anemone suicide !!!!!

[KrautBurner]

well,
a little over a week ago I picked up an awesome Purple long tipped anemone.

I acclimated it, and placed it in the tank where I wanted it.
he moved a little over the next couple days. but prettymuch stayed where I wanted him.
my gsm clowns took strait to him and were hosting.

everything was looking good

I went out of town for a few days.
got back last night, noticed he had moved.
he was at the bottom of the tank, about 12" below where he had been on the rocks. I wasn't too worried (roommate said he had just moved monday (am he was on the rocks, pm he was on the glass, but still open, and looking good)

this morning, I couldn't find him.
but there were little purple pieces all over the tank.
I moved some rocks, and there he was, face first into the powerhead I had buried behind my rockwork

the damn thing commited suicide by doing a faceplant into my powerhead.


now I can't decide if I'm more sad or pissed !!!

not only did I just shell out some decent cash for him,
but he looked awesome, I hadn't seen a purple one like him anywhere before.

I told the LFS about it,
and let them know I'd like another if they can get one.
and to let me know.




I guess that's all for now

 

[KrautBurner]

 

[KrautBurner]

these pics are from the day after I put him in (I think)

he was over on the far left
went strait to the bottom, and behind the rocks to my powerhead

 

[russellaqua]

Sorry for your loss. I had a neon green BTA (~5") do the same. Many anemones like current as it helps bring food to them, unfortunately it can also attract them to powerheads. I've yet to see any way of preventing it from happen. If you hear of anything let me know. I'd love to keep another anemone but don't want to lose it like that again. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

 

[jnarowe]

It was bleached when you put it in your tank. These are very hard to keep and wander all around getting into trouble. The ONLY reason why I can keep one is because I have supersonic lighting. Even with that it will cruise around the tank tasting everything about every 3 - 4 months.

PLTAs are an advanced reef keepers only anemone. Want more advice? Talk to people who know anemones well like Vicki.

This is what a healthy PLTA looks like:

 

[trido]

PLTAs are an advanced reef keepers only anemone. Want more advice? Talk to people who know anemones well like Vicki

Most advanced reefers wont even keep anenomes. They get alittle unhappy and start wandering creating havoc on all of the corals in a tank and if they dont settle in they eventually get sucked into an intake of some sort. In most cases they just arent worth the hassle unless in a dedicated tank.
I was just reminded of this. I donated a wandering LTA after near two years of dealing with it. I was done. A friend then offered me a free RBTA and like an idiot I took it. It immediately split taking double the real estate. Fortunately they stayed where I put them. I then upgraded my system and sold one of them. The other wandered until it was killed in a hydor 4 and clouded my whole system two weeks ago.

Your not alone Krautburner. It happens alot in this hobby

 

[plack]

Ocassionally you get somewhat lucky also !

From the first photo the placement looks (judging from the color contrast of the rest of the photo) like there is/was NOT enoughp light where it was put IMO.

I first got one day 1 reefing and it was bleached pure white--- I still have nearly 5 years later healthy brown with purple tips---and it's lived thru alk spikes and 1 tank change . They move if the flow is changed in anyway regardless. They may only move a few inches but usually once they stay put they don't move unless there is a change IME

For what it's worth Even though I have been sucessfull and or lucky ( Ive kept a linka alive for 4 years also) Sometimes they to take up too much real estate. In my 180 he is too close to quite a few corals and I think thats why my birds nest hardly ever grows
If I change my flow he moves And I have to re attach/move my coarls :-(


Good luck

Paul

 

[NaH2O]

I went ahead and merged the 2 threads into one. It will keep things nice and tidy.

 

[Maxx]

Click the link in my signature for anemone keeping info.

The anemone you had was bleached out, it was most likely wandering in search of more ideal conditions for itself. Anemone's can survive powerhead/pump intake encounters, depending on how bad they are entangled. Main thing is not to remove the anemone at all. Turn the powerhead/pump off and let the anemone extract itself.

Its really disappointing and frustrating when this happens, I know, its happened to me. Last time it happened a Rittteri anemone wandered into a pump intake and shredded the tentacles. When that happened, it released its nematocysts which killed all the fish in my tank except my clowns...that sucked.

