What could be attacking my anemones?

[MarlinHooker]

There appears to be something that comes out at night and chews up the foot of any new anemone I try to put in teh tank. I just introduced a nice green long teneacxle this past Saturday and when I got home yesterday you could see that the foot had be what looked like it was chewed on in several places . I had had the nem on the floor nestled up against a rock wall where there is actually very little sandbed as I'd been removing it over time. I tried moving it to on top of some small rocks yesterday and it stayed in place but when I came home today it was basically trashed.

This is the second time this has happened. the last time was about 6 months ago and again within a couple of days something attacked the Nem.

adding to this is teh fact that I have a large collection of rose bubble tips (9) that have been thriving for teh last 2 years. i started with one but since I regularily feed them they kept multiplying. They are however up high on the very top of my rock structure but there is one which moved to the sandbed in teh back of my tank and has been there for months with no issue.

Anyone have any issues what is going on? I'm really loath the get anything else at this point just to watch them get trashed by something ...

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That's weird. I've heard of fish like butterflies going after tentacles but I've never heard of something going after the foot. My first thought is a hitchhiker crab or mantis shrimp. Maybe you're placing it in someone's territory, and they're trying to remove it.

The only way to find out is to try to catch it in the act. Try setting your alarm to wake you up in the middle of the night, and get a flashlight to see if you can find out who the culprit is.

 

[Uncle99]

Peppermint Shrimp?
If you have one....
Killed my BTA.
So I killed the pep.
Now we are even
Replaced the nem.
Been good for years now.
Maybe he thought it was a huge aptasia

 

[ThRoewer]

Peppermint Shrimp?
If you have one....
Killed my BTA.
So I killed the pep.
Now we are even
Replaced the nem.
Been good for years now.
Maybe he thought it was a huge aptasia

Peppermint shrimp usually attack the mouth as it is the easiest way for them to get to the food and the soft parts on the inside. So I seriously doubt a peppermint shrimp did this.

Anemone and coral eating fish usually go for the tentacles or other protruding parts without risking to become a meal themselves.

Predatory worms, snails, and the like bottom and substrate crawlers are the most likely to attack the foot first as that is the most accessible part of the anemone for them.

I agree that the best method to find out who did it is to either check frequently at night or to set up an IR camera with recording function - ideal would be a security camera and recorder that takes a picture every second or so.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[MarlinHooker]

Well whatever it is it must have a Very small zone it lives in because the BTA on the tank floor on the other side of the rock wall from where this happened has been thriving for months ... I’ll try checking the tank in the middle of the night to see if I can spot something ...

 

[ThRoewer]

Was always the same species of anemone attacked?
Some predators, especially snails and nudibranchs, are known to be highly selective in their prey, down to only feeding off very specific species of prey (like Berghia only feed of Aiptasia and starve to death if no or not enough Aiptasia are present). BTA and LTA belong to different anemone families which could be a possible explanation as to why only the LTA got attacked and not the BTAs.
It is however highly unlikely that such a predator could exist in the tank for long if no suitable prey is present, so it would have to have come in some form with the attacked anemone.

Much more likely is that you placed the anemone into someone's territory and that the damages resulted from attempts to drive the anemone away.

 

[QuickxSilver]

I remember reading somewhere that vermetid snails can cause damage to BTA foots. Is it always the same rock, if so that rock like other stated might have something on it that is attacking it.

 

[QuickxSilver]

Peppermint shrimp attack BTAs? I have had both and never noticed an issue. What should I look for to ensure this isn't a problem.

 

[Uncle99]

Peppermint shrimp attack BTAs? I have had both and never noticed an issue. What should I look for to ensure this isn't a problem.

Easy....if you notice the nem is staying shrunk for extended period of time, say beyond 2-3 days....have a look in the middle of the night.

Mine started when the pep became about 3" long, he had cleared every aiptasia.
Then, I started to notice that the nem stopped expanding and stayed in the shrunk form. I also noticed the the pep was not in his normal place just after dark and was hanging out by the nem.

I have a habit of looking into the tank when I get up in the night.....sure enough...was pecking at the mouth....crawling all over it.....so I used a long piece of rigid airline to scoot him away.

Sure enough, the next night, he's back at it again. Unfortunately he bugged the nem so much it dumped its zoo, and continued to shrink to about the size of a dime, then just disintegrated.

While waiting to find a suitable replacement, the pep also took out an Acan.

I have had peps forever and this was the first time I had any trouble.

He was removed, the nem replaced, I still have a cleaner and a fire shrimp which I have had no problems with.

Now, I have no crabs, no peps, and so far, everyone is happy.

 

[top shelf]

My vote is for a bristle worm. I had a huge one once that was pretty brazen and would try and steal food during the day.

 

[QuickxSilver]

Thank you for the detailed answer, never had an issue and my new tank I haven't been able to find peps locally and probably will pass for now or just get one really small one.

Easy....if you notice the nem is staying shrunk for extended period of time, say beyond 2-3 days....have a look in the middle of the night.

Mine started when the pep became about 3" long, he had cleared every aiptasia.
Then, I started to notice that the nem stopped expanding and stayed in the shrunk form. I also noticed the the pep was not in his normal place just after dark and was hanging out by the nem.

I have a habit of looking into the tank when I get up in the night.....sure enough...was pecking at the mouth....crawling all over it.....so I used a long piece of rigid airline to scoot him away.

Sure enough, the next night, he's back at it again. Unfortunately he bugged the nem so much it dumped its zoo, and continued to shrink to about the size of a dime, then just disintegrated.

While waiting to find a suitable replacement, the pep also took out an Acan.

I have had peps forever and this was the first time I had any trouble.

He was removed, the nem replaced, I still have a cleaner and a fire shrimp which I have had no problems with.

Now, I have no crabs, no peps, and so far, everyone is happy.

 

[LesMartin]

I've had peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) attack anemones before. Similar symptoms ie the anemone was seemingly ok during the day but early morning it loked like something had had a go. I finally caught three peppermint shrimps attacking it shortly after lights out. It was a small malu. On shrimp attacked the edge of the foot but the other two were nipping at tentacles. It took a while ie a period of a few nights before I finally caught all three but after that the anemone recovered.