LTA dissappeared?

[lostoften]

I have had a LTA for over 2 years in my tank and before that my brother had it for around a year. This morning I cant find it anywhere in my tank, I have checked power heads, and protein skimmer and don't see any signs. Everything in my tank seems to be doing well. My clown is in its usual spot without the LTA. How long do LTA's live? If it is gone shouldn't I find it somewhere? Do I need to do a larger than normal waterchange?

Thanks,
Lost

 

[homegrownREEFER]

Well if it is in fact dead I am sure you'd find it somewhere. How long has it been missing? Are you sure that it didn't just retract under the substrate?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Give it some time, they do have the ability to fully retract into the sandbed -- there is a chance that something bothered it, and it retracted.

Granted, this is a picture of an S. haddoni, but I have had M. doreensis do the exact same thing -- should give you an idea of what can happen.

Before,

After,

 

[lostoften]

My wife said it was in its usual spot yesterday and looked fine. Hopefully its just retracted in a new spot. Crossing fingers. Thanks for the input

 

[Toddrtrex]

Just to be safe, I would make sure that all your powerheads are either covered and/or off -- don't want it floating into one of the intakes.

 

[lostoften]

Found it. Went to turn off power head and looked inside and saw the anemone. I have never had any issues with it before. It was completely inside my korala 4 pump. I moved it to my qt tank, but I am thinking its gone Its about half the size of a golf ball, the tentacles are still a darker color then the foot. Unfortunately though the color is more grayish then yellow.

 

[Toddrtrex]

If the foot is still intact, there might be hope.

This happened many years ago,

Came home to this,

Released,

A month later,

 

[lostoften]

Thanks for the help, I am thinking its gone though:

 

[Toddrtrex]

I wouldn't give up hope -- can't tell if the foot is damaged or not. Get a little tupperware bowl, put some sand in there, and place the anemone in the bowl -- they are sandbed dwelling anemones.

 

[lostoften]

I moved it to my qt tank that was still in the process of being set-up. Its been running for 2 weeks but has no powerhead or even heater yet. I know that it wasn't ideal, but didn't want to risk the LTA polluting the rest of my tank.

Will my tomato clown be okay without an anemone? I don't want to stress it out and lose him too.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Toddrtrex]

The clown might search for the anemone, but will otherwise be fine.

 

[lostoften]

I have it in a bowl with sand, do I need to worry about lighting? heating or water movement?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Going to need some water movement -- can be from a HOB filter -- going to need to process the waste that the anemone is going to generate. The temp should be the same as your display tank.

Short term, don't have to worry about lighting, but in a couple of days will need to address that issue.

 

[lostoften]

Think I could place the bowl with sand into my qt tank? I pulled the heater out of my mixing water to up the qt tank.

 

[davocean]

I actually think you still have a good chance of it surviving as long as the foot isn't torn as Todd mentioned.
If it were me I would place it back in display, but w/ something like a strawberry basket or similar to keep the clown off it till it settles/ heals a bit, and just keep an eye on it.
I also had an LTA dissapear once in the sand bed after having it for years, and days later pop right back out.
Weird that yours drifted in the PH.
How deep is your sand bed, and what were you feeding it?

 

[lostoften]

Unfortunately just got home from work today, and checked on it. It appears that it has "melted" in the qt tank. I was feeding frozen silversides for the past 2 years. Plus the clown usually shares with it too. Thanks for all the help, i truly appreciate it.

 

[davocean]

Unfortunately just got home from work today, and checked on it. It appears that it has "melted" in the qt tank. I was feeding frozen silversides for the past 2 years. Plus the clown usually shares with it too. Thanks for all the help, i truly appreciate it.

The reason I asked what you feed is the only time I had a similar outcome w/ healthy nems was after a silverside feeding, and I had read of several others having an issue w/ them also.
Silversides are no longer part of my spot feeding regimen.

 

[lostoften]

What are you feeding now?

 

[davocean]

What are you feeding now?

I normally so a small piece of scallop about once a month.
Raw shrimp or krill would be another good choice, and it picks up mysis at feedings.
I don't know what the deal is w/ silvers but I've seen others have problems too, and I figure the other choices are just safer.

 

[lostoften]

Good to know, not sure if I am going to replace it though. Although my clown is still lost. He stays where the LTA used to be.