HisKid's Anemone Problem

[HisKid]

Here is all about my Equipment / Reef Life / Water Chemistry and so on.

I am having trouble with my LTA. It seems to be suffering in some way. I feed it formula 1 every few days. It has been oozing the brown stuff and ingesting its tentacles. Its tentacles are very withered, and its not eating. Its color looks good and it is 'inflated' good too. Its basal disk is strong and completely attaches to whatever it wants. When the FSD lights go out it shrinks back into itself. It all started when - one day - I noticed it on on the substrate, tentacles down, a few days after it ate a cleaner shrimps molted exoskeleton.

I can’t help but wonder what (if anything) I am doing wrong. Do you have any thoughts?

 

[Juck]

How long has the LTA been in the tank? What's the color like? Is it buried in the sand or up on the rocks? What additives do you dose? Got a pic of the LTA?

4x65w PC's might not be enough for an LTA in a 24" deep tank,,, some folks have good luck with LTA's under PC lights,,, but the real healthy big ones I see are always under halides.

 

[Tackett]

ive never been able to keep one under pc's

 

[fishfanatic2]

Formula 1 flakes??? Or frozen?

Either way, I would try and feed it with clams or some other fresh seafood. My condy loves clams, you can get them from a bait shop or a supermarket.

Also, sometimes anemones go through a stage of withdrawal. They will come back usually as long as you don't touch or screw with them.

What kind of brown stuff is oozing out? This could be waste material from the formula 1-again, I suggest trying some fresh seafood.

HTH

 

[Joew]

If you have enough lighting it's not really necersery to feed it. I've had my LTA for 7 months with no feeding except what tid bits that float into it. Lighting is the key.

JoEw
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[Joew]

If you have enough lighting it's not really necersery to feed it. I've had my LTA for 7 months with no feeding except what tid bits that float into it. Lighting is the key.

JoEw
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[HisKid]

How long has the LTA been in the tank?
What's the color like? Is it buried in the sand or up on the rocks? What additives do you dose? Got a pic of the LTA?

4x65w PC's might not be enough for an LTA in a 24" deep tank,,, some folks have good luck with LTA's under PC lights,,, but the real healthy big ones I see are always under halides.

- I have had it for less than 3 weeks.
- The color is fine (bright orange base and brown tentacles)
- It is attached to the rock I put it on originally which is positioned near the top of the reef.
- I dose Seachem PH Buffer, Seachem Calcium Buffer, Kent Marine Phyto-Plex, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat at their appropriate times.
- Yes, I have a pic. My camera is very slow to unload pics... Check back for an attachment or three later.

What do you think of VHO lights? I was also contemplating adding another 130 watt PC strip to my existing setup. This would put me at 390watts which I think translates to about 4.33 watts per gallon.

 

[HisKid]

Formula 1 flakes??? Or frozen?

Either way, I would try and feed it with clams or some other fresh seafood. My condy loves clams, you can get them from a bait shop or a supermarket.

Also, sometimes anemones go through a stage of withdrawal. They will come back usually as long as you don't touch or screw with them.

What kind of brown stuff is oozing out? This could be waste material from the formula 1-again, I suggest trying some fresh seafood.

HTH

Its frozen food.

 

[HisKid]

If you have enough lighting it's not really necersery to feed it. I've had my LTA for 7 months with no feeding except what tid bits that float into it. Lighting is the key.

JoEw

Great! So how many watts per gallon do you have? What kind of lighting is it (PC/VHO/Halide)? It sounds like your the one that can help me out here.

 

[Anonymous]

Anemones are peculuar animals. Host anemones need Food. Real food. Feed it what it would normaly eat in the ocean. For example, my H.crispa (which is kept under 2 65w LoA PCs) east fish, but will not eat shrimp or scallops

Animals need food to make energy. Phyto plex is not what anemones need. I am not sure about this, but stress coat is not really something I would use in a reef. It may be good for fish, but the fewer chemicals you use, the better, IMO.

If it is attached firmly, leave it. Do not force feed it. If its hungry, it will eat what it is offered.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

I think your temp is a little low also. Anemones need around 80f'

3.5w per gallon is good as far as lights go so you may be a little low, but fresh food is the missing link in your case I would imagine.

If your anemone just drops the food you offer, try something else until you elicit a feeding response. Some things the anemone may not think are food.


As far as nursing an anemone back to health, thawed formula VHP works good, in addition to fresh seafood.

 

[Joew]

Hiskid,
I have 2x250 10k Metal Halides over my 90g. Here is a pic after i did a major clean. Only about 1/3 it's normal size.

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=61803
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[HisKid]

Ok, I went to A Pet last night and bought another Coralife 4x65 setup, a set of stands and some stress coat. Then I went to Home Depot and bought 2 1-to-3 plug adapters. I added the stress coat to help sooth the light transition since I am doubling it. So my total wattage is 520 watts now. If my math is right I should be at 5.78 watts per gallon. Can someone tell me if my calculations are correct?

wpg = twatts / tgallons
wpg = (260 + 260) / 90

wpg = 5.78 (rounded)

 

[Anonymous]

I disagree that it is unnecessary to feed a LTA if you have sufficient lighting, and 7 months isn't much to go on. My LTA has been in captivity for over 10 years and has never been under particularly intense light (right now it is under PCs), but it does get fed several times a week. I think the myth that they don't really need to eat is the reason why some people have trouble keeping them. Ours love silversides which we get from our LFS. It gets fed just before the lights come on in the morning, and can really put away food.

