4 1/2 years ago I rescued a white crispa. When I bought it, it measured about 5 inches across. Since then it grew to 18 inches across and was, I thought, bullet proof. Just over a month ago, I looked in the tank to see the anemone not looking right. The tentacles were thick and short and it always looked the same, long tentacles and the picture of health. I noticed a large turbo grazer sitting on a rock covered in anemone slime. Apparently, the anemone had fallen into the anemone, been ingested and then expelled. For a couple of days the snail stayed in the same place, I thought it would die, but it didn't. What I didn't expect to see happen was the anemone go downhill. I assume when the anemone ate the snail it sustained damage to its gastric cavity and then an infection set in. Within 4 days the anemone was dead. I was sad and couldn't believe it. I've seen threads where crispas got sucked into a powerhead and recovered from tears. Is a tear in the gastric cavity a bigger deal, I don't know. But, I am confident the snail was the factor, otherwise everything was status quo with the tank parameters.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I've wanted a purple crispa forever, but they are very rare here. I came across one at a lfs a little over three weeks ago and decided to get it-- even though it didn't look great. It wasn't bleached, but its tentacles were very short and it wasn't securely attached. It measured about 4 inches across. I brought it home and set up a quarantine tank using water from the display tank. For two weeks I did 50% water changes using DT water. I had an old 96 watt PC Coralife quad that I used for lighting. The anemone attached to a liverock I put in the tank. It expelled zooxanthellae and wouldn't take in food. After two weeks I was tired of doing the daily water changes, mixing replacement for the DT and it looked better than when I bought it, so I put it in the DT. It is now eating-- I'm feeding shrimp, smelt and scallop all fresh from the seafood dept--and I feed it a peanut size piece daily. It is now about 6 inches across and my orange skunk has been going in it. I'm hopeful it's out of the woods.
Who knew a jumbo turbograzer could cause the death of an anemone. I've had lots of snails eaten by my mags, but never one as large as this one.
Anyway, here is a pic of the purple crispa.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I've wanted a purple crispa forever, but they are very rare here. I came across one at a lfs a little over three weeks ago and decided to get it-- even though it didn't look great. It wasn't bleached, but its tentacles were very short and it wasn't securely attached. It measured about 4 inches across. I brought it home and set up a quarantine tank using water from the display tank. For two weeks I did 50% water changes using DT water. I had an old 96 watt PC Coralife quad that I used for lighting. The anemone attached to a liverock I put in the tank. It expelled zooxanthellae and wouldn't take in food. After two weeks I was tired of doing the daily water changes, mixing replacement for the DT and it looked better than when I bought it, so I put it in the DT. It is now eating-- I'm feeding shrimp, smelt and scallop all fresh from the seafood dept--and I feed it a peanut size piece daily. It is now about 6 inches across and my orange skunk has been going in it. I'm hopeful it's out of the woods.
Who knew a jumbo turbograzer could cause the death of an anemone. I've had lots of snails eaten by my mags, but never one as large as this one.
Anyway, here is a pic of the purple crispa.
