My sea anemone is he dead or alive?

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mchel311

New Member
I am totally lost. My sea anemone was healthy yesterday and notice it was shriveled up, a funny green color and dark brown, with brown string stuff coming out of it. I went to the gym and came back and poof it was back to normal, flowing and the normal light colors. Again today I come home from work and it is back to the shriveled up ugly thing! I don't understand. I was told it is expelling waste, understood, but is this the usual cycle
?
 
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mchel311

New Member
Does it mean there is something stressing it out? I am new to all of this. I have only had it in my tank for about two weeks.
 
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mchel311

New Member
It is starting to puff up again, but very slow. I don't quite understand what is going on with it. The levels are perfect.
 
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mchel311

New Member
My tank is about 3 months old, but I just two clown fish and an anemone in two weeks ago. I wanted to make sure the water conditions were safe.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
That is an awfully new tank for an anemone. What kind of anemone is it and what lighting do you have?
The firsts incedent does sound like it was expelling waste and anemones can certainly be funny about expanding and retracting.
Is it still firmly attached?
 
Varga

Varga

Well-Known Member
Your Anemone is a gonner my friend. next time, remembrery your tank has to be one year old for the Nem to have a chance at a semi-normal life.

Good luck :)
 
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mchel311

New Member
Wow, that sucks. I don't understand why people at pet stores don't tell you it is not a good idea! Too worried about making money to care about a living creature. It puffs up, deflates and has just started to move around the tank. It is still firmly attached to the rocks, so, I assume I just have to wait out the process? Will it hurt my clown fish if it is in the tank when it dies? I assume a water change will be needed immediately following the death, correct?
 
K

Kevinj

Has been struck by the ban stick
the only time you should worry is if the anemone gets squishy and turns into jelly otherwise if it eats it shrinks up and turns odd colors sometimes. Another thing you need to worry about is if it is moving around to much that means your water quality and temp. needs to be set. You really should wait atleast till your tank has established to mess with anemones.
 
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Kevinj

Has been struck by the ban stick
and if your anemone starts to turn to jelly and fall apart take it out when you notice it, post photos if possible. lighting is always a must with coral and anemones.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
It is certainly less than ideal to add a nem to a new tank with questionable lighting but I wouldn't throw the animal out or anything. Nems are known for deflating and inflating. I have one that does it every couple of days and as far as I know that doesn't mean anything. Now if it keeps looking deflated and dead or if it releases from the rock you may be dealing with a dead anemone that should be removed ASAP and yes you want to do a water change after. There is one surefire way to tell if it is dead but it isn't fun. It is called the smell test. You will not mistake the smell of a dead anemone. As soon as it comes out of the water it will be certain.
With that said, anemones have very slow metabolism so with the less than ideal conditions it is in it could still survive months before you see a problem. Keep an eye on it and watch your parameters carefully to keep them as stable as possible.
What kind of anemone is it and what lighting do you have it under? Those factors mean a lot.
 
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