Lost Ritteri Today =( Please help!

[ReefJunkie21]

I don't understand why this Ritteri moved so much, I purchased it from a lfs about a year ago and he ever stopped moving, he would stay put for maybe a week or so and than was on the move, all over the freaking tank, ****ed me off, having to move everything around so he wont hurt it. On his stupid ventures he ended up getting chewed up by my tunze's 11 times, and every time I managed to bring him back to life and get him healthy again. Well today was number 12 and he didn't make this one! More than 3/4 of him was gone in little pieces floating around my tank. = ( Everything is and was perfect. water, water temps, lights, current. Heck I tried placing him in different currents, under direct and indirect lights, at different level's in the tank. I don't understand what was going on that was making him move so much. Hoping yall can help me out so this won't happen again.

 

[SaylorsReef]

What lighting do you have? Is this on the 70g? What did you feed the anemone? Do you have a picture of the anemone? Please post your water parameters?

 

[Lance M.]

Just wondering, but (if it happened 11 times before...) why didn't you put a screen around the tunzes to protect the anemone?

 

[clowns101]

I don't understand why this Ritteri moved so much, I purchased it from a lfs about a year ago and he ever stopped moving, he would stay put for maybe a week or so and than was on the move, all over the freaking tank, ****ed me off, having to move everything around so he wont hurt it. On his stupid ventures he ended up getting chewed up by my tunze's 11 times, and every time I managed to bring him back to life and get him healthy again. Well today was number 12 and he didn't make this one! More than 3/4 of him was gone in little pieces floating around my tank. = ( Everything is and was perfect. water, water temps, lights, current. Heck I tried placing him in different currents, under direct and indirect lights, at different level's in the tank. I don't understand what was going on that was making him move so much. Hoping yall can help me out so this won't happen again.

Okay I kinda need more to work with like water params with numbers,what type of lights you have,how high the rock was stacked in the tank,what yo uuse for flow(besides the tunze power head),How much flow you have,what the color of the anemone was...I think thats it.Yup thats it.

Thanks,
Austin/clowns101

 

[ReefJunkie21]

These are about 2 months old.

<a href="http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/mobius200318/70g%20Cube%20Tank/?action=view&current=P1010253.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b338/mobius200318/70g%20Cube%20Tank/P1010253.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Sorry for the crappy pics. Water is almost always near perfect. Color was nice and pink with a purple tips.
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 0.0-0.10 weekly water changes where done now @ 0.0 ppm
Phosphates 0 ppm
Ph 8.4-8.6
DKH 9-11
Calcium 480-490
Mag 1300-1400
Flow is coming from 2 6045's and the return. Light is now a single 250 watt.

 

[ReefJunkie21]

Just wondering, but (if it happened 11 times before...) why didn't you put a screen around the tunzes to protect the anemone?

I should have put foam around them but I just didn't do it.

 

[clowns101]

OKay this helps me a little.You say the light "now" is a 250 was it when the anemone was in the tank?

Did the anemone have any hosters?(clownfish)

Was there any thing that could have been picking or bothering the foot of the anemone?

One thing that does stand out to me is the higher Ph levels.8.4 is good but 8.6 can be a bit high so you might want to lower that to about 8.3.That might be the issue but I dont think it would cause that many problems.

At this point I just need the light info and I can see what I can come up with.

Thanks,
Austin/clowns101

 

[tufacody]

The nem looks pretty bleached, although hard to be sure from this pic. I also worry when I see paper-thin tissue like that. Just my 2 cents, but based on the pics alone, the nem is starving. It is moving around to try to find a good place for food or light to rebuild its zooanthellae and nutrition. I find that when I go too long w/o a feeding my nems they are much more likely to start wandering.

You also say that the nem is about a year old. Have you switched bulbs in that time? It could be that PAR is just not what it used to be.

Finally, you want help so this won't happen again, but I think 12 times in a powerhead speaks for itself. It is amazing it has made it this far. Best advice - cover the powerheads!!!

 

[ReefJunkie21]

OKay this helps me a little.You say the light "now" is a 250 was it when the anemone was in the tank?

