Sea Anenome twisting arms and severing

[kylem]

Hi,
My Sea anemome has been doing fine till now. He has been twisting off limbs like he was in pain. He has reduced in size to 1/3 and seems to wain abit. He is still alive but what is wrong with him. Another Sea Anenome didn't like it when a clownfish moved in. It seemed stressed and started to self mutilate arms and even part of the face of the anenome. I took the anemome out and put it in the sump with the coral frags. I have another new anemome for the clown which the clown moved into the next day. I checked my water. My NH4 level was at 0.3 1 week after I changed my tank around, drain the tank down to put in some new plumbing but keeped the rock and the fish in water in garbage cans with light over them. Took me 7 hours to do the whole job. So I expected a little rise in NH4 I did a 20% water change and everyone was happy for a day. The NH4 Levels are at 0.1 but the hermit crabs are still waining and not eating much. I cleaned the bottom of the tank when I did the water change to take out some detrius in the sand. I lost my biggest hermit crab when it molted during the high level of NH4 but nothing else had died.
What could be wrong in the tank? PH is 8.1 all other level are normal except that the alkalinity is a little high. 10.8 dkh which is a little out of the normal range.

 

[Terry B]

Unless you consider yourself to be an advanced aquarist with a stable, aged aquarium with optimal lighting then I would not attempt to keep a host anemone. The survival rate of host anemones that survive 3 years is less than 5%. This is an outright sin since anemones may live a hundred years or more in the wild. Anemones tend to shrink, lose their natural color (not white) and die within a few months. Bubble anemones may be the hardiest of the host anemones but they should not be attempted by anyone that hasn't already had LONG-term success keeping sensitive, photosynthetic animals thriving, and alive. Many believe that importing host anemones should be banned.
The kindest thing to do may be to return the anemone to the shop or give it to someone that already has a proven track record of keeping host anemones healthy for many years at a time. Many anemones are dying before they even reach a LFS. If you can give me more details about the anemone, your lighting and chemisrty I may be able to tell you how to save it, but that usually requires a highly experienced aquarist. Sorry the news isn't good.

HTH,
Terry Bartelme

 

[kylem]

Thanks Terry. I have a younger anenome of the Sabae Halu which is doing fine and is covered with coraline algae...gives it a pink/grey look instead of white..the color I got it has. I was wanting to get a bigger one for the clowns but this one didn't last very long...it was trying to hide and didn't like the light. It wanted to hang upside down in a cave. It would not take any food. The smaller version is surviving quite well. The larger one self destructed today.
The other anemeone is a florida type with long tenticles and a pink tip. It did quite well for 4 months it changed color to the coraline algae color. But I added some corals to the tank and it started to cut and twist of parts of its arms...just the arms. It has stopped doing this but reduced in size. I feed it what I can manualy and seems to be doing better but is still smaller.

The host anemome I got from another tank. One from the store owners personal tank. I feed suppliment food to it...krill. The clowns are starting to move into it. It seems to be doing fine but I just got the thing. Its a rare rose color of the Entacmaea Quadricolor.

Any suggestions on what and when I should feed them?

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

BTA's and RBTA's need to be kept under some pretty decent lighting. I feed mine about once a week to 10 days and it seems to do fine. I usually feed a small piece of Shrimp or Krill or cut Squid. This seems to work well as it has not only slpit for me but it has also increased again to about 9 inches across. I have a total of 3 RBTA's in my tanks.

Anenomes can be some pretty tough customers to keep. Thier long term survival track record is pretty dismal at best. I have had mine for 2 years and feel quiet lucky to have had them last this long. Without excellent water quality, great lighting, a mature reef tank thats at least a year old and stable, not to mention good husbandry skills its odds of surviving very long arent the best. Of the Anenomies out there for sale the BTA's and RBTA's are probably the hardiest out there (other than the Codnylatis which isnt a host anenome). There are a couple of others that are pretty good canidates too but...I think the BTA's are the better of the bunch.

If you got one becuase you have a clown fish and feel like they "need" one, there are lots of other options for host for them other than anenomes that are far more hardy and usually much cheaper. So of the better substitute host I have had are Xenias, and Toad Stool Leathers.

Just some things to think about....

 

[kylem]

So thanks for the info...ugh!
Does anyone have a scientific explanation for why they twist or kink the arms.
Does it have to do with the water conditions...lack of something?