Is this anemone salvageable?

[alprazo]

Two things. First and most important - the anemone is contracted today. Mouth tight as far as I can tell. I was able to just get a glimpse tonight before the lights went out, and I do not know its behavior throughout the day. It looks solidly attached to the glass. Would you / should I start Cipro?

Second - here is the message I sent to LA for completeness sake. To better explain, I have easily spent over 20k with them since they acquired FFexpress around 1999. Not all fish related. I feel that I can criticize a little. I have had several issues with orders in the past 3 months but they were all remedied so I will not elaborate.

I received this ordered today. The anemone arrived alive but is
unfortunately in terrible condition. It is completely bleached. For a brown
anemone it has arrived porcelain white. For all intents this animal's
survivability is extremely poor. Attached is a photograph.

I have been a very loyal and good customer dating back to your purchase of
FFexpress over a decade ago. I have spent thousands and thousands and have
enjoyed your excellent customer service and quality livestock. The recent
errors and poor health of livestock have taken a terrible turn in the past
several months from the California facility. Your customer service and
quality from Wisconsin and the dry goods facility has remained impressive
and is appreciated.

I will do my very best and try to nurse this animal back to health, but I
hope that you can assist me in the acquisition of a healthy specimen. I am
happy to pay for this one if it survives but for now, I would hope that you
understand that this specimen is pretty much doomed and offer a
replacement.

Sincerely,

 

[zooman72]

Only Diver's Den specimen actually come from Live Aquaria. Everything else is drop shipped from Quality Marine (Live Aquaria's "California facility") or ORA (Live Aquaria's "Florida facility").

In essence, everything that comes from California or Florida has never been touched by a Live Aquaria employee. You basically buy straight from the wholesaler at retail price. So Live Aquaria make quite a cut on those without having the overhead and utility bills of a LFS. That's how they can give you a two week guarantee and still come out ahead.

Which is why (and I really do hate to say it really) I prefer to obtain animals from my LFS's if at all possible. I will admit that I have ordered from online retailers in the past (both LA and more recently BlueZoo), but only for items I cannot readily obtain locally.


As for the OP's situation, I would probably ask them to refund me part (or all) of the purchase cost, as the nem is certainly bleached, which does entail greater risk to that animal's future survival. I do wish you luck with it, and also agree that it does (or did) not look to be ill beyond the loss of zooxanthellae, but we all know that can change, so fingers crossed...:thumbsup: (edit: and then you posted an update right before I submitted my comments, with it looking far worse, which is a shame... )

(2nd edit: your response was not out of line either IMO)

 

[ThRoewer]

Two things. First and most important - the anemone is contracted today. Mouth tight as far as I can tell. I was able to just get a glimpse tonight before the lights went out, and I do not know its behavior throughout the day. It looks solidly attached to the glass. Would you / should I start Cipro?

...

Yes, I would start treatment right away. It seems to be small so a 5 or 10 gallon tank should be fine and more economic as you may need to do 100% water changes on a daily basis.

I kind of feared this would happen. It likely was already sick before which caused it to expel all it's zooxanthellae in the first place.

Also, if you get another one you should quarantine it first and not put it straight into your display. Whith these anemones you can be almost certain that you have to treat them.
I would also advise to be careful with DD specimen as they may have treated before which likely renders a second round of Cipro ineffective.

Which is why (and I really do hate to say it really) I prefer to obtain animals from my LFS's if at all possible. I will admit that I have ordered from online retailers in the past (both LA and more recently BlueZoo), but only for items I cannot readily obtain locally.
...

That's pretty much how I do it. I prefer to see what I buy in person, especially fish (even a WYSIWYG item on DD only has one or a few pictures that hardly tell you everything).
I just ordered a female blue stripe pipefish for my established male from Blue Zoo because my local store couldn't get these through their sources.

 

[alprazo]

I just set up a qt bucket and found that the anemone had half fallen from the glass and mouth is gaping wide. Anyway, it is in Cipro.

 

[alprazo]

and 5 min after cipro

 

[ThRoewer]

I feel that this type of open mouth is part of the anemones attempt to rid itself of the pathogens. It looks bad but doesn't necessarily be bad.

I would recommend to place it on a ceramic or plastic plate. That way it is easier to handle.
Also, what kind of circulation do you have in the bucket? Wile airstones might be fine for fish I don't think they will be very good for anemones. And anemones need a much stronger flow to wash away the infested slime.