asylumdown
09-10-2013, 07:07 PM
I've got a green bubble tip nem that seems to be in a slow motion death spiral and I'm not sure why. shortly after going in to my tank, it moved to a far corner directly under an MP60 where it hardly gets any light and it's constantly being sucked in the updraft toward the powerhead in really strong flow. I thought for sure it would let go an turn in to nem soup, but it set up shop and has stayed there. It even hosts a porcelain crab that somehow (I honestly have no idea how) hitch hiked in to my tank - I know for sure it didn't come in with this nem as I checked it thoroughly and it was in the tank for nearly a month by the time the crab appeared. Not too long after the crab arrived, the nem started to look like total garbage, it's tentacles went all stringy, then they started getting these crooks in them that made it look like they'd gone through a spaghetti maker. It still inflated and deflated normally, and I started spot feeding it silversides thinking maybe it was a nutritional deficiency from low nutrient water. The tentacles are a good 10 inches from the power-head, so I know they're not getting sucked in to it ever.
Then a few weeks ago, the disk developed what looked like balls of expelled guts, only they were near the periphery of the disk. They just appeared one day, didn't get bigger, but they haven't gone away. The nem still accepted food.
4 days ago, the mouth of the nem basically prolapsed, and now it looks like half it's digestive system is bulging out of the disk. Everything I know about anemones says that this thing should have rapidly died, but this whole process has taken place slowly since May or June. It's still inflating and deflating normally between night and day, but I haven't tried feeding it since the prolapse.
So my question is - what the heck happened? Are porcelain crabs somehow dangerous to anemones? This was an impulse purchase that I regret and I've been on the verge of ripping it out of my tank since it started to look gross, but it's foot is buried behind rocks that would be a huge pain to move so I've just left it. At this point, I'd really like the thing to just give up the ghost, because it looks awful, but it seems to be hanging in there. The porcelain crab it still waving his little filter arms away, and I'm not sure if it would be better to separate them and sell him, or if he'll be able to live in my tank without the nem.
Any suggestions on how I can a) accelerate and ugly process, or b) save this anemone so it's pretty enough for me to want to keep it?
Then a few weeks ago, the disk developed what looked like balls of expelled guts, only they were near the periphery of the disk. They just appeared one day, didn't get bigger, but they haven't gone away. The nem still accepted food.
4 days ago, the mouth of the nem basically prolapsed, and now it looks like half it's digestive system is bulging out of the disk. Everything I know about anemones says that this thing should have rapidly died, but this whole process has taken place slowly since May or June. It's still inflating and deflating normally between night and day, but I haven't tried feeding it since the prolapse.
So my question is - what the heck happened? Are porcelain crabs somehow dangerous to anemones? This was an impulse purchase that I regret and I've been on the verge of ripping it out of my tank since it started to look gross, but it's foot is buried behind rocks that would be a huge pain to move so I've just left it. At this point, I'd really like the thing to just give up the ghost, because it looks awful, but it seems to be hanging in there. The porcelain crab it still waving his little filter arms away, and I'm not sure if it would be better to separate them and sell him, or if he'll be able to live in my tank without the nem.
Any suggestions on how I can a) accelerate and ugly process, or b) save this anemone so it's pretty enough for me to want to keep it?