LTA's mouth is bulging! HELP!!!

[gypsana]

My LTA started to do this a few days ago. In the pictures the first one was taken Saturday and the second one was taken last night. It still has it's color and the appearance has not changed as of this morning. I Know that this is not good at all, but at what point should I be ready to take it out of the tank. My clown fish is freaking out and will not leave it's side nor let anything else near it. Oh yea I also feed it right after this started and it did eat. Water conditions are all good as well. Foot still has color and is still attached. Tentacle are not very sticky thou. I hope this info helps. I am very sad about this.

 

[gypsana]

Bump

 

[invertcrazy]

How long has it been in your tank? What kind of lights do u have? Has your water conditions changed over the past week? What are you feeding it?

 

[gypsana]

I have had it for almost two years under T5 lighting. I feed it silver sides and no my conditions have not changed over the past week. It still looks the same this morning.

 

[jrthomas40]

how long have you been feeding it silversides??? i feed mine some yesterday and this morning it just shriveld up...so i wont be feeding it those anymore!!! the other anemones i had did that same thing after feeding silver sides but they were medium sized so i figured it was cuz my clowns were thrashing it....i hope yours bounces back

 

[gypsana]

I have been feeding mine silver sides since I bought it with no problems. I hope it bounces back too. I really have grown very fond of it.

 

[perfectdark]

pooing, splitting... just ate syndrome.. ie digesting. Hard to say right now. I dont think your in any trouble just keep an eye on it. It could continue for another day or so like this especially if its splitting or excreting. How large of a piece of silverside do you normally feed it?

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by PerfectDark
http:///forum/post/2671878
pooing, splitting... just ate syndrome.. ie digesting. Hard to say right now. I dont think your in any trouble just keep an eye on it. It could continue for another day or so like this especially if its splitting or excreting. How large of a piece of silverside do you normally feed it?
Thanks for the help. I am hoping that it is one of the above. I feed it a piece about 1 1/2". I am going to do a water change as well to see if it may help. I thought LTAs did not split.

 

[spanko]

I believe you are only supposed to feed it a piece no bigger than it's mouth is.

 

[gypsana]

It is a huge LTA, About 12" in diameter and it,s mouth is pretty large. I have always feed it this size with no problems. Even when it was smaller.

 

[sea_nacl_h2o]

You are right, these anemones don't split. You might have fed it a bad silverside. Small daily water changes might help, just don't do too much of a water change at one time. I would keep the maroon clown away from the lta while its looking like this.
You should probably throw away what ever silversides you have left and get some fresh silversides. I use silversides..but after a month of them being in the freezer. I throw out what is left after a month. Lately I have shyed away from silversides. I have read too many horrible stories of people losing their 5+year old anemones to a bad silverside.

 

[perfectdark]

Hmmm i would like to see where you got that info from... as far as LTA's not splitting. Do you know if you have a H. Crispa or a Macrodactyla doreensis? Both are commonly called LTA's and both do split. FWIW your feedings should consist of chopped foods admisiterd with a turkey baster.
"Macrodactyla is not a good candidate for artificially fragmenting. It just suffers too much for the abuse. However, natural fission events, though not common, do occur, with one animal splitting into two... or asexual fissioning, breaking off a piece of the body distinct from its parent, developing a new disc and tentacles."
And here is an H. Crispa splitting... (which IMO looks physically like yours, excluding color.)

 

[gypsana]

It would be great if it was a splitting. This actually started before the feeding but not at this degree. I am going to do a water change and see if this helps. As for exact species and their behaviors I am by far no expert. I was told this was an LTA when I purchased it but the people at that LFS were not very bright. I am going to keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again, all of your responses are very helpful. I will keep you posted so maybe this could help someone else in the future.

 

[sea_nacl_h2o]

I would like to see some evidence of a LTA splitting. On all the information I have read about M.doreensis, I have never read anything about these particular anemones reproducing asexually. This is including on forums and my own experience. A lot of people think their bta is a LTA only because they do not have bubble tips. So, this is what makes people think that ltas reproduce asexually when their anemone is just a misidentified bta. I can't even tell if that picture you are showing is a H.Crispa, the picture is too small to ID it.

 

[gypsana]

This picture is about a year old, but it is the best picture of the underside. It has grown a bit since this picture was taken (so has my clown) and the coloring is quite a bit darker. Maybe this will help in an ID. As for LTA's splitting I have also read that the do not split but I can not believe everything I read unless it comes from an expert.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by sea_nacl_h2o
http:///forum/post/2672185
I would like to see some evidence of a LTA splitting. On all the information I have read about M.doreensis, I have never read anything about these particular anemones reproducing asexually. This is including on forums and my own experience. A lot of people think their bta is a LTA only because they do not have bubble tips. So, this is what makes people think that ltas reproduce asexually when their anemone is just a misidentified bta. I can't even tell if that picture you are showing is a H.Crispa, the picture is too small to ID it.
Ummm well the evidence is above, the pic of a H Crispa splitting, that pic along the quote about M. doreensis, I posted came directly from Fenner. Not sure how much more evidence you are looking for.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by gypsana
http:///forum/post/2672222
This picture is about a year old, but it is the best picture of the underside. It has grown a bit since this picture was taken (so has my clown) and the coloring is quite a bit darker. Maybe this will help in an ID. As for LTA's splitting I have also read that the do not split but I can not believe everything I read unless it comes from an expert.

I do not believe that is a M.doreensis the lack of verrucae is evident. I dont think those white dots are but the could be. Can you tell better by seeing it in person?

 

[gypsana]

If you mean that they are not wart like that is correct they are just white pigmentation for a lack of the correct term. I am confused by what you see when you search for pictures because it seems that a lot of people are confused on what species they own.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by gypsana
http:///forum/post/2672692
If you mean that they are not wart like that is correct they are just white pigmentation for a lack of the correct term. I am confused by what you see when you search for pictures because it seems that a lot of people are confused on what species they own.
The verrucae are eaisily identifiable on M.doreensis. Under the pedal disk area above the foot and column. There are rows of them and they are white running longitudinal. Yours has the white which is why I asked but if they are not raised I dont think.
Here is a pic...of an H. Magnifica you can clearly see the verrucae in this pic.

 

[sea_nacl_h2o]

Perfectdark, I found a bigger picture of what you are claiming to be a H. Crispa. That looks like a picture of a rose bta splitting not an H.crispa. There is also another site that has the same picture claiming its a H. Magnifica

. Gypsana, the line of a beaded crown where the the tenticles meet the underside of the disc throws me off. It makes me think sebae, I don't see that on my lta. May I see a picture of the oral disc of your anemone just to be sure??
Here is some pictures of a LTA I have found and pictures of my purple LTA.