Anemone Question (Pics)

[Genin]

considering that the anemone has already had a great deal of aggrivation with shipping and then trying to find a good spot around the tank, feeding it could actually stress it more. give it some time to adjust. let it settle in a bit, if it doesn't like the current spot, try and give it a couple of days to find its own. if that doesn't work then you could try to replace it manually. good luck and keep us updated.

 

[dantodd]

boogie,

Nothing good happens in a reef tank fast.

You should leave the anemone alone for a little while. In fact you should never have moved it from where it was open. Where you have it in the last photo is not a bad place for it at all. If you keep irritating him he will never feel comfortable in the tank. Imagine if you were put into a new house and just as you were figuring everthing out you suddenly got moved AGAIN. Give him time.

All of the places you have pictures of him in the tank are excellent places for him to be. You have made a nice looking home for him now let him pick his spot.

DO NOT PUT HIM ON ROCKS!

The gaping mouth is a bad sign. The only thing you can do at this point is to let him settle in and see what happens.

Getting the anemone from the shipment directly and not letting it get into the store's water was a good move. You didn't get to see it as well as you would like to but it took one acclimation out of the way.

As for the waste. It was probably mostly waste and not zoox. He doesn't look totally bleached out in the later pictures.

The picture where he is all "scrunched" up just before he expelled "something" is typical behavior for an LTA. My 9"+ LTA can pull it entire body almost completely under the sand when surprised.

When he is looking open and relatively happy try to feed him SMALL amounts of food. It will let him know that he will get food at his current location. Also, chop the food up pretty small at first and just place it on his tentacles, if he is hungry and able to eat he'll bring it in. My LTA loves silversides, try those. You can get frozen silversides at your LFS you might also try some mysis shrimp also from the LFS. If you try mysis just thaw a few out and use a turkey baster to gently squirt them on the tentacles.


How long and what method did you use to acclimate him to your tank?
How long has your tank been set up?
How deep is your sandbed?
What else do you have in the tank? You mentioned clean up crew, gramma and mushrooms, any other anemones, ricordia, corals etc?

FWIW it took my LTA a couple months to settle in.

 

[boogie1986]

Hi,
Well when I moved the it to it's current spot, it withdrew and waved around a bit before finally settling down. I'm worried because it has not yet buried it's foot down into the sand completely, but I'm not about to move him right away. I'll give it a couple of days.

It's tentacles are a bit more open than before:

However, if you look towards the bottom of its body, you'll see the tiny, shriveled up tentacles ( bright green):

It's mouth isn't fully open like it was before, but it is still somewhat open, although you couldn't tell from the photographs.

Also, it has not buried it's base in the sand yet, which I'm a bit concerned about as well (bad pic...sorry):

I really wanted to move him, because I was concerned that it wasn't getting the right amount of light that it needed, and also it wasn't getting a lot of flow in that area, so I moved it out in the open a bit more.

My LFS doesn't carry much in the way of frozen foods. Blue Zoo Aquatics carries cubes of squid and mysis, but no silversides. If anybody knows a good place to purchase silversides, let me know...Anyways, I plan on ordering some frozen foods from Blue Zoo, as well as some Selcon to soak the food in. That way when/if **knock on wood** the anemone does eat, it will get some extra nutritional value and supplements. Maybe some Cyclop-Eeeze as well? I'll have to check them out further.

When I acclimated, I floated the bag for 15 minutes to adjust the bag to water temperature, then I opened the bag slightly. They I started by pouring small cupfuls of tank water in until the bag was full. This took about 35 minutes after I had opened the bag. Then I gently placed the anemone on the sand bed. I really don't know if I should have drip acclimated or not

My sandbed is 4"deep, and my tank has been set up for around 3 months now. I asked my LFS if it was too soon, and they asked me what my parameters were and I told them that all levels where zero except for my nitrates which were .5ppm, and they gave me the go ahead :-(

In addition to the cleanup crew and the blue mushrooms and the gramma, I have a Toadstool Leather Coral, but it is located on the other side of the tank:

I'm going to order the food and the Selcon tonight.

I had wanted to add clownfish, but i think this would rather aggravate the anemone even more if they were bouncing all over it?....

 

[Juck]

Selcon is not necessary for this anemone,, or any other. Stay clear of Cyclop-eez or any other dry food. I wouldn't add a clownfish yet.

Try a very small piece of raw shrimp,,,, about 1/8 of an inch. No need to order food online and incur shipping. Otherwise, just leave it alone,,,,either it will settle down or it will die.

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7542821#post7542821 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boogie1986
Hi,
Well when I moved the it to it's current spot, it withdrew and waved around a bit before finally settling down. I'm worried because it has not yet buried it's foot down into the sand completely, but I'm not about to move him right away. I'll give it a couple of days.

It's tentacles are a bit more open than before:

Good, let him be. It's a good thing that he's hanging out and opening up a bit. Since he's not attached to anything be very careful about your PH intakes. You can make or buy covers for most powerheads pretty easily. It might save it's life while it is settling in.

However, if you look towards the bottom of its body, you'll see the tiny, shriveled up tentacles ( bright green):

No worries, he's not quite happy in the tank yet he'll open more as he get comfortable.

It's mouth isn't fully open like it was before, but it is still somewhat open, although you couldn't tell from the photographs.

That's excellent. Let him be for a little while.

Also, it has not buried it's base in the sand yet, which I'm a bit concerned about as well (bad pic...sorry):

Pretty normal in my experience. They can be a little bit finicky getting settled in. Just keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't go floating around.

I really wanted to move him, because I was concerned that it wasn't getting the right amount of light that it needed, and also it wasn't getting a lot of flow in that area, so I moved it out in the open a bit more.

