H. Malu from DD

[jdwreefer]

So I posted this on my local forum when it happened, but thought I would copy it here for you all.

3-3-2011

So I went and ordered a purple Malu anemone from Divers Den.
It came yesterday around 11:30 (priority overnight, sure cut it close :Bored-cute-big-smil).

Here's the box

The bag, all SIX of em

Checked the temp in the bag

ZOMG, not good.

In the bag

I floated the bag in my sump for 20 mins until the temps evened out. Then I emptied him in a half gal bucket with a heater and started the drip.

You can see his mouth was gaping pretty wide. The flesh was nice and firm, and his tentacles were moving so there was life! I left him for an hour and a half, coming every ten minutes or so to turkey baster the water around... my powerhead didn't work. After an hour and a half there wasn't much change in the mouth, but he was stuck to the bucket a little.

Here's a side shot showing the color of the column and foot well

I unplugged one of my tunze streams and turned the other to pulse every 6 secs at 40% power. Then dug down a little bit next to a rock and dropped him in the hole.

After 4 hours being in the tank he had only attached half the foot to the rock, and didn't dig down at all. When I turned on the second tunze he came loose. He's also spit out a little wad of white cottony looking stuff, mesenterial filament? His mouth did close completely though.

Turned the tunze back off, and decided to leave it for the night.

 

[jdwreefer]

3-3-2011

when i woke up this morning he was still in the same spot. Couldn't see his foot but his mouth was open with more white cotton stuff inside. Wasn't able to stay long enough to see if he spit it out, and didn't get pictures.

When i got back from work his mouth was closed, nothing sticking out, but on one "ruffle" (1/8th of him) the tentacles were deflated. I put on two more pieces of window screen to block light (three now) and left him.

At this moment he is looking ok. Mouth completely closed, fully inflated, can't see foot but i'm assuming he's attached because he's hugged up against the rock. His oral disc is still ruffled up, looks like a purple cynaria with tentacles.

 

[jdwreefer]

3-3-2011

what...no hand warmer in the box?? Wow thats low..but the good side is that most come back from being to cold...getting to hot is not the good end!

3-4-2011

actually there were two heat packs.

3-4-2011

any update now? Just curious if it made it

3-4-2011

hope he pulls through for you!! Looks like a very beautiful anemone!!

 

[jdwreefer]

3-29-2011

curse of the sleepwalking anemone
well it's been four weeks now and the anemone has not dug in permanently. For the first week he had stayed in the same spot and was looking perfect. When i woke up one morning he was in a back corner of the tank upside down. So i dug into the sand there and stuck his foot in it. When i came home from work he appeared attached and was fully inflated, mouth closed, nothing apparently wrong. For the next 3 weeks this repeated. He'd dig in for a day to three and some mornings be across the tank upside down. All time time, during the day and when i'd find him in the morning, he's inflated, mouth closed, no damage to foot, hasn't shrunk in size, everything appears fine. Only problems are he won't settle down, and doesn't show a feeding response.

During this time i've been messing with lights, flow, sand depth/grain size, placement in tank, etc and he's never stayed put for more than three days. Last week i did a 20% water change and will do another tomorrow. My water tests as of today are:
Ph: 8.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
alk: 10.6 dkh
ca: 450 ppm
mg:1320

fish, coral, maxi-mini nem, clam are all behaving normally. My acro's (red planet, pearlberry, millepora) have little polyp extension, but they never have. Rbta that i gave away a week before i got the malu was fine in this tank.

This moment the anemone is attached to a rock 1/2" above the sand line. I've got him caged in with eggcrate so he can't roll around the tank and get in trouble. He's fully inflated and mouth tightly closed.

That's about all i can think of. Anyone got suggestions or questions? Does anyone else in the club have an h. Malu?

3-29-2011

alk is pretty high imo. I'd shoot for an level closer to nsw (7-8dkh). An elevated alk or alk swings can cause a tremendous amount of irritation to all reef animals including animals that aren't calcifying. I'm quite certain that kevin keeps the la water at an alk around 7.5-8 dkh and the nem may be irritated from the water which is now quite higher in alkalinity.

