buble tipped anenome - sick or constipated

[extremelyslow]

i have a BTA in my tank, and he's normally about 3" in diameter, seems happy cuz he doesn't move, and is nicely colored. he gets about 1/3 cube of Formula 1 every other day or so.. i've got a pretty mature tank, no nitrates, etc. not sure about phosphates..

much to my astonishment, i notice sometimes when i check on him in the AM (under 2 65W PCBs), that he's all shrunk up (like 1" diameter), and he's oozing some stuff. then when i check him at night, he seems fine.

is it normal for him to scrunch up and expel some stuff? is he going #2 in my tank?

thanks for the advice!!

[BoomerD]

is he going #2 in my tank?

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Personally, I'd suspect you don't have enough light for the anemone, UNLESS this is a pretty small tank. Otherwise, if they eat, they're gonna deficate...
OR Food in, Food out...

[extremelyslow]

yeah, i'm the same way, i guess. thanks for the help. this BTA is (currently) about 10 inches beneath a JBJ light fixture w/ two 65W PCBs - actinic & 10000K. i plan on moving him closer to the lights after i redecorate, which i'm up to right now...

cheers!

[BoomerD]

i plan on moving him closer to the lights after i redecorate, which i'm up to right now...

That's a good one! Unfortunately, anemones have a tendency to move to where THEY want to be, and most often, it has nothing to do with where YOU want them to be...They will travel looking for that"sweet spot" where water flow and lighting are just right, often stinging corals and things along the way. Again, I don't know what size tank this is, but, I'd urge you to consider more light.

[extremelyslow]

i would love more light. this anenome has walked around before, but he (his name is Arby) seems to stay put more recently, so he can receive his Formula 1 every other day or so.

my setup is a 29G acrylic tank w/the JBJ hood w/two 65W PCBs. i've got two 280GPM submerged in the tank, alternating every 12 hours. The tank gets about 12 hours of light/day. i've got about 40# of live rock, and a SeaClone protein skimmer. An automatic Eheim feeder feeds flake once/day in the AM. Then at night I feed live brine shrimp to my clowns, and a chunk of F1 for the anenome. i've also got a few other corals (spaced prudently), and a sifting sea star, and a safe bristle star..

I had talked w/ JBJ about retrofitting a 175W MH bulb into the hood, but they advised against it. I've been considering setting up a incandescent light bulb that shines directly on the anenome for more light, and I'm definately open to any other suggestions on how to get more light to my tank....