damaged anemone

[manderx]

this is discussion redirected from the Meeting Announcement (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=467716) thread so we don't clog it up with off-topic stuff.



Wildthing:

Well, I think the sebae is dieing. It came to me looking all mangled, I thought it was spitting out its insides but then I noticed it only had 1/2 is tentacles and what I thought were its intestines were probably its mangled tentacles. I had hoped it might survive because it attached within an hr and I fed it some BBS which I thought were sticking to it. But this morning its on the sand not really moving and now its foot looks damaged. The really sad thing is that my clown loved it and went to it immediately, I checked on it about an hr after putting it in, it was attached and the clown was snuggling up to it. I can't imagine what happened to it.

Ade, sorry to hear about your phyto, mine is doing ok but moving slooooowly, I may move things to 1 lg bottle and drop a heater in. If it crashes I'll just start a new batch from the fridge stuff. Do you need a new starter culture? I can bring some to the next meet.

Matt, what can I say, I'd be nuts not to take you up on your offer especially since I really didn't want to break it up, I know its silly but it feels kinda like killing it. But I don't want you to come off with the short end of the stick, I can bring them down and you can look them over to be sure that they will work for you, if they don't PLEASE tell me and I'll do something else. You can take some all or none.



sounds like it got chomped by a pump. as long as it doesn't look like it's rotting, it actually has a pretty good chance of recovering. how big is it, what color, and how long had it been in captivity before you got it? anemones probably prefer bigger, meatier things than bbs, but i wouldn't worry about feeding it for the moment until it can regenerate a bit. i feed mine a whole frozen shrimp once or twice a month.

cold shouldn't make a phyto culture crash. but it will make it slow down, just like when you put it in the fridge.

[WILDTHING]

Good idea moving the thread Matt, I never even thought about it.

Well the anemone has a pink base (foot I guess), cream rim and green tenticles. As sad as its looking now I could tell it was very pretty. I think she had it for at least several months (6-8?)she said it was about 6inches when open.
I thought it probably wanted bigger food but with half its tenticles missing I thought the bs would do as a sorta test to see if it was still sticky. I think I remember hearing that if its not sticky then its really sick, ever heard that, is it true? I tried to get a small piece of silver side to stick to it but it held it for a bit then let it drop.

I know that MH lights would be best but I just don't have the room in the 20 for it, do you think it has a chance with just Pc's, especially since it has to regenerate?

colleen

[manderx]

based on that description, it's either a long tentacle or a bubble-tip, which is good since sebaes don't seem to have as good a track record. it's really easy to tell the difference, long tentacles have bumps (verrucae) on their underside and bubble-tips don't.

a bubble-tip would have by far the best chance of pulling through. i've had one regenerate from a booger the size of a marble that made it all the way through my return pump once.

at this point lights probably don't matter, actually bright lights might stress him a bit. for the long term, PCs are plenty for bubbletips, and it *might* be enough for a long tentacle depending on how many tubes you have.

[WILDTHING]

We have bumps, so a long tentacle.

Is there anything I can do to help it recover? I have it in a 10g now with a sand bottom and some lr and calerpa and a few snails with a duetto filter. The only thing I can think of is to keep the water as *good* as I can, because its such a small tank and has the GSM in it also I was planning to change about 2g a day to keep it in good shape. Any thoughts?

colleen

BTW, thanks for all this advice, its good to talk to someone with some experience.

[manderx]

yup, just keep the water clean. though if it goes, it's going to go quick and will probably nuke the whole 10 gallon before you notice anything.

i'd pull the water for the changes from an established tank rather than use freshly mixed water, or maybe 50/50 new/established.

[WILDTHING]

Great, after posting the above I started wondering if it would be less stressfull to use water out of the 20g. I'll do that.

Thanks Matt

colleen

[RUFISHY2]

Hey guys!
I noticed that Mbort hasn't been arguing with you much lately, so I thought maybe I should pick up the riegns. Actually, there are two anemones that are commonly called sebae. One is the heteractis crispa which usually has bumps, and the heteractis malu, which usually doesn't. Also there are two genus commonly called long tentacle. One is heteractis (like the sebae) the other is macrodactyla which almost always has bumps.
Regardless of which one you have, it's still pretty good advice to just keep him happy. I have better luck with long tentacles (I think Manderx is right anyway) by putting a small rock on top of the foot. (Don't mash it, just give him a little squeeze.)

[WILDTHING]

thanks for the advice about the rock, he's just on the bottom of the tank not moving now but if it looks like he might be feeling better and in the mood to move I'll do as you suggest. I'm actually wondering how I'm going to tell if/when he dies, since he isn't moving now. I guess he'll loose color. But if he dies I want him out of there asap as its only a 10g.

colleen

colleen

[WILDTHING]

Actually, are you suggesting the rock for his comfort or to be able to keep him in place?

[manderx]

yeah, based on what is commonly available, i figured it would have to be a E. quadricolor (bubble-tip) or a M. doreensis (the only thing i call a LTA) since it has a red foot.

the problem with IDing anemones is most people (especially wholesalers) are flat-out wrong, and if enough people are wrong enough times, it eventually becomes accepted as fact. heck, most people can't even pronounce or spell 'anemone' correctly much less tell any difference between them.

jeremy- have you ever gotten in a real malu? i've heard of people saying they have them in their tank, but *every* time i see it or a pic, it's really a crispa. real malus are extremely distinctive, boring and ugly (look in wilkerson's clownfish book for a pic). i think the confusion is from the fact that crispa *used* to be classified as malu back in the 70's but some taxonomist decided to swap things around, so if you look in an old book it says your crispa is a malu. just like wellsophyllia is now trachyphyllia.

macrodactlya doreensis is the only one i'd ever call a long tentacle (macrodactlya ~ 'large finger'). calling any of the heteractis a 'long tentacle' is probably based on a mis-id somewhere up the chain where they thought it was M. doreensis, and did so long enough for it to establish itself as a common name. of the heteractus i'm familiar with (crispa, malu, magnifica, aurora), crispa (sebae) is the only one with tentacles long enough that anyone would call long. i've had plenty of people argue with me that *my* crispa is really a M. doreensis because "it's too big, crispas are those cute little white anemones with purple tips". yeah, that's how they look when they are on death's door after being shipped halfway around the globe, but once you get it happy and healthy it looks like a completely different critter (another big reason so many people mis-id them).

/end rant :)

[manderx]

you'll know when he's going. it'll look like he's turning to mush, and will fail a sniff test with flying colors.

[ade]

Matt I can't wait for you to come to my place on Sunday, You can I.D my anemone, it has a large foot which is peach or flesh like. It dose not have any spots or bumps. The tenticals are a kind of green with pink under VHO's. Oh I'll just wait until Sunday.
Ade

[ade]

Hay Matt you or anyone else can look in my gallery's. It has a clark's clown swimming in it.
Ade

[manderx]

from the pic, my guess is bubbletip, but it might be a ritteri.

[RUFISHY2]

awit a minute....Wellsophylia is't wellsophylia anymore? When did that happen?

Yeah, I've gotten in a couple of real malus, but I never will again. I've never gotten one in one peice.

Ade,

I agree with manderx that looks like one happy healthy bubble tip.