Whats wrong with my anenome?

S

SpoildRotn

Member
This is a seabea anenome and I have had it for two weeks. It was doing great up until yesterday, when he ate his anenome crab.

It is all hidden inside its outer skin and its tentacles are shriveled. We put iodine in the tank today, thinking he needed it but, nothing has changed.

We checked the levels in the tank and everything is good.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thx.
 
cbrownfish

cbrownfish

Well-Known Member
Don't dose without testing, especially if you are using straight iodine, not iodide. Anemone's will periodically shrink up to expel the water and waste, in order to swap out the fluid inside them. If it ate something that doesn't agree with it, then it will probably spit it out soon and recover. I have had anemone's shrink up into a small horrible looking condition and then recover.

Unfortunately, this is a wait and see thing IMO. How long has your tank been set up?
 
S

SpoildRotn

Member
Okay. It was iodine. Strangely, the store told us there was no kit to test for iodine or calcium and now I have found out that there is. What is wrong with these pet stores, how can they tell us stuff that is so completely wrong!!! Its driving me nuts!

I will get a test kits ASAP.

As for how long its been set up: that one is a little hard to answer. I have had it set up for about a month now. BUT, it hasn't cycled at all due to the fact that I bought everything (live rock and sand and the water) together from the same store. My levels on nitates, nitrites, and ammonia are all still at 0 and my pH is at 8.0 (only a bit low), and my SG is at 1.024.

I was told this is a good thing. Was I misinformed?
 
ds69

ds69

Member
How does the anemone look now? Has it gotten better? The tank is much to young and not established for anemone. That being said it can be done. I would have to agree with the post above about it just expelling waste. They will shrink up and look very sad for a little while. What kind of lighting do you have on it?? sorry about your anemone crab. When I first added mine it looked like it was going to get eaten so I pulled it off of the anemone. Now he just hangs out on the underside of the anemone because the clown wont let him in the front of it.

Kevin
 
S

SpoildRotn

Member
Still seems sad. He has been like this for about two days, off and on. My hubby said that while I was at work today, it just seemed to be "dying". I really don't wanna lose it!!

My lighting wasn't enough, I only had a 15w PowerGlo T5, and they told me it was okay. So, yesterday, when I found out how wrong they were, I added to T5 High Output lights, the Marine Glo and the Life Glo. Do I need more? I was told that I could put in any medium light or below coral and my leather and my new polyp frag are doing fine with it (so far).
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Don't move it. They can move on their own and trying to move it you will most likely tear the foot.
Unfortunately you were given very poor advice by your LFS. Not unusual since they make their money by selling you things.
It really is about 50/50 on this one. It could just be pouting which they do. I think it is just to scare us. :) It could also be dying. If it is dying this quickly it was likely very sick to begin with unless something severely shocked it. Anemones have a very slow metabolism and generally take months to die.
Since you already know to test before adding I will just point out that you need to research the animals before you buy. Anemones have very special requirements and your tank is just not prepared for it. They need a mature tank with very stable parameters and a lot of light. It can be done with T5 lighting but you want to have strong T5 lighing and preferrably a shallow tank so the light can penetrate well.
Hope it pulls through for you. It is certainly possible it is just in a bad mood. (That's what I say about mine when they do this. :) )
 
nikkipigtails

nikkipigtails

Well-Known Member
My first piece of advice is never trust your LFS. I go to 4 and there's only 1 person out of all those stores who I trust, but I still double check all the information he gives me.

Second, you need to take the anemone back. The fact is that your tank hasn't cycled yet and it's not mature enough for an anemone. You should wait at LEAST 6 months after setting up a tank to add an anemone. The fact is that they have a very slow metabolism and they are very sensitive to poor water quality. So, if you want an anemone, you should spend that 6 months, learning how to keep your water immaculate and how to keep your water parameters as perfect as possible.

Third, your lights aren't good enough. Anemones require extremely strong lighting, MH to be exact. You will probably hear stories from people who have kept anemones for 6 months or a little longer under VHO's or T5's and the anemone did just fine then it died. They have a slow metablosim so the entire time the anemone is in their tank, it's slowly expelling its zooanthelle and slowly dying.
 
Frankie

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
cbrownfish said:
Don't dose without testing, especially if you are using straight iodine, not iodide. Anemone's will periodically shrink up to expel the water and waste, in order to swap out the fluid inside them. If it ate something that doesn't agree with it, then it will probably spit it out soon and recover. I have had anemone's shrink up into a small horrible looking condition and then recover.

Unfortunately, this is a wait and see thing IMO. How long has your tank been set up?
Click to expand...
Great post cbrownfish:thumbup:
 
S

SpoildRotn

Member
Okay, first of all, thx everyone for all ur advice. I have been very lucky with my tank so far, since I bought everything from the same place, including the water, I have had literally no cycle. I have tested 4 times in 3 weeks now and my water is perfect. Nitrates-0 Nitrates-0 Ammonia-0 and pH-8.0 (a tiny bit low but okay).

However, the first bad thing has happened, I am beginning to think this poor anenome was not destined to have a good life.

Wierdly enough, he was doing a lot better today and then one of my rocks fell on him and crushed him! Poor thing!! I feel so bad for the poor guy but, maybe it is for the best. A quick death my rock instead of a slow death from my idiocy.

Anyway, I am not putting another one in my tank for a long while but, I do thank you all for the advice. Sorry the news is not better!

:( ,
Deb
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
As long as it is holding on it has a chance. I have seen them come back after being shreaded in a power head.
If you can put it and it's rock in a separate container until you see if it will live or not. Dead anemone in the tank is a bad thing but you don't want to give up too soon either. If/when it is dead your nose will tell you. Very awful smell
 
cbrownfish

cbrownfish

Well-Known Member
Yikes, sorry to hear about the loss by falling rock. A sad end to this learning experience. Be sure to research extensively online BEFORE making a purchase, since advice from inexperienced LFS staff has bitten most of us in the butt. I, like most, have learned the hard way.....you are not alone! I began to read up on a new coral or critter prior to considering the purchase. It is soooo easy to fall for the impulse purchase. Remember that your LFS is in this to make money, good intentions or not. They have to turn livestock or they will go under.

Good luck moving forward.

PS: Thanks Frankie. :)
 
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