 

[HisKid]

I disagree that it is unnecessary to feed a LTA if you have sufficient lighting, and 7 months isn't much to go on. My LTA has been in captivity for over 10 years and has never been under particularly intense light (right now it is under PCs), but it does get fed several times a week. I think the myth that they don't really need to eat is the reason why some people have trouble keeping them. Ours love silversides which we get from our LFS. It gets fed just before the lights come on in the morning, and can really put away food.

Thanks for the update. I am very happy to see that LTA's can survive in captivity. Why do you feed it before the lights come on? My LTA is always closed up until the lights come on... I am not sure why, but it seems to be ingesting its tentacles and growing new ones in their place. It is almost finished now. I am waiting for my FSDL's to come on so I can take a good picture of it. In the mean time here are several pics that I promised.

 

[Anonymous]

I feed before the lights come on because that is when the LTA seems the most interested in eating (it may just be ours, I dunno). It actually won't eat in the middle of the day, the food just blows across it and gets stolen by the clowns.

It could be that it is used to getting fed in the morning, so that is when it is ready to eat... but it sticks its tentacles up and looks like a ball of spikes when it is ready to eat (I'll see if I can find a pic).
It might take a while to get your LTA used to taking food, and ours is pretty picky... it won't eat any pre-packaged foods, or shrimp or squid or anything else that we feed the rest of the tank... so it might take a while to find out what it will take. But ours loves silversides.

Our biggest problem with feeding is that the clowns steal food from the LTA, and so do the big fish in the tank, so we have to guard the LTA with the baster to fend off the other fish.

 

[HisKid]

I feed before the lights come on because that is when the LTA seems the most interested in eating (it may just be ours, I dunno). It actually won't eat in the middle of the day, the food just blows across it and gets stolen by the clowns.

It could be that it is used to getting fed in the morning, so that is when it is ready to eat... but it sticks its tentacles up and looks like a ball of spikes when it is ready to eat (I'll see if I can find a pic).
It might take a while to get your LTA used to taking food, and ours is pretty picky... it won't eat any pre-packaged foods, or shrimp or squid or anything else that we feed the rest of the tank... so it might take a while to find out what it will take. But ours loves silversides.

Our biggest problem with feeding is that the clowns steal food from the LTA, and so do the big fish in the tank, so we have to guard the LTA with the baster to fend off the other fish.

Thanks for all the great info. I have a lot to learn about keeping anemones. So I figured why not start with a long tentacle anemone... what a disaster. My percula wont go near it, and it seems like it wants to die.

Here is a smaller pic I took a few minutes ago. Sorry about the big pics, I am new to this kind of forum.

 

[Anonymous]

HisKid, I really think that anemone needs to eat more and gain some strength. You need to feed it something that you actually see the anemone pull into it's mouth. It may be weak so you may have to fend off the other fish while it works the food into it's mouth. My LTA will hold onto shrimp or prepared fish foods, but it eventually lets them go, so one could be fooled into thinking it actually ate. Mine really prefers silversides. Especially the very small ones. Try feeding at different times of the day to see when it is most receptive to food.

Don't worry about your clown going into it. You should concentrate on getting it healthy. The clown will go in eventually.

 

[HisKid]

HisKid, I really think that anemone needs to eat more and gain some strength. You need to feed it something that you actually see the anemone pull into it's mouth. It may be weak so you may have to fend off the other fish while it works the food into it's mouth. My LTA will hold onto shrimp or prepared fish foods, but it eventually lets them go, so one could be fooled into thinking it actually ate. Mine really prefers silversides. Especially the very small ones. Try feeding at different times of the day to see when it is most receptive to food.

Don't worry about your clown going into it. You should concentrate on getting it healthy. The clown will go in eventually.

Yeah, I have been trying to dose it with my starfish feeder. It just wont eat. I have tried several times, except before 'the sun comes up'. I think that, by ingesting its tentacles, it is actually feeding itself. I have been able to get it to eat frozen formula 1 in the past.

What exactly are silversides?

 

[Joew]

I disagree that it is unnecessary to feed a LTA if you have sufficient lighting, and 7 months isn't much to go on. My LTA has been in captivity for over 10 years and has never been under particularly intense light (right now it is under PCs), but it does get fed several times a week. I think the myth that they don't really need to eat is the reason why some people have trouble keeping them. Ours love silversides which we get from our LFS. It gets fed just before the lights come on in the morning, and can really put away food.

I'm sure the anemones in our tanks love the free meals some people give, but to say they need them to survive is foolish. My LTA and the others i've had over the years have much appreciated the things that drop into it. Last i checked LTA's don't hunt for there food in the wild, so anything that falls into it by is stupidity or by chance. And last i checked light is food for many of these creatures. My point is, adquate lighting and good water conditions are enough, for a healthy specimine. I'm sure your LTA luvs the free meals you give it. This isn't a right or wrong reply, so keep your pantes in check. Just the truth.
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