anemone shrunken tentacles

mattnuckolls · 05-26-2008, 01:59 PM

hey. pretty new here, liking the site already.
I've got a 42 gallon tank, with about 30 some odd coral growths, a damsel, coral beauty, mandarin dragonet, scooter dragonet (blenny) dragon goby, lawnmower blenny, and two clowns.
my question is regarding my big anemone. (I have three total) he seems to have shrunken ALL of his tentacles, but otherwise seems plump. at times he has completely expelled all water, resembling a spitwad shot at a wall, stuck on his rock. he's been around for about 6 months, and I've been spot feeding since I got him, mysis and brine every two days, and once a week with krill. now, its been almost three weeks since he's fed, and I'm getting concerned, since his death could wipe out my whole tank. is this normal behavior?

I've attached four pics, three of my stressed anemone, one of the two tiny ones. the big one is about three inches across, believe he's a bubble tip. the two smaller were actually one, that tore itself in half, right down the middle, and formed two 1/2 inch anemones.

missionsix66 · 05-26-2008, 02:02 PM

Welcome to 3reef matt! Do you see any brown excretions? And I think you are feeding too often. What kind of anemone is it?

mattnuckolls · 05-26-2008, 02:05 PM

here's the other two pics. BTW, can anyone id the small white thing in the first pic? it looks like a pencil eraser sized wad of cotton that resembles a barnacle....

fishpoop · 05-26-2008, 02:09 PM

it looks like he might be pooping

it looks like a bubble tip. could be wrong however

feeding him some silver fish would be a good idea too.
normally when their tenticles begin to shrink its due to not enough food.
he seems to be in good color
how large is he?

fishpoop · 05-26-2008, 02:10 PM

do you also have moon lights. lighting is very important for anemones as well. considering it helps give them food

fishpoop · 05-26-2008, 02:12 PM

you can feed an anemone almost every day. if he doesnt want the food he will barf it up.
others will disagree with this however i have done this and have good success

coral reefer · 05-26-2008, 02:22 PM

Based on your pictures that are ot that clear on my computer, the white wad of cotton thing is probably a sponge called a Q-tip sponge. Very common reef safe organism.
As for the anemone, the bottom two look like Mojano anemones that are very toxic and not reef safe!
Also as for anemones, the mixing of more than one species can prove detrimental to one or both of the anemones.
Ideal water parameters and efficient filtration and lighting are necessary to maintain an anemone for any extended period of time.
Occassionally, anemones will extract their messentary fillaments as a possible way of removing waste, or the anemone is unhappy, stressed or sick.
You are definitely feeding too much food in my opinion! Anemones will absorb nutrients from the water as well as receive nutrients from their single celled dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae, which carries out a photosynthetic process affording the anemone amino acids and carbohydrates especially!
Lay off of the feeding as I am sure that if it is sick, it will not be consuming the foods you are offering it, to conserve its energy for survival.
Check your lights and water parameters!
When did you last do a water change?
You may want to do some reading and research on anemones! They are not an easy animal to maintain successfully, especially by a novice.

BlackJack · 05-27-2008, 01:49 AM

ditto on the water change. A 10-20% should help.

As a side note, my BTA eats a silverside or kryll almost daily, and growth/health looks to be at peak. If he is hungry, he'll eat it, if he's not hungry or is sick, he may not. Anemone's are opportunity feeders, the mysis or whatever else is floating around is ok for between meal snacks, but they do need meaty substance (fish/shrimp) as a main sustenance. Mine was looking sickly until I started feeding silvers.

fishpoop · 05-27-2008, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackJack

ditto on the water change. A 10-20% should help.

As a side note, my BTA eats a silverside or kryll almost daily, and growth/health looks to be at peak. If he is hungry, he'll eat it, if he's not hungry or is sick, he may not. Anemone's are opportunity feeders, the mysis or whatever else is floating around is ok for between meal snacks, but they do need meaty substance (fish/shrimp) as a main sustenance. Mine was looking sickly until I started feeding silvers.

like i said above and still agree with. if they arnt hungry they will just let it go or barf it back up. my BTA just lets it go if hes not interested and my LTA barfs it up. again silvers are wiked to feed them. (frozen silver fish) ive noticed they wont eat the heads but they love everything else. it also saves them from eating your other fish in the tank. like mine did when i wasnt feeding him enough

mattnuckolls · 05-27-2008, 04:28 PM

I've tested water religiously every week, sometimes twice a week if something seems off. I'm setting up a 90 gallon right now, and have been useing my "old" water from my current tank, to seed my 90, while using RO water to do my water changes. I do a 10-20% change every two weeks, even when my water is within parameters, and test before and after.

Ive identified the white thing, from this site, liking finding this place already! lots of good advice and good finds! anyways, either a Qtip or Pineapple sponge. just glad it isn't harmful.

mojano, I'll have to look that up... not reef safe makes me raise an eye brow. they've been on a rock with green tips and daisies since I bought it.. last week, I watched it stretch into an oval, (pressed against another rock) and tear itself in half. I thought it was suicidal at first, but its thriving right now, and has actually been retreating slowly as the coral grows closer to them. maybe another species?

I have been reducing feeding, only offering feedings once a week, which over the last month its been rejecting. it finally accepted some mysis, and two krill last night. before, I was giving it as many krill as it would take, within reason, or so I thought. it had been A LOT bigger, but has been shrinking. its trunk was about 4 inch in diameter, now its only two to three.
Thanks for all the info, I've been thinking about what I could've done to cause this, and realized that I missed one week of his regular krill feeding on the weekend, and this all started. didn't know if that was enough to cause this long and much of a impact, but may have underestimated his sensitivity. understand the dangers of overfeeding, doubt that was the instigator, but something to consider..

THanks again, any other info would always be appreciated!