Anemone wont eat

zanoshanox

Active Member
I have a BTA and it wont eat. Its been 3+ weeks since it last took to something manually...I've tried krill and silvertides, and I have tried feeding at different times of the day/night...Nothing seems to be working and I'm concerned about its health. Any suggestions?
 

fanker

Active Member
is he getting smaller? anenomes are filter feeders so he might just be eating the KENT stuff
 

zanoshanox

Active Member
Yeah he's shrinked up to about 1/2 the size he was about 2 weeks ago, was never beigger than 2.5 in anyways, and loosing color rapidly.
 

fanker

Active Member
might not be enough light, what lights do u have? u might want to buy new bulbs, and anenomes need really intence light, like mh, so definantely get the mh set up.
 

swlover

Member
You could try polyps! LOL JK..any way try frozen foods, chop them up small about the size of an eraser head. Is he still sticky? You could blend up some frozen foods, shrimp and feed it to him with a syringe if he will not hold the food. I would stay away from silver sides..they can't digest them, or so it has been stated many times on these threads and a few books I have read. Personaly I have never tried silver sides, so I'm just going by what others have said. 3 weeks is not along time for anemones sometimes they don't eat but once a month, and if he is sick he probably will not eat at all. Remove any uneaten food, do water changes, check your SG, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, etc. Hope he gets better for you, but if he takes a turn for the worst, take him out of your tank, maybe place him into a QT..you don't want him dieing in your main tank.
 

zanoshanox

Active Member
Thanks for the help though...Unfortunately....still not looking too good. Right now he has kind of put himself into a cave, which i'm not too happy about because I know he is hardly getting any light in there, just for a note, all of my other corals are doing great, and my levels are ok, but I do have a really bad outbreak fo long hair algea. I will test and post my levels.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Your calcium is really high... I'm surprised it's not precipitating out of the water. Shouldn't be anything above 500. I'm not sure that will affect your BTA.
Also, I'm not thinking that the light you have is enough. If you are going to light a BTA with any kind of fluorescent light, you need at least 6-8wpg.
What spectrum are your lights? The zooxanthellae might not like your light spectrum.
In my experience BTAs are really touch and go. They need to find a spot that satisfies light and flow, and your untested water params must be perfect. There may be something in the water that you aren't testing and/or wouldn't even expect to test.
If I were you, I'd pull that thing while you can still get something for it at your LFS, and try a Condy, they are a little easier and cheaper if it dies.
BTW, I'd disagree that they are filter feeders. They mostly feed off light, which is why intensity is so very important. They will take supplemental food, but it doesn't play nearly as important of a role as light. They can live with light but no supplemental food, but not 'tother way 'round.
 

mcsd22

Member
Ph, SG and temp to low and calcium to high.
Ph 8.2-8.4
SG 104-106
temp 78-80
Calcium 400- 500
With the levels you have, it is my opinion, that is why he won't eat and he will die. Bring your levels in this range and he might make it. You don't want him to die in the tank. I think your lights are no where near stong enough either.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Yeah he means your SG should be 1.025 or 1.026. Anemones need a very intolerant.. probably the MOST intolerant animals to low SG.
 
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