Carpet anemone not eating...

[lachrimae]

Hi,
My carpet anemone (not sure if it's S. Haddoni or S. Gigantea) has not eaten anything for at least 2 weeks. It's still very sticky and will briefly grab onto thawed shrimp that I put on it but it doesn't curl up to eat the shrimp & doesn't maintain it's grip, allowing the clown to pull it away to the sandbed.

It is gray/faded green in color and has remained that way ever since I put it in the tank. The tentacles are all round and don't appear to be deflated. It spent the first 3 days finding a place in the tank and has remained there ever since. It sits approx. 21" under a 400W HQI metal halide but stays partially in the shade most of the time, getting some light but not a lot.

Is has not changed color (bleached) so I'm not sure that it's having to consume it's zooxanthalae yet. There were 3 fish missing from the tank shortly after putting it in the tank so it probably had a meal at that time but that was 3 weeks ago.

Am I trying to feed the wrong food? Is it able to survive for a while just on it's symbiotic relationship with the zooxanthalae?

Btw, the mouth has been somewhat inverted from time to time, showing some of it's white insides. It's a huge carpet and I'd say that the mouth is usally open to about the size of a quarter.
It also deflates a little bit once each evening.

Water parameters:
Undectable: Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate
SG: 1.025
dKH: 10
Calc: 380ppm
Temp: 78 to 80
pH: Fluctuates from 8.2 to 8.5 during the day/night cycle. Trying to get this to be more stable.

Thanks for any tips!

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Try feeding it small pieces of fish flesh.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, carpets seem to prefer fish like silversides.......or tangs 8O :lol: .

 

[lachrimae]

Where do you find fish like that? Is that a supermarket item at the fresh fish area or do you get that from an LFS as a frozen pack?

Thanks again,
Mark

 

[Len]

Silversides are available at most LFS. I agree that carpets prefer fish over crustaceans.

 

[Anonymous]

You can also get them at bait shops(ocean fishing). You could feed them fish filet as well. Flounder would be good.

 

[Anonymous]

Post a pic and we'll tell you what kind it is.

S.gigantea is a difficult species to keep(possibly due to collection and transport). S.haddoni is the easiest species of carpet to keep IMO. That is what I keep.

The only thing that troubles me is that the mouth is open the size of a quater. Gaping is usually not a good sign.

To help ID the carpet, lookin the mouth and look for what looks like a piece of uncooked barley(occasionally with a pink/purple hue to it). If it has them it is probably S.gigantea.

 

[lachrimae]

Update:

Well, not alot new to say but I have some pics...

I've tried to feed it silversides & fresh fish from the grocery store, both with & without a drop of garlic to try to make it more enticing but it won't take them.

The anemone is a lot smaller than when I first brought it home but the polyps and color look the same. The mouth is the major concern.

Mouth:

Here are some pics of the anemone:

Today:

3 weeks ago:

It was probably twice as large back then...

How long can an anemone live without eating? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

That's a S. haddoni. Try feeding it smaller pieces of silversides, cod, smelt, etc. Also soak the food in a product such as Selcon to boost its immune system.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Dave.

The only thing that I will reitterate is that the gaping is a bad sign. I would re-check your parameters.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no experience to add, sorry.

I wanted to tell you to keep at it, cause it takes patience(I'm sure you are well aware of it)

I'm a sophomore RK, but I have recently had some pretty amazing breakthroughs with some problems...there is a light, and you love your Anemone... 8)

 

[Anonymous]

pH: Fluctuates from 8.2 to 8.5 during the day/night cycle. Trying to get this to be more stable.

Thanks for any tips!

Mark

In my opinion there is no reason whatsoever for you to attempt to alter your PH. It's perfectly fine.

While I have never owned a Carpet I have seen many that degrade similar to yours. All were in tanks with inadequate waterflow. Can you describe what you're using for waterflow?

 

[Razor]

I had the same thing happen to my carpet recently, and the end result is not good. I wish I could give you some advise on how to help it but I was not successful.

I've been working on replacing my MH bulbs because the spectrum has failed and now wonder if as the bulb failed the anemone got less and less light which affected it.

 

[Anonymous]

It could be you bought a diseased or sickly specimen. It takes a long time for the anemone to show signs of illness when the lighting and water quality are good.

Any changes?

 

[lachrimae]

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it.

I've continued to try to feed it fresh fish & silversides soaked in Zoecon each day but haven't had any luck yet.

I must admit that I was starting to think that it was surviving solely on zooxanthalae and maybe phytoplankton because it had continued to look pretty good overall, aside from the mouth/anus and the daily shrinking. I'm starting to have doubts now because it is shrunken more often than not and the tentacles aren't as large as they once were. The female clown really seems to be trying hard to take care of it but it doesn't respond.

My water flow is quite strong with 6 x 300gph powerheads and the return (~700gph) pump in a 135 gallon.

Parameters have been double-checked and are still good. My calcium had been lower than I thought due to a bad test kit but it's back from 350ish up to 420 again. I'll keep this thread updated.

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

I hope I am wrong and it is just going through a strange oeriod.

 

[skylab1]

Try this, put a small basket in the tank and put a small piece shrimp in to thaw. The temp on the shrimp should be the same temp as the tank water, feed the shrimp by placing it in the mouth at the center of anomone. Try this see if it work for you, it has always work for me.

Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

I have been feeding two anenome's and while neither is a carpet I thought I would share my method.

I take some fresh shrimp, and fresh flounder, small pieces from the supermarket and put them in a blender with just a bit of water. Then I blend it up.

then I put that in a ziplock baggie and lay it in the freezer.

After its frozen I break it up into chunks. Its fairly thin, under a sixteenth of an inch.

When I feed I take a couple chunks and put them in a plastic cup, dip it in the tank to get a bit of water and sit it on top of my tank to thaw.

You would think that it would be a dissolved mess when it thaws but for some reason the chunks still hold together when I pick them up with my tongs, then I put them down in the tank right near the anenome's center.

Its been working great, and one of the nicest things is if on the way down one of my fish pick at it, which they do, they just get a small piece of it.

Hope that helps.

 

[lachrimae]

Thanks for the additional tips. I'll give it a shot.

Sometimes the anemone looks good (even the mouth is somewhat closed looking) and other times it looks horrible.

Yesterday I was watching it closely as it was expanded pretty well and noticed it expelling a barely cloudy substance from it's mouth/anus. Not sure what that was... perhaps just the process of expelling water to shrink down?

I'd still like to know approx. how long an anemone can live without directly receiving food (though I may be the one to find out first hand). If the answer is less than 3 weeks then this anemone must be taking in phytoplankton and other very small food bits.

 

[Anonymous]

If it is letting out a smokey white substance it may be spawning. That could be the explanation to your anemones appearance.

If the stuff coming out is brown it is feces or excess xooanthellae.

As long as there is enough lighting, most anemones can live a long time without direct feeding. Some people say they do not directly feed their anemones.