Sick Anemone??? (1 Viewer)

[ickyme]

I am new to this area and hobby and really enjoy all of the articles and forums here on Marsh. My question is: I recently purchased an anemone and it doesn't seem to be doing very well. I assumed it would perch itself on top of the rocks to get the maximum amount of light (or at least in the sand) but it moved into a cave and attached itself to the ceiling. At times the tenticles are normal looking and swaying in the currents but it also inverts itself so no tentacles can be seen (looks like a piece of pink bubble gum stuck to the rocks) or the tentacles look shriveled up. Should I be worried about it dying? Oh, I guess I should list some details.

55 gal. with live rock and sand
I am not sure what kind of anemone is but it is not a bulb or carpet. It was not expensive ($15) and about the size of a tennis ball.
I have 2 clowns and they won't go in it!
I have other fish but they are all reef safe and I have not seen any fish near it to pick on it.
Water conditions are good but the salinity might be a little high (1.028)
Had it less than a week and it has done this since I brought it home.
Don't they all need light?
Thanks for any and all of your help.

 

[AquaNerd]

probably a condylactus anemone...clowns will rarely host in them. it's not a good idea to have an anemone if you are new to the hobby. i've tried a couple of different types of anemones with little success. i decided to never have an anemone again...don't like to watch them die. i'd just stick to corals and fish, leave the anemones to the ocean.

 

[Guest]

ARE YOU FEEDING IT??????

lol, you MUST hand feed anemomes brine shrimp AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK for them to live. TWICE a week is optimal but I do ONCE A week to keep my water chemistry healthy as they spit up all their trash'ed food when they are done.

Take a small piece of brine shrimp and stick in their mouth, their tentacles will wrap around it and will suck it into their mouth.

They need light, but not TOO mcuch light.

Carpet anemomes are expensive, so are BTa's, no way you got one for $15.00, MOST likely a CANDY CANE / hawaii anemome. DOn't forget to feed it!

~Johnathan

 

[Kabuto]

Actually use mysis shrimp or silversides cut up. Brine isn't supposedly as nutritious.

 

[Andy]

1.028? Thats a little high. I would bring that down over the next 5-7 days slowly. Most people seem to keep it 1.023 -1.025.


What kind of lights & how many watts?

.02

 

[crvz]

I've rarely directly fed my rose BTA, had it for a number of months, and it is doing very well. It gets indirectly fed with the rest of my fish, though my high bio-load probably aids to my lack of "proper" anemone husbandry (2 triggers, 3 tangs, number of smaller fish).

In your situation, it sounds like the anemone is just not used to your setup. How long have you had it? It will surely find it's way to wherever it wants to be, and if your patient I imagine it will be fine (that's my biggest downfall... waiting things out). Any chance you could get a picture of it?

 

[ickyme]

I have approximately 240 watts of light (3-10k & 2 actinic-03) and I have been trying to bring the sg down but it is a slow process.

In feeding them, do you put the shrimp/food in the tentacles and let him move it to his mouth or do you actually force feed it and stuff it in his shrimp hole?

I hope he finds his place before he dies. I had a bulb anemone about 4 months ago (ordered online) and it lived for about 2 months. Only in the last couple of weeks did it start looking sickly like this one. This would not be the first time the fish store (a local sponsor of this site) sold me sick or dying animals. Thanks for all of the responses. I will try and get a pic.