Injured Ritteri – Opinions

[JJ Ocean]

I received shipment on a nice looking ritteri on Sat. It was at the wholesalers for 3-4 weeks. Upon arrival, the ritteri was fairly deflated. I didn't notice any injury, but it wasn't that easy to see either "“ I didn't want mess with it too much. I did check the bottom of the foot though and it was fine.

I drip acclimated for 60 minutes and added to my cube. It is the only occupant right now in the cube other than established LR (part of an established 340g system). The ritteri attached where placed "“ LR pedestal 6" below water surface and directly below 250w radium 10" above water. After another hour I turned on the 2 powerheads setup on a wavemaker "“ not direct flow. I had to head out and came back 5 hours later to a fully inflated, gorgeous ritteri (~8 inches). Everything seemed fine.

Sunday I noticed that there seemed to be a flap/crease heading up towards the mouth "“ still fully inflated. Upon closer inspection, there appears to be a tear in the base coming up from near the foot and outward splitting the tentacle disc on one side - it appears to stop at the mouth on the inward side. The tear doesn't go down to the base of foot though.

Today the tear seems to be closed somewhat. The ritteri has also never deflated the whole time. However the mouth is open, but as I mentioned the tear goes to the mouth "“ not helping.

What I've done to date:

1. Kept the clown pair out
2. Sunday "“ moved the powerheads further away reducing flow to help tear heal
3. Tonight I stopped the wavemaker to help tear heal
4. Left it alone

I'm second guessing turning off the wavemaker. Ritteri's love flow. Do I risk it moving looking for more flow and stressing itself? Leave PH's off or on? If off "¦ when to turn back on?

At what point, would you put the clown pair back in. Given the state it is in now, I feel they'd do more harm than good. However, at some point the clowns presence will be more "œnormal" to the ritteri and reduce stress.

Extreme option "“ go ahead and split the ritteri since it is already split to some degree. A clean through cut heal better? It would be very hard for me to do that since it can be fully healthy just after a cross country shipment.

Change any of my approach?

Thanks,
John

 

[JJ Ocean]

Here's a photo with virtually no flow, so you can get a better look. Hard to get a good shot with the tentacles covering, but the split is closest to the front bottom ... where the tentacles are pushed up. I think you can see a little bit of the tear near the left, bottom of the mouth.

 

[Conrad25]

The pic looks healthy. Need a better pic to give advice

 

[OrionN]

It maybe dividing due to the stress. When my Magnifica divided in the past, I first notice it when it deflated a little and start to see rock through the mouth of the anemone.
I hope this is the case for you. Mine divided within a few day after I got it into my tank. Good luck. Keep us post as to what happen to your anemone. Hope you will pass out cigars soon.

 

[JJ Ocean]

It maybe dividing due to the stress. When my Magnifica divided in the past, I first notice it when it deflated a little and start to see rock through the mouth of the anemone.
I hope this is the case for you. Mine divided within a few day after I got it into my tank. Good luck. Keep us post as to what happen to your anemone. Hope you will pass out cigars soon.

I certainly hope it is naturally splitting due to stress "“ that would be the best possible outcome. I ended up turning the wave maker back on late last night because the tentacles seemed not as fully inflated with low flow. Taking a look at the mag 7am this morning confirmed it is fully inflated and probably the right call. It does seem like the tear is closing, but that is somewhat speculation since it is hard to see. I don't want to manipulate the mag in any way to get a clear look at this point. My plan right now is to leave everything as-is the remainder of the week and do my first small feeding of PE mysis on Sunday afternoon.

I'll keep you updated on the progress.

 

[JJ Ocean]

The new mag has stayed inflated, but it is doing some moving and loosening its hold on the rock - only when the lights are out though. The top of the rock is prime mag spot where I first placed it and stayed for a couple days - 2" below water surface and directly below 250w radium 10" above water. It has never moved during the day, just at night. It moved for the first time 2 nights ago from the top to midway down the back. Right after lights out, part of the foot would lift up from the rock, but not really move. It stayed there during the day. Last night about 2 hours after lights out, it went the rest of the way down to the base of the rock and was there this morning. Today at 3pm it had moved up the front and just finished moving now, back to the top (original position).

I associate the mag moves as unsatisfied with light and flow. I don't think that should be the case. Might my LR might have too many sharp bumps and holes - mag's foot is irritated and looking for a smooth spot/indention? Or could it be that it is just acclimating or that the tear/partial split is bothering it?

Got a better shot of where the split is (bottom of red line). Now that I see it better, it does look more like a split line vs. a tear. I've never witnessed a mag split, but I've seen my rbta do it several times and it looks similar

Here's a shot of it further back "“ looks healthy to me. I just wish it would stop moving.

 

[JJ Ocean]

The mag turned and gave me a good shot of the split tear from the back side. Look more like a split or tear?

 

[garygb]

Not sure if it's an injury or splitting. I've had two split over the years and, in both cases, the anemones essentially pulled themselves apart with the liverock showing through the mouth. If you're familiar with BTAs splitting, it looked very similar to that.

 

[OrionN]

My experience is the same as Gary. The anemone show rock through the mouth, then one side of the anemone would pull apart then the other. The anemone then would healed and form new mouth.

 

[JJ Ocean]

It looked kind of like a BTA split at first, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be continuing is a little odd.

I put the clown pair back in 30m ago. I'll see if that changes anything.

 

[JJ Ocean]

As a followup, this mag never ended up splitting. It healed the part that was in question and hasn't moved since. I've been feeding it mysis every couple of days. It has expanded a good deal since I got it - will slow down the feedings soon. I assume it was a tear and not a split.

Pic from the other day:

 

[elegance coral]

How did I miss this thread back when you posted it??? In my opinion, you received the mag before it had completely healed from splitting. The mouth is probably still off center a bit, correct?

 

[Jasanden]

How did I miss this thread back when you posted it??? In my opinion, you received the mag before it had completely healed from splitting. The mouth is probably still off center a bit, correct?

Had the same thing with mine.

 

[JJ Ocean]

How did I miss this thread back when you posted it??? In my opinion, you received the mag before it had completely healed from splitting. The mouth is probably still off center a bit, correct?

I guess it could have been, but I took a pretty good look at it when I unbagged it and didn't notice any tears.

Thinking back, I could have overlooked it when it arrived because the mag was so deflated in shipping. Seems like the most logical explanation right now.

I'm just glad it is doing so much better.

 

[shabreeson]

agreed, it might have healed partially from a split, and reopened after being shipped and tossed around

 

[pentrix2]

great looking nem and clownies.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Glad to read that this nem is recovering and looking great! I am extremely jealous of you though. I've been looking for a nice Magnifica for over 6 months with no luck.
I hope this one continues to do well for you for many years to come!

 

[JJ Ocean]

Thanks for all the input/comments.

One other thing I noticed is that this mag has an abundance of tentacles with multiple tips (branching). Mags I've had in the past have done this, but not at the quantity I have on this mag. I swear the "branching" has occured more since I got it. In fact, you can look at my last picture in this post and go up to my earlier pics in this post and see a clear increase in branches or multiple tips per tentacle.

My question is: Is this a sign of growth, stress by the animal or just purely a genetic trait that has no relevence to the health of the animal? My current assumption is growth, since I do see several tentacle "buds" on the edges of the nem.