NEW Anemone

vikki7

vikki7

Member
I got a new Anemone one week Today.
For the first 5 days, he moved around the tank and would not stick to anything.
At one time he got in front of the lower intake.... and was on his head, so I gently picked
him up and moved him .... but he went right back.
Now he is in front on the lower intake, but it not blocking it completely and has backed
into or between the back of the tank and my LR.
He opens up and his tenicals don't withdraw.. ie he has them reaching out.
My new Clown, even plays within them.
My concern is he won't eat and his mouth looks to me like it is open most of the time.
I have a Nano tank, and need new lights which I will order tomorrow.
The Fish Store Owner has his 2 Nano Cubes set up with Anemones and they have been healthy for about 2 years.. so I did not see a problem, but he told me to get new lights.
Mine are about 1 year old.
Oh yes, I have a 12 gallon Nano Cube.
Nitrates, Nitrites, .....all levels are what they should be.. except
I am uncertain what the salinity should be for the Anemone.
My salinity reads between 0.023 and 0.024.
I am afraid I am loosing my Anemone, and want to take care of him.
What can I do to get his Zoo....etc back and his mouth shut....
and should I move him from the intake..... I am sure he is stressed enough.
I just touched him, because my husband is cleaning the tank and when he pulled the sponge out one of his tenicles were in so I gently moved them out.. he did not even
try to stick to my hand.
Question, if he is satisfied where he is, will he try to stick to me?
Or is this a sign of stress?
Ok, enough I will let someone answer my questions.
I have attached a pic too.
thanks for listening.
vikki
vjmartin@charter.net if anyone has any help.
 
booduh

booduh

Member
If your anenome is not being sucked into the intake and your tank filter is working properly, leave it be. Anenomes take awhile to adjust and even longer to nurse back to health. If the tenticles are out, take that as a good sign. If the anenome starts to become bleached or consistently shrivels, there need to be some improvements made.
The new lights you have will definately help. The clown will also help. Clowns will feed their host anenomes bits of food and provide some stimulation. If however, the anenome has to be moved out of the filter and the clown seems to be stressing it out, place a clear container with holes for water flow over the anenome, this will provide light as well as fresh water without stress.
I learned the most frequent reason for my bulb anenome to move is water flow. Too much water movement really stresses them out.
The big concerns to watch for are; bleaching, shrinking of the tenticles and the foot not being able to attach. When I mean shrinking I do not mean the normal anenomes cyle of expelling waste, but that the anenome is not filling to it's full size with water.
That is all I can think of at the moment, hope it is of some help.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Thanks,
I think I will leave him be for now.... my Clown seems to be taking care of him.
He hangs right around him and does not get to far from him at any time.
He plays within his tenicles and I do hope he is getting something to eat.
I fed some liquid, which I know if not the best source of food for the Anomene but
I thought a little bit of nuturtion was better than none.
What else can I try to feed him?
OH, here is one other thing, I have a Sally Lightfoot in the tank who steals his food....
I get so angry at her....
 
J

jacob_poly

Guest
That looks like an LTA(?). I have one that behaved similar to that at the start. Would not eat. However mine was extremely sticky. I would recommend keeping an eye on your water parameters. If your anemone did not have an open mouth at the LFS where you bought him and only developed that after addition to your tank, then you might want to investigate to see that water quality, lighting meets the required levels. Also check your pH and alkalinity. Low alkalinity can upset it some. Crab stealing food? My peppermints are pirates from the same ship - you just have to have a long device like a prong or something and keep it at bay till you are done. If its taking more than 30 minutes to eat then just retrieve the food if possible and try again another day. Good Luck and keep us posted.
 
