Need some expert input on LTA.

[james-lee]

I have had this LTA for about a month now. He was bleached when I first got him due to poor shipping I am assuming. I nursed him back to health and yesterday he decided to get out of the pvc pip in the sand bed rig I made for him and crawled up on of my rocks. The rock itself was maybe 6-7 inches away from a medium sized green frogspawn.

I awoke this morning and now he is attached onto the back glass of the aquarium farther away from the FS but I noticed something odd about him. Looks as if he got cut or something.

He ate very well (mysis shrimps every 3 days) and has stayed in the little spot I made him for over 3 weeks. Only when he did his walking yesterday had he moved and this morning he looked like this.

Parameters are as follows:
pH: 8.3
Salinity: 1.025-26
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 520
Magnesium: 1720
Iodide: 0.3
Phosphates: 0.25
Temp 78.5-79
300 watts of 14K MH with 108 watts of T5 actinics.

Could it have gotten cut from the rocks? Also the tentacles look horric and I see it has some little balls attached to it (kinda resembles the FS tips). Could my FS have sent out runner tentacles last night and stung it? Hope he pulls through.

Best Regards,

James

 

[2Addicted]

could it have came in contact with a powerhead? How big is your tank and how long has it been set up? He is still bleached btw.

 

[james-lee]

Lord I have seen him deflate and look nuts but never like this....

No power heads in the tank other than the twi tunze wave makers up top. Tank has been running maybe 5-6 months (I know should be a year before you get one but I found out AFTER doing the research lol). Yeah I know he is still rather bleached but trust me he is MUCH better than when I first got him (again I learned the hard way by not spotting problematic buys but lesson learned).

 

[james-lee]

Okay things are looking a little dire. The split that looks like intestines has cracwled all the way up to the disc part (towars the top of the anemone) and it seems that those intestine things are coming out of its mouth a little too. I am off today and tomorrow so I will keep a close eye on it but if it seems to disentegrate I will remove him. Just trying to figure out *** happened. Other than phos being at 0.25 I dont see anything else wrong with my tank (I know calc and mag is a little high but from my understanding it doesnt really affect anything.)

 

[garygb]

That looks more like a bleached Heteractis aurora than an LTA from what I can see in the pics. In either case, they are sand dwelling anemones. It does look as if something has damaged its side. It's possible it had a small tear that's gotten worse or it could be that something injured it. Short of doing the antibiotic baths that some have done and discussed recently in this forum, all I can suggest is provide excellent water conditions and keep an eye on it. Your phosphates shouldn't be a big issue. Frequent (every few days), small water changes and frequent changes in the activated carbon and perhaps skimming wet should insure that the water quality is up to snuff.

 

[james-lee]

Okay bad news he has detached from the glass and is oozing white liquid milk looking material is it time to take him out?

 

[garygb]

In that case, I would probably remove it if I were you. Sorry about it going down hill like that.

 

[james-lee]

Thanks Gary Ill take him out now. Tentacles still moving and inflating but the liquid stuff is starting to come out now like very 15 seconds. WellI wont get another anemone till my tank is atleast a year old if I even get another. Any ideas if the FS had anything to do with it?

 

[garygb]

Just a second, could it be spawning? They spawn through the mouth. Sometimes they spawn when extremely stressed. If that's the case, you don't have to rush to get him out. If, on the other hand white stuff is coming out of the injured place, then he needs to be promptly removed.

 

[james-lee]

No I took him out. The white stuff wasnt coming out of the mouth (only the intestinal looking stuff). It was oozing out from its side (not the injured part though). My fishes would try to eat the stuff then spit it back out.

 

[james-lee]

OMG I was gonna go get him out of the trash (placed in a zip lock) and put him in a tub of water and let it hang on the tank but the damn garbage truck JUST came by! Oh well I guess Ill never know =(

 

[chitownclown]

It has HITFD (hole in the foot disease), not much you could do to save them it seems as soon as this happens it is a slow death that take about 2 week to complete die.

 

[garygb]

No, if it was coming out of the side, that sounds like it was a goner. When they spawn, it looks like smoke coming from the mouth, never from the side. Sorry about the loss.

 

[james-lee]

Thanks for the help guys.

EDIT: Come to think about last night when I found it out of its hole it was trying to wedge itself in between two pieces of rock. Just a wild guess here but perhaps that gash on its side was a result of it getting nicked as it tried to wedge itself. Crazy how it nose dived rather quickly. I kinda feel sorry for it since the tentacles were are wriggling around as if in agony (which I am sure it was).