I think my anemone is splitting...?

[velvetelvis]

My biggest and longest-established BTA retreated under a rock about 10 days ago. It remains inflated, won't eat but does poke its tentacles out during the day. Sometimes the mouth will stretch out in an elongated oval, but it always closes back up tight later.

The weirdest thing is that it now appears to have two feet: one firmly attached to the rock above it, and the other only partially attached to the rock and stretched upward, because the nem is straddling two pieces of rock with a gap in the middle. It's almost as if it started to split and stopped at the mouth. Both feet are intact and the anemone hasn't suffered any trauma.

Params are:

KH 9-10
Ca 450
Salinity 1.026
No detectable ammonia or nitrate

Tank has been up and running for about 14 months. Other livestock includes a pair of cinnamon clowns, two other BTAs (one a sister clone of this one), and a small colony of Xenia. I do about a 10% water change every 7-10 days.

 

[cpm6t]

can you put some pictures up? would be interesting to see it.

 

[OrionN]

A picture would be great.

IME, before split, Magnifica and BTA "look bad", partially deflated like they are sick. They then divided and look well again.

 

[velvetelvis]

I'm actually a little worried now--and baffled. The anemone has retreated further under the rock structure and is gaping a little. It's lost some color, probably from hiding for several days in a row. Water parameters are the same. The other two anemones are eating and looking great. I have no idea what if anything is wrong with this poor anemone.

I only have a smartphone camera, but I'll try to get some pics. It's so far back in the cave that it will be a challenge to get an image.

 

[velvetelvis]

Well, I got home tonight and it had moved back to its original position in the rocks. Mouth closed, tentacles fully inflated, definitely paler though. I tried feeding it a bit of scallop, but my obnoxious female clown grabbed it--it's her favorite nem and she just won't let it alone now. Really, really hoping it makes a full recovery. Dopey as it sounds, I was close to tears on my lunch break worrying over this blasted anemone.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

My RBTA split a week ago. I noticed it moved so the foot was spanning two adjacent rocks. Odd behavior since it hasn't moved an inch in 9 months. It took less than two hour for it to tear itself in half and now there are two which are on opposite sides and each is closed-fist sized. One has no identifiable mouth yet and I can't get a good look at the other. I didn't note any unusual behavior prior to the event. It was definitely way cool to watch!

 

[velvetelvis]

Update: No pics because I ended up donating the nem to a friend to help it recover (she runs a coral and has started culturing anemones). I think there was some allelopathy going on between the rainbows (which are clones from the same "mother") and another BTA, a different morph, that I had recently added.

All of the anemones were looking increasingly stressed and eventually I pulled the splitting one to save it, did a big water change, and replaced the carbon in the sump. Unfortunately, the "invader" anemone settled in a crevice where I couldn't get it out, and it eventually just withered away. Lesson learned. I think a 50 may be too small to mix different morphs--or maybe mine are just extra-aggressive.

The good news is that the donated anemone made a complete recovery and finished splitting. On top of that, the anemone I kept also split last night. The interesting thing is that this one also began by separating its foot. I've always heard that they begin at the mouth. But the first one to split actually had two completely formed feet--and columns--while the mouth was still intact. I wish I could have gotten a picture.

 

[cakemanPA]

My splits always started at the foot. The foot spread to 2 different rocks and then started stretching.