booduh

booduh

Member
My cleaner shrimp also tries to steal food. I use the same method as Jacob and push it away with a pair of tongs. As for food for the anenome I feed mine a siverside, small marine fish similar to a sardine, chopped into small pieces and unthawed to the tank temperature, usually takes at least fifteen minutes to thaw. I only feed mine once a week a small piece one at a time with a pir of tongs. If the anenome does not take the first small piece try again a couple of days later and do not force it to feed.
Another thing to try to start it to feed is to lightly squirt brine shrimp into the tenticles. I do not recommend this for long term feeding as brine does not have enough nutrition, but it my induce feeding at the beginning.
Liquid foods may actually hurt more than help. The anenome will benefit some, but the excess waste in your water may cause water quality issues and spur algae and other nuisance growth.
If it seems happy and the clown helps leaving it be is a good decision. If it's position needs to be moved, if possible move the rock it is attached to. This causes less stress. Also if it needs to moved and you can wait, wait. If it has time to recoop in your tank and is healthy the move will not be as bad.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Since my last post... my Anomene is really looking sick.
My Clown loves his new home, but the Anomene is becomming shrivled up looking.
Part of his tenicles are still streached out, but his foot which was very big red and long
has not shrunk up and is turning whitish... and is now a kind of pinkish cast too.
Here is a comment from Boooduh....
"The big concerns to watch for are; bleaching, shrinking of the tenticles and the foot not being able to attach. When I mean shrinking I do not mean the normal anenomes cyle of expelling waste, but that the anenome is not filling to it's full size with water. "
This looks like what you are describing above.........
My Salinity Gravity is at 0.023 should I bring it down in order for the Anomene to
be able to absorb more water.. or would that not work?
I REALLY NEED HELP, SO I CAN NURSE HIM BACK TO HEALTH..... HIS MOUTH IS STILL OPEN AT TIMES AND it appeas he is not eating... but the Clown loves him.... and never
leaves his side....
:help:
 
J

jacob_poly

Guest
I didn't read through the entire post - your SG is 1.023 and not 0.023 :) . To me thats fine and anywhere from 1.023/4 - 1.026 is fine IMO. Whats the size of your tank(pardon me if you already have listed that) and what kind of lighting do you have? If your anemone is shriveled for short periods of time thats fine. Usually if the water params, lights etc are good it will perk right back up. Is there anyone pestering the anemone? Hyper clownfish or shrimp? Have you had a chance to check the pH and alkalinity? If you can do it yourself its fine, else have an LFS test the water for you. I assume that your tank has been established long and so Nitrogen based pollutants like NH3 and NO2 are absent. So if possible have them check water specific gravity with a refractometer and also get pH and alkalinity values. Also is your skimmer functioning efficiently? Let us know.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Originally Posted by jacob_poly
I didn't read through the entire post - your SG is 1.023 and not 0.023 :) . To me thats fine and anywhere from 1.023/4 - 1.026 is fine IMO. Whats the size of your tank(pardon me if you already have listed that) and what kind of lighting do you have? If your anemone is shriveled for short periods of time thats fine. Usually if the water params, lights etc are good it will perk right back up. Is there anyone pestering the anemone? Hyper clownfish or shrimp? Have you had a chance to check the pH and alkalinity? If you can do it yourself its fine, else have an LFS test the water for you. I assume that your tank has been established long and so Nitrogen based pollutants like NH3 and NO2 are absent. So if possible have them check water specific gravity with a refractometer and also get pH and alkalinity values. Also is your skimmer functioning efficiently? Let us know.

I can not get the water parimiters right now. I am leaving for a little bit.
But I noticed that his foot, really shrunk now has white mucus icky stuff on it.
When I first noticed it, it looked like a small blister, not it looks like it has broken open.
Should I remove him from the tank to not loose my Clown?

I can always get another Anomene..... but I dont want to take the chance of loosing my clown.. it is so pretty and will host anything I put in the tank....
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Ok, it is coming down to my Anomone having what looks like a blister on his foot.
The foot has shrunk from about 3 inches to maybe 1/5-1in at the most.
It is whitish up at the top and a little pink at the base of his foot.
My question is this.... Should I remove him from the tank?
Pinkish layers of his foot is sluffing off and he has that infected looking mucus white
blister of a thing on his foot.
He never planted his foot in anything since the day I brought him home.
He moved around the tank, but never did attach... The Clown just moves with him.
He has now remained in one position, not attached, but laying over a rock for almost a week.
He has always laid on his side or sometimes even tenicles down.
As time goes on, he getts more bleached looking.
At night he closes up and the Clown sleeps in his tenicles and when the lights come on in the morning he does open up.
I don't have experience with Anemone's but I want to learn very bad as I just love them and love the interaction my Clown has with them.
I guess most of all, I dont want that sore spot on his foot to explode and send out posion
into my tank....
Is this a posibility? Could it be happening right now?
HELP PLEASE.
:help:
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Here is a picture of the Anomone's sore spot on his foot.
Can anyone tell me if he can be medicated, if he could be saved if put in a hospital tank?
I have a Nano Cube with new lights, I put them in 1 week ago.
Salinity Gravity is
Nitrate = 40
Nitrite= 0
Alkalinity 300
PH Level = between 7.8 & 8.4
I am taking the samples with a strip method so I can not be exact.
Specific Gravity = 1.022
I attached a picture of the Anomenoe.. please anyone let me know what you think.
 
