Is my anemone dying?

xMutil4ter

New member
Hi Everyone,

I wanted to post a picture of my Anemone. It is a long tentacle and I came home from work tonight and it looks really deflated. I am extremely new to having one and am scared that it is dying. I want to take the right actions to solve the issue.

Any insight would be great. I hope it's not dying :(.

Thanks,

John
 

Attachments

  • anemone 1.jpg
    anemone 1.jpg
    34 KB · Views: 6
  • anemone 2.jpg
    anemone 2.jpg
    34.1 KB · Views: 10
It may not be dead/dying but it is in really bad shape. It's definitely bleached out, which means it will require some very good care to recover and get healthy again. Also, you should know that it will not stay light yellow like it is now. That is not a natural color. Not even close.
 
What can I do to help?

What can I do to help?

What can I do to try and save it? I woke up this morning and it was completed deflated.

I posted an updated picture. Anyone with some insight please let me know :(.
 

Attachments

  • anemone 3.jpg
    anemone 3.jpg
    34.8 KB · Views: 8
Last edited:
Need some more info. How old is the tank, what kind of lighting, how long have you had it, how did you acclimate, current water parameters...
 
Tank is well over 8 weeks. I have MarineLand F8-75 Light. Acclimation like normal. 15 Minutes floating, then added water to bag. Then gently place into aquarium.

The anemone is only about 3 days old. I bought it last Sunday. He still has movement and the Clarkii clowns are still very interested in it.

I have had my water tested numerous times at my LFS with positive result.

John
 
Experts will chime in, but it's safe to say you're tank is not mature enough to safely house an anemone.

Not exactly sure of the light you speak of. Did a search. No results. However I'm going on a limb and going to say the lighting may not be adequate. However, 3 days is much to short to necessarily say your lighting is the issue. You bought an already 'bleached' anemone which isn't a good sign.

Last thing I noticed and wanted to point out is looks as if the tank has standard aquarium gravel. If so that will cause you a plethora of issues.

The only advice I can further give is try and return the LTA and research, research, research. The site is free, its your Wikipedia. You'll learn a lot and save a lot if you use your tools.

HTH
 
Tank is well over 8 weeks. I have MarineLand F8-75 Light. Acclimation like normal. 15 Minutes floating, then added water to bag. Then gently place into aquarium.

The anemone is only about 3 days old. I bought it last Sunday. He still has movement and the Clarkii clowns are still very interested in it.

I have had my water tested numerous times at my LFS with positive result.

John

I hate to say this, but an 8 week old tank is way to young for this anemone.
Your tank should at least be 6-8 months along, but a year is even better. Also, your acclimation process is a little questionable. Anemones are sensitive animals and require longer acclimation - a 2 hour temperature controlled drip isn't unreasonable. I'm sorry if someone told you your tank was old enough for that anemone, but I'd take it back if you could.
 
That nem. is a macrodactyla doreensis, it needs sand to bury itself. In the last picture it seems to have acontia filaments coming out of it. This is a stress sign
 
Fishtails what is the best way to change out my gravel while keeping the fish I have?

What is the best way to destress? I've been non stop researching. Hopefully it survives :(.

Thank you all so much for your help. I really greatly appreciate it.
 
Hi John,

It's great that you are willing to ask advice and learn :) Welcome to a wonderful hobby and the most information you will find in any one place about it!!!!

Now let's save your anemone.

Can you return it to the store? It's bleached to begin with, and, honestly, without some form of intervention, it likely will perish. If you can't return it to the store, please try to find a local reefer/reef club, and someone will try to save it for you.

Your tank is very likely (there are few absolutes in this hobby) way too immature to house this animal, and, as was pointed out, the substrate is not the way to go for a successful reef. I don't want to assume too much, but, since this is a time delay way of communication, I will assume you are fairly new to the hobby.

Step 1. Get the LTA to a more suitable tank. If your store won't take it back, and you don't know any local reefers, you can find locals to you by going to the Reef Club forums on this site, scroll down, below the sponsors, and you will find it. Best to you there.

Step 2. How big is your tank, and what other living animals do you have in it? Do you know that fish, corals and anemones are all living animals? I know that sounds dumb, but.... Most people that visit my house think they are plants ;) At 8 weeks, your tank may be cycled, have you tested your ammonia and nitrite?

Step 3. Do you have a test kit? If no, this should exist before living creatures. Please test, at a minimum, your nitrite and ammonia. This is how you will know if your cycle is over. I would recommend sharing that information here, and perhaps you will garner more information if it isn't.

