Anemone Deaths ?

[wizardgus®]

I have had two failures in a row with Anemones in my tank. I need to try to figure out if the problem is my tank before making another attempt.

First one was a LTA from IA. It arrived very swollen. It never attached after acclimation. It ate some squid the first 2 days, then nothing. It would swell up until it looked like it would burst. I took it out after 2 weeks the morning that it's mouth was open and a third of the tentacles were deflated.

Second was an H. crispa from LA. It arrived nearly inside-out. Most of it's gut protruding out of its mouth. It did attach to the rock. For the first 4 days it would give feeding response, but not eat. Tried squid, ****le, Mysis and Silversides. It would expand and contract during the day, it expelled some blackish ooze on a couple days. The last 3 days it was detached and blowing around on the sand bed, usually upside down. This morning its mouth was very protruded and open and most of my corals looked really bad, so I took it out and put in new carbon.

About my tank: Lighting and general is in profile. It has been running about 11 months, very stable the past 6. Most everything in the tank does very well. Excellent growth on corals (hard & soft) sponges, fan worms and Tunicates etc. thrive and reproduce. Current is from 3 MJ 1200 on a wavemaker. SG=1.025, pH avg. 8.16, All params NH4, NO2, NO3 and PO4 are undetectable. Caulerpa & Chaetomorpha in refugium. Ca. 425, Alk 9.4. Drip Kalk, B-Ionic as needed. 5g. water change weekly.

Both these specimens were in pretty poor shape on arrival, but one concern I have is that Dr. Ron had mentioned that it might be because of the sponges in the tank. I have several yellow hitch-hikers, one has grown to the size of a tennis ball. Do these preclude me from having an anemone? Anyone have both in their tank? I haven't seen mention of this anywhere else in all my research on Anemones. See anything I have missed?

[wizardgus®]

I thought of some more possibly pertinent information. I seem to remember reading of some problem if it senses a LPS nearby. Not sure now what it was, and I can't find the reference now. But, I have a large Torch coral at one end of the tank, and a fairly large brain mid way up on the back side middle. In a 40" tank is everything close proximity? Could they be the problem?

[Angel*Fish]

How old was your tank when you tried the first 2 anems?

[wizardgus®]

I missed that. These have been in the past month. The Crispa was just removed this morning.

[chewie]

I onlly have exp. with BTA's so I don't know if this helps but here goes...

I have yellow,black,purple,white sponges, LPS, softies, ect. in my BTA tank, I've never had a problem with the BTA. He has even moved around a few times and the only thing that happened when he moved is that it got stung by a brain coral, you could see pronounced burns on the BTA. It was fine a few days later.

Maybe you should try a BTA or get a LTA from a LFS. It sounds like they weren't happy critters to begin with.

I can't belive that ****le got censored. sheesh!

Good luck!

[rvitko]

I would generally believe the anemones were doomed before you got them. I tend to have extraordinary luck with anemones and I can't really say why. They almost never die and I have had a yellow ritteri and a rose each for about 4 years now. I have to believe shipping and handling kills most of them and I just get lucky.

[Jared Cooper]

I think that you need to find a new place to buy anemones. I am convinced that most reef tank deaths occur because the animal is purchased in poor conditions to start with. This is particularly true with anemones. They can get infections that are hard to notice until they are full blown, often the infection is under thier foot so you never see it until it falls off dying. Once infected, unlike fish which can more easily be treated, anemones will most certainly die.

Like was said above, I also have never had anemonies die, even when I had a kalk over dose that killed my clams,or when one of my rose bta clones ran into a power head, my anemones have alwyas lived. I attribute it to the people I buy anemones from. Thaye are usually healthy to start with. (except a sebae I had that was bleached)

[Anemone]

Hmmm, I'm no tsure I would have gotten rid of the second one quite yet - deflated tentacles and gaping mouth don't necessarily mean imminent death...I generallywait until they start to fall apart before I remove them....

I agree that you might want to try a BTA - sebaes and LTs are not "easy" anemones, and seem to react more poorly to transportation stress.

Also, what type of substrate do you have? SOme anemones like to attach to hard substrate beneath the sand, and having the wrong sort of susbtrate can keep them from attaching (and make them more stressed).

FWIW,
Kevin

[mnreefman]

wiz i just got my sabae from world of fish in mpls, it is doing awsome it was alittle bleached at first but after 2 days of feeding it is comn around nicely here a pic from today
its still bleeched but is starting to color up

[wizardgus®]

Anemone,
I pulled the second one because most of the corals were sliming, and the Torch was retracted, the Sarcophyton was bent over, polyps all closed up. After 4 hours with the carbon everything has recovered. May be coincidence, but my immediate thought was sebae was releasing toxins.

I'm leaning toward's shipping stress. My nearest shop would be in the Cities, about 4 hours away. Would that be any better than shipping?

[mnreefman]

wiz yes much better
just tell them that you have along drive awating they will make sure to add extra water so it doesnt get messed.

[wizardgus®]

Thanks for all the replies. I know the specimens in question are considered more delicate than the BTAs. Trouble is bottom is only place I have an opening. Not really wanting to lose or displace any corals. I may abandon the quest, or try a LFS in the Twin Cities (man I hate driving there).

Oh, on the substrate I have PCA sand. I put some LR rubble into it when I put the anemones in and also there is a good ledge of LR at sandbed interface with the reef. Figured it would have a variety of choices.

[rvitko]

For LTA- try this. Excavate a pit in the sand and turn off the powerheads for about ten minutes. Put the anemone in the pit and let it burrow until it is resting on the bottom. Then kick on the flow- usually works.

[Dwayne]

Originally posted by wizardgus
Not really wanting to lose or displace any corals. I may abandon the quest, or try a LFS in the Twin Cities (man I hate driving there).

Dude,

You got PM.

Dwayne

[kevinpo]

I have ordered 6 - H. crispa anemones in the last 3 weeks as they are the ones I've had the best success with. All have arrived in good shape with one being a bit bleached but began recovering (turning tan in a few days). This has been my experience ( I have one in my home tank that turned 7 March 1st). They like to bury their foot in the substrate and don't mind gravel, crushed coral, or fine sand. They stay off the rocks but may wedge themselves between where the rock meets the sand and the bottom. They like to face a slight current. If you place them where a light current blows into them they usually will stay put. They will remain out in the open and spread out pretty big under VHO's but hide a little and are smaller under MH bulbs (especially 400W'ers). They prefer raw shrimp but will learn over time (6 months or so) to eat Fomula1 frozen cube, freeze dried plankton, mysis shrimp.

HTH,
Kevin

[zenya]

Just to add to what Kevin said(I agree with what you said,Kevin 100%) about
H.crispa prefered substrate, here's pic of mine I've taken 5 min ago. Also, note the MJ1200 Phead on the side of the tank.



I've tried raw shrimp but mine actually prefers fish and rather indeferent to the shrimp,go figure