Macrodactyla doreensis--purple LTA

[kallan]

:worried2:Received this LTA early this morning from Reefs2go and it looks to me like it may have been on the decline prior to being shipped. The foot appears to have a hole in it and the mouth is puffy and wide open. The tentacles seem to be short and slightly deflated. I added him to the tank around 11:30am after acclimating for 2 hours. On arrival, it was just a ball. You can tell how small it is from the one photo with a nassarius snail on the left. I wouldn't have placed this order with Reefs2go, but I had a credit from a previous order that I was trying to recoup.

Your experiences with these anemones or any thoughts you may have will be very much appreciated. I assume I should not try and feed it with its mouth so wide open?

 

[garygb]

From what I understand, Macrodactyla doreensis rarely, if ever recovers from a damaged foot. You definitely want to contact the dealer. If they are like Divers Den, they will make things good.

 

[kallan]

LTA not recovering

LTA not recovering

From all the beautiful photos, I've seen, of healthy Macrodactyla doreensis anemones, their oral disk is smooth with a closed mouth. I never witnessed a smooth oral disk on this LTA, because the mouth was so loose and always gaping so widely. Despite its condition, I kept hoping I could be its refuge and it would recover. This anemone should never have been sent out in this condition. Somewhere along the line, it was so mistreated, subjected to starvation, aggressive handling evidenced from the tears to the foot, and severe internal damage.

I feel so disheartened and literally sick that this beautiful, fragile creature had to endure such pain. I am so sorry that I played a role in it being taken from its natural habitat.

 

[cpandrewschmidt]

I had the same thing happen to me a few times that I documented on here. Different vendor but they made me whole. Still makes you feel bad about losing it though, so I hear ya.

Each time I knew the warning sign on the foot to look for. Even before I took out of the bag I snapped a pic of the damage in the foot. Slowly over the course of a week it grew and got worse till the nem died. I've never seen one recover. The curious thing as I emailed the vendor right away is that they'd say give it time and they can often recover from a damaged foot. Everything I've seen and read on here tells me different. So, might just a removal or a shipping issue. Eitherway I'm done trying LTAs from online. Perhaps they're fine when removed then plant their feet in the bag, then get jossled and tear a hole. I don't know.

Anyway, just my rant. Sorry about your loss as well.