Sick anemone in with others

[ponokareefer]

If an anemone at a pet store is looking sick and in with other anemones, is there a good chance all the anemones in the tank wilk be are sick? The sick anemone is a Magnificent and there is a LTA and different Magnificent in the same tank that look healthy.

 

[davocean]

Depends on what the issue is but most common w/ mags would be bacterial infection and yes that could travel to other nems.
I would always plan to QT a new nem, especially mags, and observe and prepare for treatment if needed.

 

[ponokareefer]

I avoided getting any. Thanks for the input.

 

[OrionN]

Anemone will deflates and re-inflate when they are sick. IMO, this is a behavior they evolved trying to remove infection from themselves. In the wild, this may work because the turn over of the water is so massive. A few seconds after deflates, the waves will wash all the infectious agent away. New water comeback into the anemone would be all clean.
In our aquarium, the water turn over does not happen so the deflation cycle does not work well in purging the infection from the anemone. In aquarium, the infectious agents will be around and most likely will infect other anemones in the same tank, especially when they are stressed and not in optimal condition.
Some species will be less stressed and less likely to get infect than other. Magnifica and Gigantea, however, are two species that are notoriously ship poorly.

 

[ponokareefer]

This concerns me in adding any new anemone now. I don't want to risk my existing 4 anemones. I had hoped to change my existing setup into numerous types of anemones. I guess my only option may be to set up a quarantine tank and treat any new ones before adding them. My last attempt at treatment of a gig still ended in its death though. Maybe i'll just stick with the 4.

 

[davocean]

Not sure your tank size but 4 full sized healthy nems is a lot of nem, it might be better to stop there.
keep in mind all nems are different and will have different needs as far as light, flow, substrate, so it's kinda hard to cater to all and keep optimal health, and then add the possibility of allelopathy/chem warfare.
Most that do get multiple or harder to keep nems do QT and treat as a standard practice before introducing to display.

 

[OrionN]

This concerns me in adding any new anemone now. I don't want to risk my existing 4 anemones. I had hoped to change my existing setup into numerous types of anemones. I guess my only option may be to set up a quarantine tank and treat any new ones before adding them. My last attempt at treatment of a gig still ended in its death though. Maybe i'll just stick with the 4.

I really value my anemones. No anemone go into my DT until I know for sure that he is healthy. I have a QT tank where I keep new anemones and HT where I treat sick anemone. I would advise you do the same unless you are through with adding animals into your system