Don't Don't Don't move him again. If you move him he isn't moving himself and he isn't choosing where to go. Unless you have a lot of experience knowing what it wants why do you think you know better than him? He can move himself and will if he doesn't like his place.

Anyways, I plan on ordering some frozen foods from Blue Zoo, as well as some Selcon to soak the food in. That way when/if **knock on wood** the anemone does eat, it will get some extra nutritional value and supplements. Maybe some Cyclop-Eeeze as well?

IMO cyclop-eeze won't do anything for the anemone. It's great food for smaller particle eaters but I don't believe it will help with an anemone. The selcon is not bad but is much less important then simply getting it eat in general.

When I acclimated, I floated the bag for 15 minutes to adjust the bag to water temperature, then I opened the bag slightly. They I started by pouring small cupfuls of tank water in until the bag was full. This took about 35 minutes after I had opened the bag. Then I gently placed the anemone on the sand bed. I really don't know if I should have drip acclimated or not

Sounds like you did a good job acclimating. That is one of the biggest mistakes people make, glad you did it well. Drip would have been marginally better but LTAs are not the most delicate of anemones and this method should be fine!

My sandbed is 4"deep, and my tank has been set up for around 3 months now.

Probably a little early but the sandbed is very good, not too shallow which is the usual mistake. If you want to know why you were a little early read this article by Eric Borneman: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945-9-1.aspx
As long as you are keeping on top of everything fairly religiously you should be ok though. Don't do large water changes, it is much better for the anemone to do regular smaller water changes so the water parameters don't change dramatically.

In addition to the cleanup crew and the blue mushrooms and the gramma, I have a Toadstool Leather Coral

The leather may be a problem. I would definately run fresh carbon at least until the anemone is settled in. Anemones and some corals (I believe leathers are particularly bad) can excrete chemicals that are caustic to others in their area which is more than enough to effect a 200gal tank.

I had wanted to add clownfish, but i think this would rather aggravate the anemone even more if they were bouncing all over it?....

It sounds like you have a great place for a pair of clownfishes to live with the anemone. I love to watch the relationship. Look around here and ask about some of the cool clowns you don't see very often, you might find a species you really like that would look great in the LTA.

Keep it up. and DON'T MOVE THE ANEMONE AGAIN!!!!

 

[boogie1986]

Yeah, I read that the anemones and corals might have some kind of chemical warfare going, but I've been running carbon since I got the tank started and I change it every month

 

[dantodd]

Good. That will definately help. It really does sound like you are trying to do everything right and putting that sort of care into it is half the battle. Things like recognizing that the anemone is gaping when you buy it will take some experience.

 

[boogie1986]

That's the thing...the woman handed the baggie that the anemone was shipped in right out of the shipping box. I didn't get to see whether or not it's mouth was gaping until I got it into my tank, and even then it closed up.

I don't think what it is doing right now is encouraging though. There is some kind of white, curly stuff coming out of the red base. Also the mouth is starting to become inflated around the edges.

I'll keep posting pics..and hope for the best

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7541568#post7541568 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd
boogie,



DO NOT PUT HIM ON ROCKS!

I gave a method of giving more light by having the anemone in a DSB in a rock where you could place the rock higher.

But 1987-2006 will beat my experience anyday so I will go with what you say hands down.

Thanks for helping boogie and thanks for correcting some of the things I was saying.

 

[dantodd]

I don't think what it is doing right now is encouraging though. There is some kind of white, curly stuff coming out of the red base.

Yeah, that's one of the problems with moving him around. It sounds like you've wounded his foot. It is possible that he will still heal but it is one more added stress that he just doesn't need. Let him be and see if he survives. If he starts leaking more stuff be ready to pull him. If he dies he'll start melting. As soon as he starts melting and losing all shape pull him or you will see an ammonia spike.


No worries 55. The thing is that the problem is NOT the light so finding a solution to get the anemone closer to the light is not important at this point. Most folks who have an anemone where it "doesn't belong" have it there because it moved there on its own or they didn't know any better, I don't know anyone who would recommend trying to put one anywhere but where it would be in nature and has been successfully kept in captivity.

 

[boogie1986]

If I wounded it's base, I really didn't mean to I just tried to cup my hand underneath it, and it drifted right into my palm (I had gloves on).

 

[dantodd]

quite possible that it happened on the way to you. But since it wasn't leaking anything until today probably happened in the tank.

 

[55semireef]

Well I put my Condy on the rocks toward the lighting and it seemed to get happier...take a look.

 

[55semireef]

Before, my Condy was really white in color. So I moved him to the top and it never really moved after that and got darker.

Is that luck of the draw or did I hurt the anemone in the long run by putting him on the rocks dantodd?

 

[dantodd]

dont know. I know nothing about condy's....

 

[55semireef]

Oh, so you basically only know about the pacific ocean anemones?

 

[boogie1986]

Ok,

I think the anemone is going downhill very rapidly. I thought that anemones bleached out completely before they die.

It still hasn't buried it's foot back in the sand, and it looks like it's mouth is becoming swollen:

and another:

another:

I'm probably going to pull it if conditions don't improve soon. I am still under the sneaking suspicion that the anemone was unhealthy when I received it from my LFS. It wasn't until I put it in my tank that it's mouth was open. And my Royal Gramma that I bought isn't eating a thing I give him.

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7546041#post7546041 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 55semireef
Oh, so you basically only know about the pacific ocean anemones?

Feel free to start another thread about them.

 

[dantodd]

Sorry about that. He sure does look bad.

Better luck with your next one. You have a lot more experience now, sorry it came at such a price.

 

[boogie1986]

I guess your right about learning from experience.

I just hope the next one I get (if I ever do attempt an anemone again), I have better luck with