Step 4. If your cycle isn't over, my recommendation would be to remove all your animals. Then, remove the substrate immediately and decide if you want bare bottom or a sand bed. An LTA is a sand dwelling creature, and, therefore, if you want to have it (back or another one) you will need a sand bed. If the cycle isn't over, I'd just siphon out the water, scoop out the gravel, and dump in rinsed sand. And roll on with the cycle. If the cycle IS over, then I'd pretty much do the same thing, and, depending on what you do with your animals, test, test, test, monitor, monitor, monitor, and water change, water change, water change. If you don't have live rock, you are likely starting over at this point. You've started out behind the 8 ball my friend, starting over isn't a bad thing :)

I wish you the best, and there are lots of paths to take from where you are, but, these four steps are the basics and you should seriously consider following them.
 
blitzburggirl

thanks so much for your reply. I am going to contact my LFS and hopefully they can help nurse this anemone back to good health. In the meantime, I am going to take the steps needed to obtaining a solid tank.

It is important to me and I learned that MUCH research is needed. Any advice on how to keep my fish while changing the gravel? I have 2 clarkii clowns, a damsel, and a purple spotted lobster. I can take them out of the tank while changing the gravel. The syphoning is also a good idea. Any other suggestions on how to make this change the best way possible?
 
With that last picture, I don't think anyone could save this anemone -- when the foot starts to look I have never seen one come back from that.


What size tank is this?
 
:) Awesome!

Did you test your water? You really should know where you are with that. Also, do you have LR?

As far as the fish, the clowns could survive a cycle, but, if it were me, I wouldn't put them through it if I didn't have to. The damsel likely would survive. I don't know a darn thing about a lobster ;)

If you don't have LR, you are going to be starting over. How big is your tank? And how deep of a sand bed are you planning to add? I would try to find someone to hold on to your animals until the cycle is over. Then, no stress. I'd empty the tank if it's under 30 gallons. Start over 100%. But, that's me.

If you can't (or won't do that) I would (this is a distant second choice) siphon as much water as I could into three containers. A couple gallons each. (Ideally enough to hold all your water.) Then, in one container, the clowns (and any clean up crew), in the other, the damsel, in the third, the lobster.

The tank is likely close to drained (I'm assuming this isn't a large tank.) Scoop out the gravel with a clean dustpan and add rinsed sand to the depth you want. The LTA needs a couple inches (3-4) at a minimum. Add the water slowly (to minimize cloudiness- but it will be cloudy!) and wait for it to clear as much as possible before re-introducing your livestock. Then, keep an eye on the progress of your cycle. High ammonia will quickly kill your animals. You will need to perform waterchanges to minimize it.

I don't use miracle products- I don't think anything is better than a real, hard cycle...., but, you may want to get ahold of some stability or something to help it along.

I am assuming that the LTA will be somewhere else by this time. That really isn't an option.
 
What kind of substrate is that??? That looks like a freshwater showtank substrate or something
 
The tank is a 6 gallon tank. I am new to this and just wanted to do a small clown tank to start.

I jumped right in with an anemone as well (which I'm learning wasn't the smartest)

I am definitely humbled by the experience. I cannot thank you all enough for the ongoing help. It has been truly an eye opening experience! I will be looking to get a larger tank UPON FURTHER RESEARCH in the future. This way, I won't have the same problems.

I have been in touch with my LFS and we will see what happens with the anemone. In the meantime, I just want to say thanks again for all of the advice. I will be taking the proper steps to continue my hobby the right way.

Thanks so much.
 
The tank is a 6 gallon tank. I am new to this and just wanted to do a small clown tank to start.

I jumped right in with an anemone as well (which I'm learning wasn't the smartest)

I am definitely humbled by the experience. I cannot thank you all enough for the ongoing help. It has been truly an eye opening experience! I will be looking to get a larger tank UPON FURTHER RESEARCH in the future. This way, I won't have the same problems.

I have been in touch with my LFS and we will see what happens with the anemone. In the meantime, I just want to say thanks again for all of the advice. I will be taking the proper steps to continue my hobby the right way.

Thanks so much.

A 6 gallon tank is way too small for an LTA (( let alone any hosting anemone )), and IMO, is way too small for a pair of Clarkiis (( or really any pair of clowns )).
 
Agree with Todd, your tank isn't suitable at all for either the lta or the clarkiis. I had an lta many years ago that I ended up having to get rid of because it reached a foot across in a year's time. Much too big for my 30g tank.

I suggest taking a large step back, return the lta and the clarkiis (very aggresive clowns, btw) and start from scratch by setting up your tank properly. Jump over to the New to the Hobby forum and read through the stickies at the top of the forum.

If the lfs won't accept your returns, try to find another lfs.
 
Back
Top