I Fragged My Carpet Last Night - Page 7

phender · #**151** 10/03/2006, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 55semireef
So your tank basically stays stable. But I am kind of amazed on how you only do 4-5 waterchanges a year on your tank and at that, they are only 5 gallon ones too. But like you said, your tank has been setup for 16 years which explains a lot.

BTW, congratulations on thread of the month.

FWIW, there are some very famous keepers of SPS that never do a water change. If you talk to the really good reefkeepers, who have been doing it well for a long time, there are a lot of things that they will have in common, but there are just as many things that they do totally different.

I think the congratulations should go to you guys. Without the great response this thread would have died an early death.

Doni · #**152** 10/04/2006, 09:11 AM

Great thread! Thanks for sharing your experience!

david walker · #**153** 10/08/2006, 05:48 PM

Just seen what you did that was amazing......

jjackson · #**154** 10/08/2006, 06:58 PM

I rarely do water changes and have what I would call a succesful tank...

lazluvtoo · #**155** 10/08/2006, 08:25 PM

I also do not change the water in my 90 gl that often. Maybe every six weeks...sometimes as long as 2-3 months. However; if I notice stress in the corals or fish, I do one immediately and that usually takes care of the problem. I have had my tank setup for almost 10 years and feel it is pretty stable at this point requiring hardly any additives to maintain good levels.

55semireef · #**156** 10/08/2006, 09:12 PM

Stability is the key to success for anemones.

aquaruki · #**157** 10/08/2006, 10:13 PM

Wow, I am surprised I had not seen this thread before. You did an awesome job, congrats to you! Sorry about your losses, but I think it is still a successful experiment, great education for all of us!

skeeter-doc · #**158** 10/09/2006, 02:06 PM

phender, how are the two anemones doing today?

55semireef · #**159** 10/09/2006, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skeeter-doc
phender, how are the two anemones doing today?

One anemone you mean.

skeeter-doc · #**160** 10/09/2006, 02:14 PM

oh, did one bite the big one?

55semireef · #**161** 10/09/2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skeeter-doc
oh, did one bite the big one?

Its all in the thread.

phender · #**162** 10/09/2006, 08:39 PM

About a week or so ago, I fed the remaining anemone a piece of shrimp or silverside(I don't remember which) and it hasn't been the same since. The next morning it was all shriveled and limp. It has been going back and forth since then. Last night I was half expecting to wake up to a pile of mush, but it is looking better again. The last two times I fed it, I placed a small piece of Formula 1 directly in its mouth. That seemed to perk it up the first time. I fed it tonight and I am hoping for the best. I have a feeling I gave it a bad piece of fish.

Wish me luck.

OrionN · #**163** 10/09/2006, 08:43 PM

Good luck. I did the samething for one of my H. magnifica sometime back. I fed it a bad piece of clam and kill it. I hope your anemone will do much better.

skeeter-doc · #**164** 10/09/2006, 09:10 PM

I have always heard it is bad if you actually place food right into an anemone's mouth though , ...

shutiny · #**165** 10/09/2006, 10:11 PM

I force fed my anemones a few times when there were no other options; I would have sold one of my kindney if that would help.

Phil, hope tomorrow is a better day for the anemone.

dc · #**166** 10/09/2006, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by phender
About a week or so ago, I fed the remaining anemone a piece of shrimp or silverside(I don't remember which) and it hasn't been the same since. The next morning it was all shriveled and limp. It has been going back and forth since then. Last night I was half expecting to wake up to a pile of mush, but it is looking better again. The last two times I fed it, I placed a small piece of Formula 1 directly in its mouth. That seemed to perk it up the first time. I fed it tonight and I am hoping for the best. I have a feeling I gave it a bad piece of fish.
Wish me luck.

Gosh I hope he survives.

maxxII · #**167** 10/10/2006, 12:04 AM

Phender,
As a long time anemone afficianado, Ive been reading this thread with some interest....

So very sorry to ehar of your losses, both fish and anemone clone...

Nick

Spracklcat · #**168** 10/10/2006, 08:14 AM

I've heard recently that it is recommended that we feed anemones smaller foods than we are accustomed to--like no bigger than mysid shrimp. Maybe worth a try?

phender · #**169** 10/10/2006, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skeeter-doc
I have always heard it is bad if you actually place food right into an anemone's mouth though , ...

In general this is true. You don't want to force feed an anemone, however sometimes you have to weigh your options. When an anemone is too weak to eat, but it needs food to survive, what do you do? There have been two or three times when I have been able to bring back anemones on the brink of death by placing food on the mouth and letting them bring it in or placing the food just inside the mouth. Forcing the food in is not a good idea. It usually gets spit back out anyway.

Certain host anemones have no trouble catching and eating prey larger than what we normally feed, but certainly feed on planktonic animals as well. BTAs and H. crispa, probably don't have a powerful enough sting to catch fish of any significant size in nature, so likely eat mostly planktonic animals.
That being said, it is much easier to keep track of the anemone's food intake when you feed fingernail sized food. It would be best to feed the tank and let the anemone catch all it needs, however when an anemone is new or ailing, it makes it diffecult to determine if the anemone is eating much or at all.
I have never had any species of anemone look like it didn't enjoy a large morsel of food every now and then.

55semireef · #**170** 10/10/2006, 10:40 PM

Good luck Phil

vaporize · #**171** 10/10/2006, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by phender
In general this is true. You don't want to force feed an anemone, however sometimes you have to weigh your options. When an anemone is too weak to eat, but it needs food to survive, what do you do? There have been two or three times when I have been able to bring back anemones on the brink of death by placing food on the mouth and letting them bring it in or placing the food just inside the mouth. Forcing the food in is not a good idea. It usually gets spit back out anyway.

Phil, funny that you bring this up. I think I just saved a haddoni carpet this way. The carpet is literally flipping inside out with its mouth 3" fliped out, I decided it can't be worst, so I just literally stuff a piece of krill into its mouth, and it's back to normal now. Hopefully it lives

It's a new arrival.

Me No Nemo · #**172** 10/15/2006, 11:56 PM

I hope your anemone pulls through. I fragged a red carpet in May. Both halves did great, were healing nicely and each was host to a true perc. They were both in separate sections of a 125 and did well for almost a month, both pretty much completely healed. I came in one morning and they were right next to each other, touching. The same day one started to shrivel up and "melt" away...then within a couple days the second was gone as well. Next time I will make sure I separate them as I really believe they would have made it if they hadn't gotten next to each other.

55semireef · #**173** 10/16/2006, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Me No Nemo
I hope your anemone pulls through. I fragged a red carpet in May. Both halves did great, were healing nicely and each was host to a true perc. They were both in separate sections of a 125 and did well for almost a month, both pretty much completely healed. I came in one morning and they were right next to each other, touching. The same day one started to shrivel up and "melt" away...then within a couple days the second was gone as well. Next time I will make sure I separate them as I really believe they would have made it if they hadn't gotten next to each other.

But they are replicas of each other so why would they have a negative effect on each other if they get to close? Were they competing for light?

wmfsoll2 · #**174** 10/22/2006, 05:15 AM

Wow! Alot of info in this thread.
Thanks for all the updates.
Great Thread.

Bill.

travisurfer · #**175** 10/22/2006, 05:50 AM

great job phender. keep us posted.