when i came home today i discovered that my voretc pump shredded my magnifice anemone that two clowns lived in and then i saw all my fish were dead 14 of them except two clown.I heard they are toxic is this true is anybody experienced this. Corals look ok i will do water change but how much and for how long. Any suggestions. thanks Adam
anemone killed 14 of my fish
- Thread starter adam1969
- Start date
What probably happened is that the shredding of the anemone put all of it's stinging cells floating in the water, ****ed and ready to strike.
Then all the fish ended up swimming into the cells and getting badly stung.
The two clowns weren't stung because they hang out in the nem all the time are never affected anyway.
I would do a big water change to get most of the stingers out of the water, then run some kind of filter unit that would take any of the remaining stinging cells out -- I bet your coral will get hit, they just don't swim around like the fish and it will take longer for them to get stung.
If it was a toxin in the water, the clownfish would be dead too -- since the clownfish are fine it's just the stingers you have to worry about.
If you don't have a filter that can take care of this, I would go down to the LFS and get something that can.
Then all the fish ended up swimming into the cells and getting badly stung.
The two clowns weren't stung because they hang out in the nem all the time are never affected anyway.
I would do a big water change to get most of the stingers out of the water, then run some kind of filter unit that would take any of the remaining stinging cells out -- I bet your coral will get hit, they just don't swim around like the fish and it will take longer for them to get stung.
If it was a toxin in the water, the clownfish would be dead too -- since the clownfish are fine it's just the stingers you have to worry about.
If you don't have a filter that can take care of this, I would go down to the LFS and get something that can.
redfishsc
New member
Man I'm sorry to hear this. I killed two fish over the weekend b/c my RO/DI malfunctioned and I bombed the tank with ammonia from the tap water, so I feel exactly 1/7th of your pain 
I personally haven't heard of nematocysts floating through the water, although I suppose it's possible.
In your situation I would run the skimmer wet to pull out as much junk as possible. Run activated carbon and, if you have it, other chemical filtration like chemi-pure or Purigen (though carbon is by far the time tested proven performer).
As for how long it will be before you put new fish in safely, I'd give it a week or two AFTER all water parameters normalize---simply to let the system stabilize. Surely you had an ammonia spike from the rotting anemone and dead fish.
I personally haven't heard of nematocysts floating through the water, although I suppose it's possible.
In your situation I would run the skimmer wet to pull out as much junk as possible. Run activated carbon and, if you have it, other chemical filtration like chemi-pure or Purigen (though carbon is by far the time tested proven performer).
As for how long it will be before you put new fish in safely, I'd give it a week or two AFTER all water parameters normalize---simply to let the system stabilize. Surely you had an ammonia spike from the rotting anemone and dead fish.
Aquarist007
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14750527#post14750527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redfishsc
Man I'm sorry to hear this. I killed two fish over the weekend b/c my RO/DI malfunctioned and I bombed the tank with ammonia from the tap water, so I feel exactly 1/7th of your pain
I personally haven't heard of nematocysts floating through the water, although I suppose it's possible.
In your situation I would run the skimmer wet to pull out as much junk as possible. Run activated carbon and, if you have it, other chemical filtration like chemi-pure or Purigen (though carbon is by far the time tested proven performer).
As for how long it will be before you put new fish in safely, I'd give it a week or two AFTER all water parameters normalize---simply to let the system stabilize. Surely you had an ammonia spike from the rotting anemone and dead fish.
+1 and a 30 per cent water change asap
atwinparadox2
New member
+1 on the ammonia and water changes. That is the most likely cause. Ammonia spikes will kill a fish real fast! They have chemicals to remove ammonia from the water but i can not think of it off the top of my head. Someone else will chime in on the name I'm sure. Sorry for your losses, good luck with restocking.
Anemonebuff
New member
Get the water level high in the skimmer so that the bubbles are very wet and the cup fills quickly.
luther1200
Premium Member
+1 Amquel will help detoxify ammonia.
I wasn't thinking of the nematocysts by themselves, but if the anemone was pureed sufficiently, and/or the circulation was strong enough, then bits of the anemone would be whipped around in the current, and be rather uncomfortable.
I remember swimming in Florida and getting stung by bits of jellyfish tentacles that were in the water (there was a bloom of them) , and it was really kind of painful and annoying - like little bee stings that would leave welts where the tentacle hit you.
The worst part of it was that it wasn't a whole jellyfish so that you could see it and avoid it, but just stray bits of tentacle -- you couldn't see them, but you sure could feel them and they would leave marks when they hit you.
If it was ammonia that killed the fish, I would imagine that the corals would be pretty badly affected as well, rather than looking "OK".
RockinSmall
Keepin it Spicey
perhaps they could be unrelated? check salinity and water temp... friend killed all of his fish b/c he thought his water had salt in it for his massive water change and it didnt!!
Aquarist007
New member
by the way, I didn't mean to suggest that ammonia is not an issue -- it certainly would be, with an animal like that dying -- have you run a full set of tests?
The question about salinity is certainly an excellent one -- usually if someone has a bad event, people will ask "what are your levels?" straight off -- I know I certainly should have -- you could check what they are in just a few minutes, and then know for sure.
The wet skimming is an excellent idea -- I like to run my skimmers wet, because you get rid of more "dirty water" that way, and running the skimmer wet keeps it cleaner longer, which keeps higher efficiency.
The question about salinity is certainly an excellent one -- usually if someone has a bad event, people will ask "what are your levels?" straight off -- I know I certainly should have -- you could check what they are in just a few minutes, and then know for sure.
The wet skimming is an excellent idea -- I like to run my skimmers wet, because you get rid of more "dirty water" that way, and running the skimmer wet keeps it cleaner longer, which keeps higher efficiency.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
Re: anemone killed 14 of my fish
It's amazing how lethal the nematocysts from this species of anemone are to fishes even though it's not the fish eater that haddon's carpet anemone is. Stressed mags can kill a lot of fishes- a lot of very large fishes.
I've experienced this. It's not well documented in textbooks but there are some threads archived on RC regarding this matter.
It's amazing how lethal the nematocysts from this species of anemone are to fishes even though it's not the fish eater that haddon's carpet anemone is. Stressed mags can kill a lot of fishes- a lot of very large fishes.
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
Re: Re: anemone killed 14 of my fish
Re: Re: anemone killed 14 of my fish
Very good point. About 3 months ago my Haddoni found a powerhead (( darn clowns removing all the sand and ticking it off )), and my Fathead Anthias was found dead --- had had it for over a year. Lucky enough all the other fish, and anemone were fine.
Re: Re: anemone killed 14 of my fish
Very good point. About 3 months ago my Haddoni found a powerhead (( darn clowns removing all the sand and ticking it off )), and my Fathead Anthias was found dead --- had had it for over a year. Lucky enough all the other fish, and anemone were fine.