J

jacob_poly

Guest
I am hoping someone else can advise here, since I havent ever had this problem before. If thats a laceration on the foot then chances are slim for the anemone. But I am no expert.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Originally Posted by Bobothewizard
That looks like his insides coming out. Think hes on his way out.

I don't want to sound dumb here, but I am assuming it could be poision?
If so, I am also assuming it best to just remove him from the tank.
 
bobothewizard

bobothewizard

Member
Im not sure what you mean by poison? I.E. He will poison the tank?
I would leave him in there and see if he recovers, one thing you do not want to do now is move him around. You will be able to tell if he is dead or not, they turn into mush when dead.
just leave him be and hope for a full recovery.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Originally Posted by Bobothewizard
That looks like his insides coming out. Think hes on his way out.

One more thing.....
If this is his insides coming out and it is getting in my tank.
What should I do to clean the tank from poisions and to get the tank back in balance....
?
 
T

thomas712

Guest
To my knowledge not medication will help heal an anemone. It appears as you have a wound on him, but I suspect that it is fighting it well, it looks to be healing. As long as you are not seeing his guts literally pumping out of it then hang in there.
I would:
1, run fresh carbon every three days for a week.
2. have a water change ready and do it to help keep the system clean and water paramiters as good as possible.
3. Try to feed it just a very small amount to check to see if its tenticals are still sticky, but don't be alarmed if it doesn't grasp it as it will be focusing energy into the healing process.
4. Clean the skimmer if you have one.
I could always geuss about the health of an anemone but I like to give it the benifit of the doubt first. Keep an eye on him, try to keep the clownfish from hassling it to much and making the healing process difficult for the anemone, if necessary you may want to quarenteen the clownfish to keep it from bothering the anemone.
Watch any cleanup crew that may take advantage of the wound on the anemone.
Hope you can find something useful in my advice.
Thomas
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Originally Posted by Thomas712
To my knowledge not medication will help heal an anemone. It appears as you have a wound on him, but I suspect that it is fighting it well, it looks to be healing. As long as you are not seeing his guts literally pumping out of it then hang in there.
I would:
1, run fresh carbon every three days for a week.
2. have a water change ready and do it to help keep the system clean and water paramiters as good as possible.
3. Try to feed it just a very small amount to check to see if its tenticals are still sticky, but don't be alarmed if it doesn't grasp it as it will be focusing energy into the healing process.
4. Clean the skimmer if you have one.
I could always geuss about the health of an anemone but I like to give it the benifit of the doubt first. Keep an eye on him, try to keep the clownfish from hassling it to much and making the healing process difficult for the anemone, if necessary you may want to quarenteen the clownfish to keep it from bothering the anemone.
Watch any cleanup crew that may take advantage of the wound on the anemone.
Hope you can find something useful in my advice.
Thomas
Thomas I have been waiting for you to show up. :)
Thank you for your advice.
My Clown is very hyper and does not leave the Anomene alone.. In fact it does
not swim 6 inches from him unless there is another critter he is trying to run off.
I have Sally Lightfoot and she appears to steal the anomone's food.. I wonder if that is how the Anomenoe got the tear.. Could or have you hear of a Sally pinching the foot of an Anomone?
Poor Clown.. :-( she will be dissapointed, but I guess I need to find something to do with her... while he tries to heal.
You did not mention about the insides of the Anomene being poision... to the tank.
Got any idea?
Thanks for replying :)
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by Vikki7
Thomas I have been waiting for you to show up. :)
You did not mention about the insides of the Anomene being poision... to the tank.
Got any idea?
Been working alot latley, dones't allow me as much time as I used to have. Sorry. You know I'd rather hang out with anemones than anyone else :)
As to the poison, well there is a certain amount of toxicity that can occur. Thus the water change and carbon. Unless it decintigrates or has a metldown I firmly believe you can stay on top of this. I would think any sharp poke from a crab would injure the anemone.
I'll check back later today/tonight for any updates.
 
vikki7

vikki7

Member
Originally Posted by Thomas712
Been working alot latley, dones't allow me as much time as I used to have. Sorry. You know I'd rather hang out with anemones than anyone else :)
As to the poison, well there is a certain amount of toxicity that can occur. Thus the water change and carbon. Unless it decintigrates or has a metldown I firmly believe you can stay on top of this. I would think any sharp poke from a crab would injure the anemone.
I'll check back later today/tonight for any updates.

Great... I will keep you posted... as I really want to save him.
He was really beautiful when I brought him home..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top