What does an anemone look like when it dies?

[hajas]

I have a purple LTA that I received last friday. After acclimating it and placing it in the tank it looked decent while the lights remained out. Once the lights came on, it spewed out some brown stuff, was mostly closed up and didn't look good in general. I assume this was its way of adjusting to the lighting. Over the last couple days it has since opened up, but its mouth is open and it isn't inflated much. Just curious what I am looking for as far as signs that it isn't going to make it and if there is anything else I can do to help it out. Thanks.

 

[BayouCorals]

As a general statement an open mouth is a bad sign and can mean the anemone is not adjusting to the new environment. It is not a death sentence, but definitely not a good sign. When it is reaches the point of no return it will look like it is melting. If you can remove it from the water it will have a very strong bad smell when it is dying. Moving to an area of more or less flow, more or less lighting, or away from a nearby coral that may be stressing it. Hard to guess what is making it unhappy.

 

[AliciaP]

Brown coming out may bee expelling zooanthelle (sp?) from stress. Keep a close watch on it. Is it settling in by attaching the foot?

 

[hajas]

It has attached its foot to the glass at the bottom of the tank under the sand. So far, it has maintained most of its color, but the open mouth concerns me. I've reduced flow in the area and it seems to have stabilized a little, but still deflated for the most part.

 

[ssgtgonzo]

What does it look like when it dies? Imagine jello in a sausage casing that gets hit by a hammer. :hmm3:

IME if it isn't getting enough flow the tentacles will shrivel and it will eventually turn itself inside out and expose it's mesentries (look for white stringy acordian looking things) too much light it will hide. Too little light, the tentacles will become nubs and it will wither.

 

[hajas]

I fed it a piece of shrimp tonight and it ate it. Is it better to feed it every day until it is looking better? Normally I wouldn't feed it nearly that often.

 

[greg1786]

i am having some trouble w a gbta being starved nearly to death. tryin to revive back to health. if your nem is eating its a good sign you may be able to save it. i would highly recommend Google searching karens rose Anemone i believe the link is karensroseanemones.net she has massive levels of experience and pictures upon pictures with info for just about every scenario you could encounter with a nem. there is also a form you can fill out w info about your tank your nem and your issues and if you provide her with pictures she will help diagnose your problem and help resolve it good luck hope this helps as much as it did for me


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[OrionN]

Post a picture. In general, I would not feed the anemone when it is not doing well. Wait until it recover shipping stress before feeding it. When you feed only feed small amount at first and initially only feed chopped food so it take less energy to digest it.
Show a picture. Good luck

 

[AliciaP]

I agree, a picture would help.

 

[hajas]

Here is what the anemone looks like today. In the second pic you can see how the mouth is still open.

 

[OrionN]

The pictures show a LTA that is adjusting to your tank well. All settle in and expanded. It look a little small. If it is my anemone, I would make sure I change the water more often the next month or so to ensure good water quality. I would feed it every other days about 1cc worth of food. I would not feed him more than that, at least for the first month.
If this is how it looks all day and no deflating at all, except at night (shrink down a little but not deflating) then you have nothing to worry about. If it looks bad at time, show us a picture when it is at it's worst.

 

[AliciaP]

Looks like it's doing fairly well. It's not bleached out, so it is getting some nutrition from the algae "zooanthelle" (I believe that's what it's called) living inside it. No need to worry yet, I don't think so at least.
=

 

[cuadradoa1]

I would also like everyones opinion on my anemone please. Just got her last week and I do not k ow what signs to look for.

 

[D-Nak]

It looks fine, just bleached. Feed it (try to avoid silversides if you can) shrimp or salmon soaked in Selcon or other type of vitamin enrichment. Looks like you have it under a good amount of light. It should slowly gain its color back. Good luck!

 

[D-Nak]

BTW, how old is the tank? And what else do you plan to add? Looks like you recently set it up.