Anemone Issues help please!!!

[BigGimp77]

I fed my anemone for the first time last night. We've had him for about a week and he's done fairly well. Well yesterday we stopped at the store and got some fresh scallops. I cut a little chunk of it up and gave it to him. That night his bubbles were as big as I've seen them. He stretched out really from his rock tho (didn't move anywhere just stretched.) So I thought all was well and good. Well today I wake up and he looks like this.


It's defiantly a half digested scallop. I pointed the fan a little bit towards him and it blew away. Is this normal? I'm concerned because last night I lost a snail. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence though.

He's still got his color (he was a little bleached at the store but looking much better). He's still in the same spot in the rock (hasn't moved since we got him).

I'm in the process of doing my weekly water test/change but last time I checked (2 days ago) water levels were ok.

[Reefman29]

What are your parameters? How big was the scallop and how big is the oral disk?

[indydog1]

sounds like he was pooping!!!

as long as he still inflates he should be ok.

[kcochran0010]

Yes he was just digesting his food Give him time!

[indydog1]

feeding anemones is stressful for it. this has commonly caused them to split into mutiple clones.

[BigGimp77]

I took a scallop that was about an inch in diameter and cut it about 1/3 of that. Probably around the same size of he mouth. I've read people feeding whole silver-slides to these things so I figure I'd e safe. We've only had him for about a week. I'm getting a tiny Amm/Nitrite spike since I've added him (around .25 each its been 1 week). This seems to happen every time I add something. It should subside by the end of the week. All other parameters are normal.

I thought nem poop was brown?

That would be cool of he splits, But he doesn't look like he's in any condition to do that rofl! Should I try to pick the rest of the scallop out of his tentacles? There's some stringy scallop bits in there. It'd be awesome if my clowns would go hang out in the nem and clean it, but unfortunately my clowns are retarded.

[kcochran0010]

My clowns are tank bred and will not go towards my BTA lol So I know how ya feel!

[billdogg]

How about some specs? tank size, lighting, filtration to name a few. That seems to be pretty normal behavior, but you should know that pretty much any ammonia or nitrite is very toxic to your anemone. I would suggest a fair sized water change to bring it down quicker than your existing colony of denitrifying bacteria can. They will eventually be able to handle the new bioload with no problems.

JM.02

[BigGimp77]

Tank is 37 gallons with 30 sump. 43 Pounds of LR in display LR Rubble in the sump. Lighting is T5. SWC extreme cone skimmer. Fuge with Cheato in it. Just did a 5 gallon water change btw. Will probably do another one in a day or two.

[rayn]

Wouldn't hurt to do a large, say 25%+-,water change now to help out your levels.

[Pufferpunk]

Give him much smaller pieces of food. Digestion takes up a lot of energy for them.

[2Addicted]

how long has your tank been running?

[jdthomas24]

i concur, smaller portions would be better-- i think it is fine. keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't try to turn inside out--- this is a sign of distress

[BigGimp77]

Tank is somewhere between 4-5 months old.

Status update. He looks good. Not great but defiantly good. How long should I wait before re-feeding him?

Also how long before I should toss the scallops? They are fresh (not frozen) and I have them in the refrigerator. IDK how long these things last before they go bad lol.

I did a 5 gallon water change today. I will probably do one tomorrow as well. Should I make it larger then 5 gallons?

[Pufferpunk]

All you have to do is smell them... 1-2x/week for deeding. Light is what really "feeds" anemones.

[2Addicted]

Originally Posted by indydog1

feeding anemones is stressful for it. this has commonly caused them to split into mutiple clones.

Feeding an anemone should not be stressful for it if you do it right. The reason they split when you feed them a lot is because they are growing and naturally they split.

[Pufferpunk]

Originally Posted by Pufferpunk

Digestion takes up a lot of energy for them.

[2Addicted]

It does, but it takes up a lot less if it only has to digest small pieces. Think if you had to eat a steak in one bite it would be a lot harder to digest rather than if you cut it up into small pieces. An anemone that splits as a result of regular feeding is not a stress induced split, it is a sighn that you have a healthy specimen that is reproducing.

[rayn]

Just to put this out there as a possible idea for your feeding. I feed my two RBTA every other day when I feed my fish. They get thawed brine or mysis shrimp spot fed right on them with a turkey baster.

[2Addicted]

Originally Posted by rayn

wouldn't hurt to do a large, say 25%+-,water change now to help out your levels.

+1

Originally Posted by rayn

just to put this out there as a possible idea for your feeding. I feed my two rbta every other day when i feed my fish. They get thawed brine or mysis shrimp spot fed right on them with a turkey baster.

+1

[BigGimp77]

Ok so I did the water change monday. The nem perked up almost immediatly and has looked fine since then. So today I fed him a tiny piece of small shrimp. It was probably a 1/4 of the size of scallop I fed him before. It was probably smaller then my pinky nail. I figured he would be fine with that.

When I fed him the scallop last time, he stretched his body out really far for about 3-5 hours. It was actually pretty cool to watch and his bubbles were really bubbly! I assumed this was due to him having trouble digesting. Well he's doing it again today... I'm hoping he doesn't puke again. Is this stretching thing normal when they eat?

[cdeboard]

Looks good and healthy to me. Puking could be just them using the bathroom. The mouth/poophole are one in the same. LOL.

[BigGimp77]

Well I was under the impression that the poop was brown and stringy. The scallop looked like a partially digested scallop as you can see in the first pic. But yea he looks really awesome and bubbly when he's stretched out. It's just normally he doesn't look like this. Just after I feed him. He doesn't try to move... He just streches lol

Here's a pic from the front of it when it's all streatched out.

[Toddrtrex]

Originally Posted by cdeboard

Looks good and healthy to me. Puking could be just them using the bathroom. The mouth/poophole are one in the same. LOL.

But, the picture above shows an undigested piece of food -- which is a lot different then an anemone expelling waste. BTAs (( E. Quadricolors )) eat very small (( sized )) foods in wild, and the piece that was given to it was way too big.

One of the worst things for anemones is giving them food that is too big -- it could very well start to decompose inside it and cause numerous issues -- with the biggest one being death.

[wilsonreefs]

Originally Posted by Toddrtrex

But, the picture above shows an undigested piece of food -- which is a lot different then an anemone expelling waste. BTAs (( E. Quadricolors )) eat very small (( sized )) foods in wild, and the piece that was given to it was way too big.

One of the worst things for anemones is giving them food that is too big -- it could very well start to decompose inside it and cause numerous issues -- with the biggest one being death.

X2 and I wouldn't feed it so often. remember what was said above. very small pieces. thats the problem a lot of people have, overfeeding! If you think about it a fish has a really, really small stomach, yet people go to the front of the tank and here come the fish. people think they are starving and feed them way too much.

Carl