Anemone Split in Three Dead?

[Reef Shepherd]

Tank is a year old and has been a FOWLER until I bought my first two anemone's 4 days ago. It's a brown, white tipped bubble anemone. They are only about an inch in diameter each. They began moving on day 2 about 2 inches total which I knew wasn't a good sign. They seem to be moving out of the light(tucking down into my live rock). They're about half way to the top of the tank so not on the bottom but too close to the light? Not sure I did anything wrong but that is why I'm posting.

I got home today and one of them split in three pieces and appears motionless or near motionless. I'd like to save the other one. Is this just the stress from the acclimation to the new tank? Are there some other tests I should be doing? Should I remove the other three pieces or give it a few days? Thanks for your help.

Tank: 60gal
Sundial 4X54 4 LED(2 white at 10,000K 2 blue at 460)
White on for about 10.5 hrs, Blue on for 12 hrs

Params:
Salinity: 1.026
Ph 8.2
Temp: 77
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate all very acceptable ~0 or 0

 

[Anemone]

Splitting may well be a response to the stress of a new tank. Splitting in three doesn't necessarily mean death (mine have split into 4, 3, and most commonly 2). All you can do is maintain the best water quality you can.

Kevin

 

[bradleym]

A 1" wide bubble anemone is dangerously fragile when healthy. They're normally 6" or bigger when healthy. Also, brown with white tips sounds like it is bleached, which is very unhealthy for a BTA. If what I am saying is right, then they were not healthy and shouldn't have been moved. They might've even been too sick to survive in the first original tank. IDK. Maybe a picture would help?

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Picture of my "bubble tip"

Picture of my "bubble tip"

I'm not sure if this is a bubble tip at all. The LFS said it was but I could not find any pictures of it at all in my books or internet. Can you identify this? It's a terrible picture I'm sorry but I'll try later when the lights come on.

 

[bradleym]

Sorry, but it's way too out of focus to make a positive ID. In the meantime, you can try searching for images of a sick BTA. Maybe those will look more like yours. If it is a BTA, that would explain why it's brown and white, and in the picture it looks like the tentacles are shorter.

Also, I hate to suggest this, but you might want to look up "majano" and "aiptasia" anemones. I seriously doubt an LFS would sell them to you, but they both come in brown and are usually about 1" or so in size.

Hopefully you'll prove that wrong when the lights come on.

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Maybe a better pic?

Maybe a better pic?

I will definitly look those up. I just took this pic when the blues came on.

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Majano

Majano

It appears to be a Majano? Something that should not be in your tank let alone bought at the fish store. So, I should remove because....? Spreads too rapidly? I do not have any corals. Just fish and two cleaner shrimp. Hermit crabs seem to like the Majano. They;ve already split from 2 to 5 and some have moved out of sight.

http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=924

 

[bradleym]

Well, for starters, you didn't need to pay good money for a majano. Half the reefers on here would let you come by and take some for free lol. But more to the point, you're experiencing exactly why people don't want them. They reproduce like crazy, and crawl all over the tank. And like any anemone, they sting things they touch. For you, this is no big deal because their sting isn't enough to hurt any of your pets. However, if you ever have coral in the tank these things take the best spots and sting/burn/kill any good coral it sits next to.

IMO if you really like them, keep them. But if you EVER want corals in there, you should work on getting them out while you can still count them.

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Thanks Bradley

Thanks Bradley

Thank you for your opinion Bradley. I will do some more research and probably keep them for a while to see what they do (and definitly not feed them anymore). They were now not surprisingly cheap. They didn't cost anymore than I would have paid for the live rock they came on.

I am learning a lot (not to trust the LFS). I was wondering why they didn't look anything like the bubble tips I had gone there to purchase.

Do you have any opinion on how a clownfish would behave around these? They sting other corals but how about a REAL bubble tip?

 

[bradleym]

Clownfish could care less lol. They won't give a hoot about anything under 3" I think.

As for the BTA with majanos, I believe everyone should have a right to their opinion, so this may be a good read.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1934057&goto=newpost

 

[kmu]

We need better pics with daylights, they look like majanos and not bta