A tale of a failed anemone - any guidance?

[cfgenesis]

Two Saturdays ago I purchased a purple LTA. For the first 5 or 6 days he looked good, stayed in one spot and was well filled out. Last Friday it detached from it's spot and started to float along the bottom of the tank. I made efforts to relocate him, dig out a spot of sand so he could bury his foot and attach to the bottom glass to no avail. He started shriveling and would not attach, although he never lost his purple color. Yesterday afternoon I got home and he was still lying in the same spot where he had been since the day before, but the side of his foot was disintegrating. Based on what I have read about that being a clear sign that he was on the way out, and what the damage to the tank can be when an anemone dies and goes toxic I made the decision to remove him, so he lasted 10 days.

My tank is 5 months old. It is a 72-gallon bowfront with 216w of T5 lights and 110w of PC lights. The only fish in the tank right now are 2 blue/green chromis. My water parameters are: Sal - 1.025, pH - 8.2, temp - 80, ammonia - 0, nitrite - 0, nitrate - 0. I am running a protein skimmer, and have a media bag of mixed carbon and phosphate remover in my sump tank. I am combating a hair algae problem so I did add some AlgaeFix last week, which specifically claims not to harm anemones.

Nothing about my water conditions seems detrimental so I am trying to figure out if it was just the luck of the draw on that particular anemone or if I should not try to keep one at all. I would hate to drop another $120 for this to happen all over again.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

 

[cfgenesis]

56 views and no feedback? Please help!!

 

[Gold Stripe]

Kind of hard to say with anemones. The one you got could have been dyed which is why it never bleached out when it was failing. It could have had other health issues that were unknown. It could have damaged its foot on its own which is almost certain death for an LTA. It could have been the Algaefix but I dont know much about that product.

I will say that I am not a fan of adding any types of medications or other chemicals of that nature because they generally just mask the problem instead of cure it. Lots of things say they are safe but you never know what unique situations may arise in your system that cause it to not be safe.

I wouldnt spend $120 on an LTA again. You should be able to get a nice one for half that.

A 72 bow is what? 21 inches deep? or 24? I dont know enough about T5 lighting to know if thats enough for an LTA as they are bottom dwellers.

Too many variables.

All you can do is get your system as stable as possible and try again.

 

[cfgenesis]

The bowfront is 21" deep.

The rep at the LFS went out of his way to say that the anemone was not injected. The store has a pretty good reputation but definitely is pricey.

 

[E.intheC]

that's strange.. I had a 72 bow with a purple LTA that did a very similar thing (moved along the sand about 1 week after it was put in the tank, if memory serves me correctly)...

How deep is your sandbed? Could also be the Algaefix.. I've heard good things about the algae remover, but have also heard negative side effects. No personal experience.

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

generally I've found algae removing chemicals to be toxic to inhabitants, and do not use them(nearly killed multiple fish in my old fowlr).

Never heard of a mixed media bag, when carbon got in my gfo bag it got hard as a rock.

How long have you had hair algae prob? real shot in dark here, but I'd guess water quality issue caused this. algae is eating up the phosphates which is why its not showing up in tests.

 

[cfgenesis]

Sandbed is about 1-1/2" deep.

I've had the hair algae problem for about a month. It seems to be getting better, but I still haven't pinpointed where I'm getting phosphates as I only use RODI water I buy from LFS for top offs and water changes. I have discontinued use of AlgaeFix, it didn't seem to make much difference, although it specifically states it is harmless to anemones.

By mixed media bag I just mean that I mixed loose carbon and phosguard granules in the same bag, which the rep at LFS said was OK to do.

 

[mrk88]

anytime you buy wild anemones you take a chance of them dying. anemones can be difficult to keep especially if they recently imported.