Anemone Health!

[aznufo]

Anybody know any signs of an anemone dying? I got a heteractis magnifica.. it's rather deflated sometimes and some white stringy stuff protruding from its mouth. thx.. info on these guys are hard to find

[Delphinus]

Hoo boy. Sorry, can of worms here.. I'll try to brief.

First of all, you'll know it's dead when it melts into the most vile smelling ball of snotty goo. Cleaning a dead anemone from your tank is probably going to be the low point of anyone's tank hobby, for anyone unlucky enough to have to do that.

Second of all, Heteractis magnifica has one of the worst survival records of the hosting species of anemone. It's requirements are strict but not altogether all that unknown. Compared to other species they seem to have a higher metabolism and thus require more feeding, more light, and very high oxygen saturated water (hence more water current). They will inhabit the highest point of a reef structure to try to get into these sorts of conditions. Many are starved and stressed beyond the point of recovery by the time they are ever purchased by the hobbyist, so, be advised that, even optimistically, you have an uphill struggle facing you. Be also advised that, if it does survive and does well for you ... this becomes an extremely large animal that is very difficult to house comfortably except in very large tanks. They are the second largest anemone species in terms of overall diameter, but they are far-and-away the largest in terms of both height and diameter combined. The largest I have ever seen to-date was about 30" across and about 12" tall.

An occasional deflation is not uncommon in any anemone but as a common occurence is an indication of stress, and the prognosis is rarely very good at that point when you see this. The behaviour appears to be an attempt to change out the water in its tissues, perhaps as a means for finding more oxygen. If you see this behaviour a lot, you need to increase the water motion. In an emergency situation you may even need to consider adding a venturi onto a powerhead or an airstone into your tank, to increase the air/water echange happening in the tank.

My last point I want to make is that information regarding these animals shouldn't be hard to find. For starters, you can try searching past posts of boards such as this one or reefcentral (espescially the "Anemones and Clownfish" forum over there). There are books, and also web articles.

Here are some links you can use as a starter:

Anemone FAQ (http://www.carlosreef.com/AnemoneFAQ.pdf)

Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones (http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html)

Also you can try reading past issues of advancedaquarist.com and reefkeeping.com.

Good luck.

[Aquattro]

I'll try to brief.

.

ya...uh-huh :rolleyes: :razz:

Thanks Tony for the (as usual) great anemone advice!

[aznufo]

it's gone :cry:
i believe there was a gash on it caused by sharp LR.. or m/b even a worM?

[Delphinus]

I'm sorry for your loss. :frown:

You're not going to like what I have to say. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but, in my opinion this sort of thing happens all too often and it's perfectly avoidable.

It's very unlikely that it succumbed to an injury from rock, and next to impossible that a worm did it in.

I don't want to sound harsh ... but if I recall correctly, your tank is a 33g and it's only been set up for a month or two? I'm sorry but it was doomed from the get-go. That's one of the hardest, if not the outright hardest, anemones to keep. At the best of times, anemones are not easy to keep, definitely not beginner type creatures -- anyone who tells you different is either misinformed or misleading. If I'm mistaken, then please accept my apologies. But if I'm not ... The LFS who sold the anemone to you should have inquired as to your setup ... and you should maybe have done some more research first. There are plenty of resources out there. Read the Anemone FAQ .. it will get you started.

Don't beat yourself up too hard though. It's possible that it was doomed before you even purchased it. It depends on how well its cared for at the store, and then before they had it, at the distributors/importers ... and then before then how long it was in transit ... and how it was collected ... and so on. A lot of anemones at the point of retail are starved, and one thing that they do when starved is they start to digest their own tissue. You know this is happening when it's smaller than it used to be. This is very bad news. Even if they can start eating, a turnaround might be unlikely. And if they don't start eating ... it's game over .. maybe not immediately, but it's just a matter of time in those cases.

My advice for now is let your tank settle out a bit. A tank needs to be matured for at least six months before it's ready to house anemones. Anemones are pretty sensitive to changes in parameters and a tank that doesn't have that much time to it yet is simply undergoing too much flux before it settles into a sort of equilibrium.

After six months you could perhaps try a captive split BTA. A 33g should be a decent size for one of those.

Once again, I'm sorry for your misfortune ... good luck from now on.

[aznufo]

yeh =(

well thanks... for the advice n all... i was always told to go slow... but as all newbies are... i jumped on and sailed away... hahaha

btw... i believe anemones are bad with corals? should i just go all corals now?

[johnny rock]

In your sized tank definatly stick with corals and figure out what type of corals you want to go with. Lighting plays a huge role!
DELPHINUS, I couldn't have said it any better and the info provided was bang on. IMO its good to wait at least a year before adding an anenome and research is a must.they get big or split and will sting corals when they move and sometimes they move just for the fun of it. I had great success with an LTA and find them to be the less finicky of anenomes.

[aznufo]

thanks all.. man these boards give much better advice tahn LFS..
btw.. i've got 192w CF on a 33 gallon? is that enuff? a great deal.. it's a used one for couple months.. 125$ for it..