Stichodactyla haddoni

Natasha

There is a carpet anemone that I bought a couple of months ago. It inflated well for the first month, but now it is almost always closed. It started crawling around the aquarium recently; before that, it was sitting on the sand at the base of the reef. It is still well attached to the substrate and sticky. I haven't touched it on purpose, thinking it would acclimate and everything would be fine like it was with the quadricolor, but I see that I can't manage without help. What do you recommend? I tried reducing the metal halide lighting time to 3-4 hours, but it was useless. I also tried weaker lighting (only using T5 without metal halide) - that didn't help either. I dose iodine, magnesium, strontium, and calcium in the aquarium, all with no effect. I maintain hardness with baking soda. Over the past week, I tried placing it in shaded areas, adjusting the flow to be weaker and stronger, and even turning it off completely - nothing helps. I'm thinking of making iodine baths and will buy crystalline iodine at the pharmacy. But maybe someone else has suggestions on how to help it? I read on Reef Central that they prefer a temperature around 27 degrees and a salinity of 1.027. What do you think about that?

Judy

Well, for all actinides, it's definitely better to oversalt than to undersalt.

Ross

What can you tell me about feeding?

Lori4746

There is Artemia, shrimp, and mussels, but somehow it's not clear; the shrimp and mussels are spat out at the end. For the first two weeks, it didn't give anything at all. Overall, I fed it about 5 times, probably. The quadric also has anomalies. It is large, but it doesn't inflate the bubbles. At night, it completely deflates.

Larry9400

Maybe they are too big for her? Have you tried making a cocktail? You can't survive on just Artemia for long...

Jill9137

Shouldn't she be getting energy from zooxanthellae? I chopped it finely, like for fish, and threw it to her. I even gave her live guppies. The result is the same. Sometimes her mouth gets twisted. It doesn't smell, it doesn't rot. Maybe it's really the water? It was 1.023. Today I added salt to bring it to 1.026; I'll check on her when I get home from work.

David

I agree about the fresh ones; the frozen ones are of very poor quality. I can't think of anything fresher for the guppies, but today I'll try to feed them with some small fish.

Yvette209

If they don't want to eat, under no circumstances should you try to force-feed them, as it will lead to unpredictable consequences.

Reginald5073

She will definitely cling to her, and then it's up to her whether she swallows it or not...

Michelle1505

The fact that the stinging capsules are still in operation gives hope... usually, the carpet that goes into nirvana stops sticking...

Susan

sticks even to a medical glove

Andrew4194

Then, that's already half the battle...

Brandi

ate a small guppy

Gabriel

She doesn't need anything else for now. At least for 5-6 days. It would be better to focus on small water changes. 5% once a week. By the way, there's a chance that she might refuse to digest even this guppy and spit it out after a while... But maybe everything will be fine.

Brandy1134

that's how it happened, spat out

Rick

So, there's no need to feed them at all; overfeeding is worse than underfeeding. I feed my anemones 1-2 times a month, and even then just a little. No one wanders around; they stay in place for years. Furthermore, poor health of anemones in the aquarium, or when they are young and there is a lot of fresh water, can be caused by damage or overfeeding. You should only feed strong, well-settled anemones. For carpet anemones, a sand bottom depth of at least 10 cm is required (the sand should be live and old, with a lifespan of at least a year in the aquarium). As for other requirements, bright lighting and laminar flow are essential.

Andrea8397

the condition worsened, took it out, held it in a iodine bath for 30 minutes, used potassium iodide and crystalline iodine for the solution, then rinsed it in clean aquarium water... waiting for it to open up.

Ryan

Water temperature 22 – 27 degrees, hardness 1.023-1.025, pH 8.1 – 8.4. dKH 8-12 The most brilliant translation. And the article as a whole is also great. You won't find better information about their care anywhere else than on Reef Central.

Erin

Let's start from the beginning, when you acquired the anemone. 1. What was the lifespan of your aquarium? 2. What is the thickness of the sand layer? 3. What is the condition of the anemone itself? 4. How often do you feed it? 5. What kind of lighting is above the anemone? 6. How is the water flow? We need to look for the cause, then we will know what to do next.

Nancy

The tank has been set up for 10 years, and in this volume for about 5 years. The sand has been in for more than six months. Before that, there was crushed coral. The condition was normal, with the mouth slightly open; when I brought it home, it was in fantastic condition, with the mouth closed, and it attached as I mentioned before. I didn't feed it for the first month, then once a week. The light is 2MГ at 150W (20000K), with two blue T5s at 39W and two white ones at 39W; I tried different combinations. The flow is provided by two pumps, one at 5 tons and the other at 3 tons, not blowing directly; one is at the back of the reef, and the other is at the front. The second anemone, I repeat, grows not by days but by hours; the only thing is that it doesn't inflate its bubbles.

Selena4467

When there was crypto in the reef, what medications were added to the aquarium, in what quantity and for how long, and how was it removed from the reef?

Angel2396

In the aquarium, no treatment was done; the butterfly fish was treated in quarantine. Only the UV was working in the aquarium.

Yvette209

Well, what can I say, everything is perfect according to your answers, if they are truthful. In such wonderful conditions, she should live and be happy, and there is no reason for concern. Worry less about her, let her figure things out in the reef. Everything should be fine unless you are hiding something, THEN FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELVES.

Alan273

So what do I have to hide if I want to know the answer? It's not like during the Cold War. And what can you say about the quadricolor? Why does it deflate at night and why doesn't it inflate the bubbles on the tentacles?

Justin

All is in vain. Anemon did not survive.

Wesley

Offtopic ok