Just a thought based on what info you provided. Without actually seeing your set up that's all i can come up with. The minimal polyp extension on your sps is also a common sign when alk levels are higher than ideal. As for the previous rbta, the club strain of this thing is virtaully indestructible. You could probably put that thing in a fw tank and it would thrive - lol!! Using the previous happiness of the rbta isn't the best comparison since the h. Malu is a bit more particular on water conditions. Many expert reefers report these anemones as being very difficult to keep in captivity.

Do you have an appropriate clownfish to host it. The h. Malu has a very slim list of clowns that will host in it. I see in your comment section that you have percs but they have been reported to rarely (if ever) host a h. Malu. Having an appropriate clown to host it may make it feel more at home. Just a thought.

Keep us posted.

Jeremy

 

[jdwreefer]

4-2-2011

so here is what i had been waking up to:

i did a 25% water change 3-31, and topped off with ro instead of kalkwasser the last three days. Alk is now 8.0 dkh and ca was 425 ppm (just dosed a lil part a). The anemone has dug in against a rock, and is pressed tightly against it. The anemone hasn't uprooted in the last three days, and i got a little food response yesterday, couldn't see if it ate the food though. Here's a pick from ten minutes ago:

4-23-2011

the anemone is still doing well. Seems to be getting a little larger but hard to tell. Today it very strongly grabbed a chunk of something from the frozen food i just made, and pulled it in!

Alk yesterday was 9.6, ca 440, mg 1335.

Deflating a little, lights out eta 15 mins:

today:

well the pic links won't work in the quotes for some reason so here they are in order.

 

[rompininphx]

How is the anemone? When I got mine I placed it on a rock and it attatched within minutes then I buried the rock in the sand. This is keeping it from moving around

 

[jdwreefer]

How is the anemone? When I got mine I placed it on a rock and it attatched within minutes then I buried the rock in the sand. This is keeping it from moving around

Was doing good but a week ago it detached again and floated around for a few days. I slacked on my Two part dosing/testing, and from the combination of laziness/old test kits/not reading them well, my Alk went from 11 dkh to 6.5 over 1.5 weeks:rolleye1:. My birdsnest corals and a few lps bleached out, and the malu anemone went for a stroll. I've got everything back to normal now, over a 4 day period, and the anemone has been attached in the same spot for 2 days now.

I just got a LaMotte alkalinity test kit a few days ago, which is alot easier to use than the Salifert test kit I was using before. I'm testing everyday with my new kit till I can figure out the amount I'll need to dose every day. So hopefully no more crazy alk swings...

Got a pic of your anemone? You get it from LA DD too?

 

[trueblackpercula]

Very detailed thread goos luck with it.

 

[rompininphx]

Ill try to get a pic of it tomorrow. Yea I got it from DD, its a putple one too, its really small about 3"

 

[rompininphx]

My guy doesnt seem to be happy. He started emitting zooxanthellate every day for a few days. I thought it might be getting too much light, so I moved it into an area with lower light yesterday

 

[psusocr]

I had almost the same nem with almost the same experience, he never got happy for close to two months until he eventually took off into the powerhead! all of my corals esp. my sps look amazing,levels are perfect, lighting is plenty, sand is deep, i moved him or he moved himself 15 times and he wasnt happy in any of the spots for more than 3-4 days, but somehow the nem never really adapted and IMO i think it was because my clowns had no interest at all in it.

 

[rompininphx]

If I added clowns do you think it'd help the nem adjust?

 

[psusocr]

Its not to say it will help or hurt, but IMHO clowns always help a nem adjust , feel more comfotable and get settled in. But that always goes to say that the clowns may show no interest in the nem right away either..

 

[jdwreefer]

Well, I have 2 percula clowns and they haven't gone near the nem since I got it. But just came home and my porcelain crab is in it!

 

[rompininphx]

Hey jdwreefer did yours get lighter in color or seem to poop a lot?

 

[jdwreefer]

Mine hasn't gotten lighter in color, but it does poop alot. It looks like what it's doing is releasing extra zooxanthellae. Mine has done it like 7 times or so since I got it. It's always inflated and looks fine during/after the process though.

 

[rompininphx]

Yea I think thats what mines going through. Im hoping mine will adjust soon, Id hate to lose it! I contacted liveaquaria and they extended the warranty for another week and told me to keep them updated.