need help with anemone

cbenn08

New member
I just recently about 4 or 5 days ago purchased a green long tentacle anemone. ever since I put in my tank and never acted right it would never set up it was and it would always lay on its side. this morning when I woke up it was all shriveled up and letting off this white cloudy stuff. it wasn't quite dads but just about so I took it out but now my water is really cloudy. I did a 20 percent water change because of the fear of it polluting my tank and me losing all the rest of my fish. I guess my question is is this type of situation dangerous for the rest of my tank?
 
Have you done any water tests? Check out the nitrate levels and you will get an idea. It may have just been spewing its internals and thats not too bad for your tank but obviously bad for the anemone.

How did it look when you got it? Was the mouth open? How did you aclimate it? How big is your tank and how long has it been set up?
 
The tank is only a couple month old. I am new to this hobby. This is my first saltwater tank. Its a 55 gallon.it looked OK when I got it and I got it from a trustworthy store. To acclimate it I just let the bag soak in the top of the tank for 45 minutes to an hour adding some of my water a little at a time to get it used to it. I did a ammonia test before and after I did the water change. It was a little high before and OK after. Did not do a nitrate test cause I don't have a kit for that yet. I'm gonna be so mad if all my fish die
 
Your fish should be fine. Even if you have a little high nitrates. Its your corals if you have any that might be affected. You may have gotten a already dying or sick anemone from the store. Happens even in the greatest stores. Some dont ship well. IMO you added a quite sensitive animal a little too fast at the 2 month mark but thats not saying you CANT have one then. Just that they do better in an older more stable system. Just keep an eye on it and make sure you have your powerheads covered. I had a RBTA get sliced up in one of mine. If that happens you have to do some water changes fast. Good luck on the new anemone.
 
Run some carbon right away. Well, reputable store or not, their job is too sell as much as possible. The truth is adding 2 anemones the first couple months in a 55 gallon is not the greatest idea especially with your first tank which I would guess isn't loaded with the greatest equipment money can buy. Maybe, I am wrong on that point, but I know two months into my first 75 gallon I didn't have the greatest equipment. About 4 or 5 months later, it was a different story. I actually had a chance by then to figure a few things out. What skimmer is on this 55 gallon? What do you have for powerheads? Return pump? Lighting? Nutrient exports? The one anemone may be fine. Lots of
"Reputable" stores sell condy anemones that are pretty tough and eat small fish. It doesn't make them a bad store, its just our responsibility to research the care etc of animals we buy. I would definitely run carbon immediately and do a couple 20 pct water changes on back to back days if its still cloudy after running carbon and one water change.
 
I do have a few corals. I have a frogspawn coral, green zoanthus coral, and a Kenya tree coral. All of them seemed OK this morning. I guess we'll see later when I get home from work.
 
Get some activated carbon from the store and put it in your filter socks or get some carbon pads you can cut to size for the water to run through. Its a source of filtration that cleans out toxins from the water. Go to the LFS and they will know what it is.
 
OK thanks for all the info. What is your opinion on feeding anemones. I do have a clarkii clownfish that is hosted to it. But can the anemone survive on pellots alone or do I need to feed it raw shrimp/fish sometimes too? I have been chopping up raw shrimp every 3-4 days and putting it in there and the clown will feed it to the anemone...but its kind of a pain to do. Just wondering how often if at all I need to do that
 
Krill is what i do. 1 time a week. I have heard silversides is a bad idea for them. So i just stay away. Krill is easy and cheap.
 
Don't bother trying to feed it until it is attached. From the sound of things, hunger is not your biggest concern with this LTA. Pics? Providing excellent water quality through water changes, activated carbon, skimming, etc. is your first goal.
 
You can run carbon in a reactor or you can put it in a media bag or even a piece of panty hose ...just make sure it doesn't end up in your skimmer pump or return pump
 
Don't bother trying to feed it until it is attached. From the sound of things, hunger is not your biggest concern with this LTA. Pics? Providing excellent water quality through water changes, activated carbon, skimming, etc. is your first goal.

Exactly
 
You wrote ...
The tank is only a couple month old. I am new to this hobby. This is my first saltwater tank. Its a 55 gallon.it looked OK when I got it and I got it from a trustworthy store. To acclimate it I just let the bag soak in the top of the tank for 45 minutes to an hour adding some of my water a little at a time to get it used to it. I did a ammonia test before and after I did the water change. It was a little high before and OK after. Did not do a nitrate test cause I don't have a kit for that yet. I'm gonna be so mad if all my fish die

If you are getting amonia readings at all you shouldn't be adding anything to your tank. It sounds like your tank is not stable yet. Amonia readings tell me that your biofilter is not established. Everytime you add something to the tank it puts a strain on your biofilter. As the biofilter gets stronger and can handle the load you tank becomes more stable. This occurs over time which is why it's recommended for your tank to be a least 6-9 months old before adding the first anemone. If I read your posts correctly you now have 2 anemones. I would say you need to consider slowing down a little.

For the LTA, it likes to be in the sand. Do you have a sandbed? It will not settle if it's not happy and IME if your other anemone is a BTA then it will not like that either. Keep testing your water and doing water changes. Do not feed it especially since it's not settled and since your tank is showing amonia readings. In fact I would not feed the tank except for a SMALL bit of pellet for the fish every day.
 
Well I'm down to one anenome now. The other one was just about dead so I pulled it out. The first anenome looked great for the first couple weeks it was in the tank. It was attached nicely and looked nice. Show it looks all discolored and smaller and it started doing that after the other anenome pushed it out of its spot and then died next to it. Any ideas what's going on??
 
One idea is that your tank wasn't ready for an anemone. Also, anemones aren't newbie animals. If you want one, do a lot of research and become familiar with their care, how to select a healthy one, and wait at least 6 months.
 
Well I'm down to one anenome now. The other one was just about dead so I pulled it out. The first anenome looked great for the first couple weeks it was in the tank. It was attached nicely and looked nice. Show it looks all discolored and smaller and it started doing that after the other anenome pushed it out of its spot and then died next to it. Any ideas what's going on??

Are you kidding? I have an idea for you. Read the suggestions above four times slowly. Then let your tank sit empty adding small amounts of food every three days and do a water change once a week. This method will insure that no animals will die. Whenever, you are ready to listen then you should consider buying again.
 
If you want to be a smart *** rich850 then you can type your comments elsewhere. I had already purchased both anenomes before asking these questions and was apparently misguided by the pet store owner cause he said they would be fine. NOW I'm just trying to keep it alive. So whenever your ready to not be a douche and just try and help... then do so thanks buddy ;)
 
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