What do you look for in a sick vs healthy Anemone?

[thelawnwrangler]

I have been following threads here and have seen a few say that one of the biggest thing is buying a healthy nem. I was at PETCO yesterday (fairly / unfairly) I assume the nems are sick. The one I saw mouth was open wide and in my mind considered that empirical evidence of my thesis. That said if I am being honest I wouldnt know a healthy nem from a sick one. What are some things to look for?

 

[jah hoeva]

Here is a scale from the sticky's above you could use as a basic guide of some things to look for. Some of the pros here could probably be of more help than I.

Amoo's Severity Scoring System:

0 - Healthy Nem
1 - Tentacles shortened, still fully inflated, mouth tight, responsive to touch
2 - Tentacles shortened, still fully inflated, mouth slightly droopy, responsive to touch
3 - Tentacles shortened, still fully inflated, mouth slightly open, responsive to touch
4 - Tentacles shortened, still fully inflated, mouth open, responsive to touch
5 - Tentacles shortened, still fully inflated, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, responsive to touch
6 - Tentacles shortened, partially inflates, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, responsive to touch
7 - Tentacles shortened, inflates and deflates multiple times daily, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, responsive to touch
8 - Tentacles shortened, most always deflated, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, responsive to touch
9 - Tentacles shortened, always deflated, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, barely responsive to touch
10 - Tentacles shortened, always deflated, mouth gaping open with insides exposed, non-responsive to touch
11 - Mush (Sorry )

 

[thelawnwrangler]

thanks - I didn't see that very helpful

 

[D-Nak]

I think judging the health of an anemone is very species specific. For example, BTAs can look terrible and bounce back without any antibiotics. In contrast, gigantea typically can't recover even with antibiotics if they looked as bad as BTAs. And then you have magnifica, which can look dead, but if given antibiotics at the right time, can bounce back and thrive.