

http://www.karensroseanemones.net/apps/videos/

[Rick]

Is it emitting from the mouth or the entire anemone? It's normal for a bit to emit from the mouth since that is also where it expels waste. If the mouth gapes wide though and it starts spewing it's guts then that is another story.

[Hozer21]

How long did u acclimate ?? And what kind of lights do u have ?? How long has ur tank been up ?? & how long did these people have there anemones ?? I know when I first tried to have an anemone it didn't work I rushed everything . But one thing that I did really good with is bubble anemones . Have u tried those ??

[USCG CWO]

Need to know how long your tank has been running and what lighting do you have?

[pnkrcklives]

It has shrunken a bit but it appeared to come from its mouth but was hard to tell. The tank has been running for 8 months in my house. Supposedly 2 years for the guy I bought it from(I took everything even his water and fish as this was going to be my first salt tank). I am running one 260 watt power compact with half pure actinic bulbs and the other half 10000k and a 220 watt vho fixture with one super actinic bulb and one aqua sun. Oh and by the way it is a standard dimension 90 gallon tank(too little of light for them I think) and the anemones are more than halfway up on some rocks. I have had the anemone in there for 3 months now. Thanks for the info...

[pnkrcklives]

Right now I have a RBTA(3 months old) and a sebae(which is newer(1 month old) and looks ok) both drip acclimated over a three hour period when put into the tank. I am trying the sebae since I cant seem to get the BTAs to live. The RBTA was a split from a guy I met. Sebae is from a local dealer. I hate killing my wet pets...

[Michael7979]

First off- WELCOME!

 

My first thought is the light is not enough, IMO. But I think if it has been in there for several weeks, I would think it was just expelling waste.

[pnkrcklives]

Thanks Emerald... I think I am starving them to death(according to the link). I feed them every other day(both of them). They only share one to two mysis shrimp cubes. I am now upping the food(marine cuisene) I will see if they will eat more and come back.

[Emerald525]

You're welcome. I only fed mine every other day. Maybe you need stronger lighting. Good luck to you!

[CoralCrazy]

Had the same problem when I first started with them. Did alot of research after losing 2 and I now have a lta and 2 rbta. I feed mine silversides. Each nem gets a half of one every other day (and because I spoil them way to much) and mysis every 3 days when I do the feeding for the fish. I tried pc lighting and lost the first 2. Went to t5 and was able to keep them alive and even had 1 split. Now I run MH and they moved lower in the tank but seem to be happy. I also run my temp at 80 at all times. The research I did said they like it around 80 and so far havent lost any since. Oh ya and welcome.

[jgf86123]

I feed mine on average once a week, sometimes not even that often, but I do run halides over my 40b.

[ReeFit]

Thanks Emerald... I think I am starving them to death(according to the link). I feed them every other day(both of them). They only share one to two mysis shrimp cubes. I am now upping the food(marine cuisene) I will see if they will eat more and come back.

 

Guess what, anemones live off of light much like corals do. You don't have to feed them for them to live. I've known people with nems who've had them for years and never fed it once. Nems are not easily understood. I've lost a few, usually after a few months. Sometimes they just don't make the acclimation process and stress from going from the ocean to shipping to lfs to tank and usually it's worse than that. I would vote first on lighting and 2nd on incorect or fluctuating water parameters. We really don't know enough about your system and maintainence habits to make a fair assesment of the situation.

[Jules]

http://fins.actwin.com/species/anemone.html

 

I have read a few pieces about them, here is one that has info on a few different ones, I did notice one point in all, they say the food should be around the same size as their mouth if that helps any.

[Rick]

Thanks Emerald... I think I am starving them to death(according to the link). I feed them every other day(both of them). They only share one to two mysis shrimp cubes. I am now upping the food(marine cuisene) I will see if they will eat more and come back.

 

My RBTA is paired up with a Cinnamon Clown that gives it a few tidbits of food when I feed (Once every 3 or 4 days) but otherwise it just gets its food from the water column. I.E. I don't target feed it at all.

 

Do you have a picture of it? With a good picture we may be able to see if it's healthy or not. Does it have good color? Nems will fade (from expelling the algae which is where their color comes from) if they don't get enough light. Shrinking (which you mentioned) may be an indication of bad water parameters. If the mouth gapes open and they start expelling their guts then they are usually beyond saving. (At that point they are polluting the tank and may cause other problems)

 

If it just expelled a bit of waste from it's mouth though and you don't have any of the other indications mentioned above then it may just be normal.

[Michael7979]

Mine should be dead then if you guys are feeding them every other day.

I have had mine for 6 months or more and never spot fed it! I also do not have clowns that would tend to feed it either, and it is 5x's bigger then when I got it.

[pnkrcklives]

Thanks for all the great info. I never did mention that the clowns host the RBTA. But not the sebae. Maybe they dont like the constant rubbing the clowns give. I have talked to a few local stores the last couple days. I think light is an issue(that hopefully I will be solving soon). It still has really good color very bright pink just never bubbles up and stays very small. I will try and post some pics tonight.