****Long Tentacle Anemone PLEASE HELPPP!!***

Discussion in 'Coral' started by mike.nakh, May 30, 2011.

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  1. mike.nakh

    mike.nakh Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    May 24, 2011
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have had the tank for 7 months running
    10% water changes weekly
    20 gallon tank
    2 Skimmers, 1 Jebo and 1 Via-aqua; the via-aqua is a mechanical filter as well and i make sure to clean the mechanical filtration twice a week
    2 65 Watt - 10,000 k (one is white one is blue)
    1 clown fish(I got the clown fish 20 minutes ago, and it hasn't settled into the anemone) 1 blue damsel 7 hermit crabs 1 shrimp 1 flaming scallop 1 crab 2 Turbo snails

    Water conditions:
    PH - 8.2
    KH - 200 Ppm
    Nitrate/Nitrtate - Undetectable
    Calcium - 500
    Specific Gravity - 1.025
    Ammonia - Undetectable
    I do not have a phosphate test yet
    Temp - 78 F

    My anemone was doing great, i fed it once a day(Frozen fish food, and i thawed it before giving it the anemone)
    now all of a sudden it shrunken up to a quarter of its size
    it has good water flow. I have had it for a week.
    Maybe i should move it up towards the top of the tank so it
    can receive more sunlight ?

    Whats happening???
    :cry:
     

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    Last edited: May 30, 2011
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  3. thepanfish

    thepanfish Flying Squid

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    It could just be pooping, don't touch it. Is the mouth swelled up? I'd feed it maybe twice a week, that is A LOT of food you are giving it. Just give it a day, if it was pooping, it should come back around. Clowns won't usually settle in anemones right away, give it time.
     
  4. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    Well you can not really move it up, it will go where it wants and is a sand dwelling anemone. Moving anemones is a risky business and usually leads to the demise sooner.

    I do not think PC is going to cut it for a LTA, in my opinion.

    I would upgrade the lighting in the future if you want to keep LTA. A bubble tip anemones is better suited IMO for that type of lighting.

    Good luck
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2011
  5. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Don't move it. The LTA will go where it wants. It is however a sand anemone and should have it's food buried in the sand. Feeding once a day is too much. Maybe once every two weeks would be more reasonable. I find they do not like too much water flow. The one in my old softcoral tanks has done great for a decade with low flow, maybe 10x-15x turnover.

    Your tank is too small though, my LTA reached 18" diameter within a year (this is pretty typical). Your lights are a bit low for it, although I had mine under PC lights for a while and it did thrive. However, is this a 20 "long" or 2 "High" tank? PCs don't penetrate well. The blue is probably "actinic" this is for visual appearance really and does not provide much usable light. You could replace this with a 6500K or 10000K light, which should help, but will make your tank look yellow.
     
  6. mike.nakh

    mike.nakh Astrea Snail

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    I have a 20" tall, and the anemone is a little better as of right now.
    He pooped a BIG Chunk Lol so maybe panfish your are right. And yes it looks
    like his mouth is swelled up, its kind of stretched open. Ill post a picture of the
    tank and the anemone.
     
  7. mike.nakh

    mike.nakh Astrea Snail

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    pictures are posted! there at the top!
     
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  9. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    If that is a recent image, the anemone does not look bad.

    Try not to feed it so much, it does not need daily feeding. It will expel undigested pieces of food. They are slow to digest and the decay can cause bacterial infections within the gut of the anemone.

    The fact that this is a 20 gallon tall does not favor your current lighting fixture and it's ability to maintain the anemone long term.
     
  10. mike.nakh

    mike.nakh Astrea Snail

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    Corrailline you ended being right, the anemone did expel undigested pieces of food. Now hes doing alot better! Thanks! ;D

    And are you saying that the lighting I have setup is fine as of right now?
    Also my calcium is around 500 could this have any effect on the anemone?
    And how often should I put coral food and Iodine ?
     
  11. mike.nakh

    mike.nakh Astrea Snail

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    By the way I have a halimeda plant also known as a Cash Plant in the aquarium
     
  12. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    The lighting will probably be ok, but I would have preferred that tank not be a tall. If the anemones starts to stick up like a flower to reach the light than consider a stronger lighting source.

    For me I do not like the addition of iodine to a tank. Routine water changes will provided the trace elements.

    As far as the Calcium level, that is probably the reason your beautiful Halimeda does so well, they like the Calcium up in the higher ranges, but for the sake of the anemone I would not go any higher.