Did the anemone have any hosters?(clownfish)
yup he had a pair of clowns
Was there any thing that could have been picking or bothering the foot of the anemone?
i dont think so never saw anything around his foot.
One thing that does stand out to me is the higher Ph levels.8.4 is good but 8.6 can be a bit high so you might want to lower that to about 8.3.That might be the issue but I dont think it would cause that many problems.
I don't think ph was the problem it flexs between 8.4-8.6 it has always done that in my tank for some reason. I dont add any buffer until i see it drop down to 8.2 or less.
At this point I just need the light info and I can see what I can come up with.
Lights were a 48" 2 x 250watt 14K mh with 65Watt pc's. I removed that light and hung a singel 250watt over the tank, about 6"-7" above the water.
Thanks,
Austin/clowns101

The nem looks pretty bleached, although hard to be sure from this pic. I also worry when I see paper-thin tissue like that. Just my 2 cents, but based on the pics alone, the nem is starving. It is moving around to try to find a good place for food or light to rebuild its zooanthellae and nutrition. I find that when I go too long w/o a feeding my nems they are much more likely to start wandering.
nem was not bleached at all, he had all his color just a bad pic. He was fed 3-4 times a weak, usally he would 1 or 2 jumbo shrimps. cut in chunks.
You also say that the nem is about a year old. Have you switched bulbs in that time? It could be that PAR is just not what it used to be.
Lights where changed i think in march or april
Finally, you want help so this won't happen again, but I think 12 times in a powerhead speaks for itself. It is amazing it has made it this far. Best advice - cover the powerheads!!!
If he would have stay'ed put he would have been fine! power heads were no where near him, until he started moving all over the place, ph are on the back wall not even near any of the rocks, he would move at night while I was alseep and could'nt catch him on time. I have kept other nems and have never had a problem with them moving or dieing.

 

[clowns101]

Ummmm...I kinda confused on this one.

However,you never seen any thing by his foot is there a possibility that you had Bristel Worms or Mudusa Worms comeing up through the rocks under his foot causing him to move?

Do you have a good population of Bristel Worms?

How rough were the clowns while hosting the anemone?

 

[SaylorsReef]

1 or 2 jumbo shrimp is much too much food for one feeding. Your anemone likely regurgitated and ended up with little or nothing.

 

[sgwill122]

Anemones are unpredictable, they can be stationary for a year or better then decide one day to take a walk. If your anemone was constantly on the move it was obviously not happy, why it wasn't happy is tough to figure out, but a ritteri is one of the most challenging with a very high mortality in the tank. If you decide to get another anemone I would recommend a cultured RBTA, they are quite colorful and very resilent and best of all easily host clowns.

 

[OrionN]

Magnifica move because it did not like where it is. You must put it in place where it is acceptable to it. More importantly, if it move away from this place, the condition becomes vastly inferior to what it like. This is why I recommend that you put it on a rock island under very bright light and good circulation. If it move down the rock island, the light/current quickly drop off. It must not be able to tough the wall of the aquarium or else it may just move to the wall. It will stay there if you give it adequate light. If the condition are too unacceptable, it will just let go and sail off anyway.
From your picture, I can see that it can move away from the top of the rock easy without too drastic decrease in light and current. Because of this, it move to look for better place

 

[ReefJunkie21]

I'm going wait a bit, do some research and see what all I can learn about them. But I want another one. I have never lost a nem and I do really well with hard to "keep" things.

 

[ReefJunkie21]

Magnifica move because it did not like where it is. You must put it in place where it is acceptable to it. More importantly, if it move away from this place, the condition becomes vastly inferior to what it like. This is why I recommend that you put it on a rock island under very bright light and good circulation. If it move down the rock island, the light/current quickly drop off. It must not be able to tough the wall of the aquarium or else it may just move to the wall. It will stay there if you give it adequate light. If the condition are too unacceptable, it will just let go and sail off anyway.
From your picture, I can see that it can move away from the top of the rock easy without too drastic decrease in light and current. Because of this, it move to look for better place

I tried the island setup and he went down and over to the other side.

Guys I understand that he wasn't happy but what I'm trying to figure out is why he was so unhappy, if I keep everything as near perfect as I can. I know it was not water qal, water temp or lights. what I'm I missing?

 

[OrionN]

Water quality, current, temperature and light are all the factors. Your island need to have high vertical (at least 6 inches for it to climb down if it want to move) or near vertical wall as possible. I often have two PH meet just above the anemone also. This really help in creation ideal current condition for H. magnifica. I also have to rock on the sand so it cannot move away from the rock at all. Needless to say, larger tank is needed. I keep one of my small on in a 18X18 cube but it is outgrow this aquarium.

 

[tufacody]

Reef: You aren't the first person to lose a magnifica with seemingly perfect parameters. Fact is, we just don't know why they usually don't fare so well. You should research all you can for the knowledge we do have, but nobody has the answer yet. Usually, if people can keep them past a year or so they are pretty stable. Its quite possible that yours developed an internal infection after its bout with the powerhead, or perhaps a piece of shrimp you fed was bad. Some people have reported success with antibiotics, but most of the reports I have read with people that have tried it have still failed. I tried doxy on one a few years ago with no luck.