Anemone Questions

[TankFiend]

Ello... this is only my second post and wow is this site full of amazing hobbyists. Just saw a post from someone with a 47 year old reef tank... anyway, I always loved to keep fish but am still very new (under a year) to the sw hobby. I foolishly decided to purchase an Anemone from a crappy fish store instead of the good fish store full of knowledgeable staff... now i am struggling to keep this thing looking healthy. I had to quarantine it because im very worried about it polluting the tank if it dies. It is basically either sucked into itself or completely unfurled and seemingly enjoying itself. I isolated it because i wanted to make sure it was eating etc... I thought it was almost dead several times.. then it seemed fine. Irealized that my refractometer was way off, so my salinity was really high so i thought that may be the issue. All other water parameters are perfect. I have been taking steps to correct the salinity. I have only had this thing for a week. Please help! (pics of her many mood swings attached)

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Sure some that know more can advise... but this link has some GREAT info

http://www.karensroseanemones.net/

 

[TankFiend]

Wow. What a great link! So much awesome general info on keeping anemones! Hopefully somone will gove me a bit of appraisal on the pictures. In the few days i had her she has never attached to anything... she liked a corner for about 6 hours then when i turned on the powerhead she blew around the tank a bit and didnt seem to settle again... now at this point she’s quarantined in a makeshift breeder setup til i feel she is looking healthier... not sure if its the right call tho...

 

[DaveK]

Welcome to the group.

I hate to put it in these terms, but you have some big problems with your anemone. It's not attaching to anything, it's not expanding properly, and it's bleached. This is going to be very difficult to impossible to save, even under the best of conditions. Note that even in it's best picture the anemone is still very retracted with a really tight base. It's also white, indicating that it's bleached. Notice on the picts on the link @nanoreefing4fun showed your that the anemones are brown.

If possible, return it to your LFS. If not, I'd discard it. This is not going to end well, and in my opinion your better off cutting your losses now, before it completely dies and risks fouling the tank. I know that not what you want to hear.

To be successful with anemones you need to have a well established system with excellent quality water, good filtration and water movement, and excellent lighting. It usually takes at least a year to get to that point. In looking at your pictures, I see the tank looking somewhat cloudy, and a lot of algae and cyano on the rocks. This would seem to indicate less that ideal water quality. The lighting also seems to be very dim, but this may be because of how the lighting was running when you took he pictures.

Trying to quarantine an anemone in a breeding box doesn't help either, because the anemone is not getting the water circulation it needs. However, if you try to put it in the main tank, it will get blown around and likely end up in the filter intake doing a lot of damage to it.

If your still going to try and keep it, maybe you can find or make some sort of small plastic cage to place over it and put it in your main tank. Keep it in dim light for now. Keep an eye on it. If it seems to give off and "smoke" or shows any decay, or smells really really foul, it'd dead. Get it out of there.

Now I know this post seems like I just ripped you up one side and down the other. I don't intend to do this, but your far better off hearing this than telling you something like hang in there, it will be OK. If it's any consolation, just about everyone, including myself, that has been into reef keeping any length of time has made similar mistakes, and had their system crash on them.

 

[TankFiend]

Thanks. I appreciate the honesty, I almost just got rid of it a few times but wanted to try to save it... it was bleached already from the store. I think you are correct about the tank not being established enough yet. Its just under 6 months and all the recommendations i found were over 6 months for an anemone. I will try a little longer and see if i can come up with a creative solution, like somehow keeping it in the tank without it blowing all over the place - - but will likely have to cut my losses as you said. Thanks again for the sound advice.

 

[Uncle99]

Yup, if they don't attach in 48 hours (2 hours if no flow) then likely foot damage assuming he was well attached at the store. Foot damage would be deadly.

Find a spot of low flow, dig a hole in the sand, and place him in the hole, turn down (or off for 2 hours) so he can attach, he must do this if he is to survive. Forget feeding until fully attached. Strong light is needed, that's his food.

If he turns inside out or starts to fall apart, discard.

If he doesn't attach and stay within a few more days, likely, he will not survive.

If he does, post us back and we could move to step 2.

Sorry

 

[TankFiend]

UPDATE. Its week 2.5 of purchasing this anemone... after a few days quarantine with a stone to keep the water flowing and feeding it with an turkey baster... he stayed open for several days straight. I then Re-released him into the tank and upgraded my lighting. I dont know why im going to all these lengths for a 20$ anemone but im taking it as a challenge at this point. He seems to be getting a bit of color but i also just had a snail die in my tank and the clean up crew didnt eat it... so now im testing the parameters every day. He seemed to attach for a bit in the middle of the tank but now is on the move again, so i turned off the powerhead for a bit to see if he attaches somwhere more permanent. I have additional pictures.. you have all been so much help. It goes without saying that im watching him daily for signs of demise...

 

[TankFiend]

This is the best pic i could get that still uploaded

 

[DaveK]

It's looking better than it did in the fist picts. It's rare, but sometimes anemones make remarkable recoveries. Don't get your hopes up too much, it's still got a long way to go.