If you want to keep anemone's again in the future, I would suggest determine what type of anemone you want to keep, and setting up a specific habitat for them specifically....you stand a much better chance of success that way.

Nick

 

[burning2nd]

just caused its bleached doesnt mean its weak... (non the less) missing its zoo's arent good BUT.

just cause it was bleached doesnt mean it was unhealthy....

did you have a catch on the power head... or was is just strait open?

 

[KrautBurner]

seio superflow

did you have a catch on the power head... or was is just strait open?

I don't know what a catch is,
pretty sure id didn't have one


it was one of these....

 

[KrautBurner]

The anemone you had was bleached out, it was most likely wandering in search of more ideal conditions for itself. Anemone's can survive powerhead/pump intake encounters, depending on how bad they are entangled. Main thing is not to remove the anemone at all. Turn the powerhead/pump off and let the anemone extract itself...

Nick

I thought it's color was great,
my camera dosn't pick up that well

but
as far as extracting it,
everey tentacle was all the way in the pump,
there was no purple showing, at all
just the foot

I will read up some more,
probably won't get another for a while

 

[kirkland]

I agree that vicki is a good source of information. we sold our giant bta to her recently as it had grown so large, it took over half our tank.

3 years ago, we had a 100 gallon tank that we switched from FO to a reef. Bought this bta anemone and loved how he looked in our tank here:

within 2 weeks, he crawled up the back of our tank and got sucked into the aquaclear filter intake. i hate even looking at this picture. i found him like this in the morning and literally had to cut him out of the intake. we transported him to a hospital tank at a lfs but he didn't make it. we have an overflow in the back of our corner tank with little slits in it and the sump return is a u-shaped pipe with a basket over the intake located behind the overflow. i refuse to put pumps or intakes inside the tank ever since this happened. it's too risky if you're going to keep anemones to have powerheads in the tank.

 

[freetareef]

AHHHH!!!!!! my eyes!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!!

 

[jnarowe]

I told the LFS not to sell you any more! :lol:

 

[Maxx]

just caused its bleached doesnt mean its weak... (non the less) missing its zoo's arent good BUT.

just cause it was bleached doesnt mean it was unhealthy....

did you have a catch on the power head... or was is just strait open?

Actually, anemones bleach, (expell Zooxanthellae) when stressed, most commonly caused in the hobby by collection/shipping stress, but it can also be caused by aquarium conditions such as being sucked into a powerhead or pump. The vast majority of their energy needs are met by the Zooxanthellae in their tentacles and oral disc. Any supplemental feeding is exactly that.....supplemental. Most anemones kept in the hobby cant survive w/o intense lighting. They can survive just fine for several years w/o being fed.
Therefore, a bleached anemone is an unhealthy anemone, (unless its not photosynthetic). However, just because its bleached doesnt mean its doomed, they can recover if provided the proper conditions.

I thought it's color was great,
my camera dosn't pick up that well

but
as far as extracting it,
everey tentacle was all the way in the pump,
there was no purple showing, at all
just the foot

I will read up some more,
probably won't get another for a while

KB, Based on your picture, it appeared bleached, but not irrevocably so.

IMO/IME, the biggest hurdle in anemone keeping is finding healthy one to begin with. Knowing what a healthy one looks like, and what it needs to be kept long term is where the research part comes in....

Good luck in any future attempts.

Nick

 

[KrautBurner]

I told the LFS not to sell you any more! :lol:

I'll buy what I want !!!!


but probably no more anemone's for a while

 

[jnarowe]

:lol: glad that didn't offend you!

If you really want to keep nems, we can get together and discuss them in more detail, and maybe take a trip to visit with a couple of our more experienced local anemone fanatics. There's a lot to learn, but as you see, I am keeping some very nice specimens in my system and so can you with the right information and equipment.

BEER.

 

[KrautBurner]

cool cool,

I'm in no hurry,
but I do tend to be a little impulsive (and I know it's not a good thing)

btw,
I was drinking a 2004 Samichlaus Bier last nigh, was delicious

 

[jnarowe]

.............nice!