HELP!!! anemone died want to know why

gunther13mt

Starting to help others
Hello I had a beautiful Ritteri Anemone that just recently died (took him out of the tank this morning when I noticed it.) His base was still dark purple but where he was stuck to the rock was whitish and he was always spitting what looked like a white string with brown in it. Any advice on why he died or what I can do to get another anemone to survive my 2 clowns are swimming around the tank as if they are lost now. :( my SPG is at 1.025 temp stays between 76-79, PH is at 8.2, Nitrite is at 0 ammonia is at 0, nitrate is at 5ppm any advice would be appreciated my tank is about 6 months old.

fish currently in the tank an no problems.

2 true clowns
4 cleaner shrimp
6 turbo snails
4 emerald crabs
2 watchmen gobies
1 engineer goby.

all seem to be happy and healthy.
 
Well, it sounds like your system is pretty new. Generally with nems its suggested that they not be put into a tank until about a year of maturity. There's a lot going on in the way of changes in water chemistry and they like a stable environment.
 
System is too new and the anem sounds sick. Ciproflaxin is helpful with newly arrived anemones. Do some research before purchasing again
 
Tracking alkalinity instead of ph (or in addition to, if you like) might help with stability. Your clowns are upset, but will cope fine. I'd suggest waiting until you can assure an alkalinity of about 8.3 (middle of range of 7.9 to 9) and keep it stable for weeks on end. Some salts can build up an element beyond what you need---lately Oceanic, eg, is real high in magnesium: I'd ask the lfs to run magnesium and calcium tests on your tank water. THose should be about 1350 mg and 400-420 cal, figuring you don't have any stony coral (if you did, it would be 420 cal). Getting that water chemistry rock steady is a good step toward tank maturity.

Also, as noted above, if it was new, it may have come in with a problem.
 
in addition to everything that's been said, you also need to have pretty specific lighting for nems.
 
In my opinion, I don't quite buy the "tank too new" explaination. While it's true that generally new tanks take some time to stabilize, there are plenty of mitigating factors at play that can offset it. Keeping the bio load low, not introducing too many animals early, prepping your rock before hand to keep it from leeching, etc. are all factors that can contribute to keeping a new tank stable. For new people, telling them to wait and that a tank is too new for a nem is solid advice, but it's not the end all rule.

A few things that might help:

"Ritteri" anemones have been reclassified as h. Magnifica. They are classified as a difficult species for a few reasons. They are as follows:

1: they, like carpet nems, are colonized by opportunistic bacterias which are typically either E. coli, klebsiella, enterobacter, and some gram positive organisms like Staph, or a combination of the above. The nem needs these bacteria to fight off more deadly diseases in the environment. Without these bacterias, the nem would succumb to a more deadly pathogen and die. The bacteria is part of the animals "normal flora" in the same way it is present in the human gut.
The stress of collection stresses the animal and lowers its immune system. With the immune system not operating at peak function, these normal flora bacteria start to reproduce and colony counts begin to reach a point where the bacteria starts to infect body systems they normally wouldn't inhabit. Left unchecked, these bacterias will essentially cause a form of septic shock in the anemone and kill it.
Fortunately almost all of these bacteria are sensitive to floroquinolones and more specifically ciproflaxin is the drug of choice. The animal must be put in a capable QT system and treated with a fluoroquinolone in order to knock these bacterias out before they destroy the nem and will allow the animals immune system to return to peak function.

2: the brown stuff you saw being expelled was a symbiotic dinoflagellate within the anemone called zooxanthelle. Zooxanthelle is what is responsible for providing the animal with energy via photosynthesis. When the nem gets stressed, it will expel the zoo in an attempt at regulating its energy needs. Typically the nem will keep a small amount of zoo inside it, but it's not nearly enough to let the animal get any energy. So to make up the difference, the animal will need feed, heavily.
After the animal has been fed for some time, it's color will start to return as the zoo starts to tick back up to appropriate colony counts, and the feedings can stop as the animal will now be able to regulate it's energy needs with the zoo via the light.

3: nems are pretty sensitive to nitrates. Mags are especially so. Nitrates need to be kept very low to keep the animal from being poisoned. Have you checked them recently? With a decent test kit?



What's likely happened, is what typically happens with these animals. The stress of collection and moving lowered its immune system, the opportunistic bacteria started to multiply to unmanageable numbers. As the animal was over run with bacteria, it began expelling it's zooxanthelle and it could not have its energy demands met. All its energy needs now are being directed toward fighting the infection off, and the demand is so great that no amount of food can meet it. It can't digest the food anyway, since there isn't any energy available to complete the task. Without energy, and loaded with bacteria that are destroying its cells, the animals primary functions cease and it dies.



Hope that helps.
 
Thank you all so much i think the tank might still be to new as mentioned and might have bought a bad one from the start as he never ate anything i tryed to give. Sucks that i lost him and wasted something so amazing. It will defently be awail before i try again with another anemone.

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This was takin a few days before died
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This was takin a few days before died
9bf0ba569b05a89687b1689ab3d2dde7.jpg


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dang.

I want a mag pretty bad, but I just don't have the QT for it and im too gun shy to try.

Maybe try an easier nem down the road. A rock flower, bta or mini carpet. Mags are pretty difficult to just go diving feet first into.
 
Great advice i might have jumped the gun a little to fast this is my first saltwater tank and i was looking for a BTA but he was all they had and i though he would be fine. lesson learned and deffently wont make the mistake twice 100 dollars is a lot of money to lose although for 3 weeks he was the most beautiful thing in my tank
 
dang.

I want a mag pretty bad, but I just don't have the QT for it and im too gun shy to try.

Maybe try an easier nem down the road. A rock flower, bta or mini carpet. Mags are pretty difficult to just go diving feet first into.
This was the hole tank with him in it

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Ritteri anemones love light and flow. What lights are you using?

I can see you definitely do not have enough flow.

Anyone I know that has had success with them keeps them high up in the tank and has a power head aimed directly at it.

Yours looked bleached.

Also judging by the cyano and algae in the glass, your PO4 and nitrates are high. They are just getting bound up in your algae/cyano.

Personally I think you are currently ill prepared to keep such a difficult and delicate creature at this time.
 
any suggestions how to fix that my tank is about 6 months old and had no problems all fish seem happy with the current set up

You need some powerful powerheads with strong flow, and buy a nice hang on the back skimmer.
Ditch the hang on the back filter ,it's doing nothing your live rock won't do.
And drop your power strip so I don't have to look at it, and all of the cords..lol
 
You need some powerful powerheads with strong flow, and buy a nice hang on the back skimmer.
Ditch the hang on the back filter ,it's doing nothing your live rock won't do.
And drop your power strip so I don't have to look at it, and all of the cords..lol
I have 2 700gph powerheads and i was told skimmers would hurt my current set up as i do not run a sump tank. And as for yhe powerstrip its temporary until i get my stand built and finished up then those and the lights will no longer be visible when viewing the tank

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I know just telling what i had this is my first tank so im trying to soak in as much advice as possible idk whats good and whats bad

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