Wont get big

[codeh27]

I got two purple tipped anemones and they used to get huge and now they stay as small as they possibly can i would try feeding them before and they did nothing with it. I was wondering if there was anything i could try.

[cbrownfish]

How long have you had them? How old is your tank? Have you upgraded your lighting recently? If not, I would suspect that you have a water parameter issue (salinity, temp, nitrates, phosphates, ammonia, etc.....).

[BigAl07]

Are their tentacles still "Tacky"?

Pics might help but a full set of water test results (as cb asked) would really help a lot.

[codeh27]

Okay, So i will test

[codeh27]

Originally Posted by cbrownfish

How long have you had them? How old is your tank? Have you upgraded your lighting recently? If not, I would suspect that you have a water parameter issue (salinity, temp, nitrates, phosphates, ammonia, etc.....).

Okay, So i tested all that temps about 75ish, PH is 8.2 Ammonia is 0 to.25. Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is about 40. Salt is .021 I can adding salt to make it .023.

[BigAl07]

ADD salt VERY slowly! You don't want to SHOCK them!

also you Nitrates are high. I'd suggest a decent water change to get them down.

[JNicho]

Any ammonia reading indicates a problem IMO...how old is the tank and has anything died recently?

SG is pretty low for inverts...more like 1.025-.026 would be considered ideal...but as stated raise it very slowly...the shock from a fast change can be far worse than being low or high...also how are you measuring SG? Swing arm hydrometers are notorious for being several points off.

[proenca]

Ditto.

Your ammonia readings raise the alarm : something is wrong.

Ammonia is raising the bell and my first guess is that the tank is not mature : ie, its at least less than 6-10 months old AND/OR new fish have been introduced or died.

If the tank is indeed new, its a mistake no matter how you put it to introduce the anemones.

Hyposalinity (Hyposalinity is recommended for fish, Its near mortal to inverts , where nem's fall into.) is recommended for therapeutic reasons or to get rid of some plagues. Bump up to 1.024 or so but .001 per DAY , so in the course of the next 3 days.

salinity affects many many uber important variables in fish and inverts : oxygen contents on the water, osmosis of the respiration, some contaminantes concentration, etc etc etc. so if you do it FAST , you going to put them in shock since you are messing with few of their basic functions.

Can you give out some more info ? Tank specs, Tank age , innabithants ?

[lcstorc]

What kind of anemone are we talking about here. Sounds like it may be a Condy. They react differently than most anemones since they are from the Atlantic. They seem to be able to handle fairly low light better than most.
How big is the tank? I had one back when I set up my tank and it got so huge I had to give it away.
Regardless, I would see the amonia as the first thing to eliminate.

[proenca]

Originally Posted by proenca

Hyposalinity is recommended for therapeutic reasons or to get rid of some plagues. Bump up to 1.024 or so but .001 per DAY , so in the course of the next 3 days.

ATTENTION

Hyposalinity is recommended for fish

Its near mortal to inverts , where nem's fall into.

Its recommended to treat parasits like ich, which is very sucessfull actually.

[codeh27]

Okay sorry about the lack of information. It is a 55g tank I got 4 clownfish 2 purpletipped anomie, 1 wrasse forgot the name its a fish only wrasse, coral banded shrimp, pom pom crab, 3 hermit crabs 1 snail. The tanks roughly 4-5 months I had ick when i was new to the tank lost some fish about 3 months ago the Nitrate was low then. My hydrometer is a swing arm. Ived had the Anemonies since ive had the tanks pretty much so about 4 months with them.

[websurfer]

Sounds like they could be on there way out..

Are they still small...

Where you able to feed them before

If not they do have a slow Metabolism

what where you trying to feed?

I put my seabee in my tank only 1 month in
and then a gbta 3months in and i have had no issues

But i make sure my water is perfect and do weekly water changes

[codeh27]

They wont take food although they get in a ball alot as there digesting since ive done some water change and brought the Nitrate down alot more there bodys have gotten bigger not there tentacles they dont move around much.

[BigAl07]

It does sound like they are slowly expiring. Pics would help a LOT here!

If they are no longer "tacky" on their tentacles then you need to seriously start thinking about pulling them out.

what lights do you have?


Keep in mind these animals are not beginner by ANY means. Some people "assume" they have success with them because they live for a month or more. In reality these animals can "suffer" for many months appearing and acting healthy and then all of a sudden go down hill quickly. Due to their slow metabolism they "appear" to thrive yet are slowly starving to death. This animal is meant for a tank that's mature and stable. I like to see the tank stable for 9+ months (that's stable not just WET).

Good luck and keep us posted.

[codeh27]

Okay i understand that. I am moving them to my 125g tank its not mature but the readings on it are much better for a temp solution until i can get my main tank under control. Hopefully i can get them to snap out of it. I will work on pictures as well.