Carpet anemone

[Lindap.32]

Hi I am new to this forum and looking for some guidance with my new carpet anemone, my husband picked up from LFS just over a week ago. at first it was settled on top of a rock and my little clown fish took to it which surprised me as they haven't bothered with the other anemone in my tank anyway they seem to love this new anemone but over the course of the week it has moved down the rock going under it and is now hanging upside down and looks a complete different colour, not as puffed as it was and if I'm honest I'm not sure if it's I'll or dying which concerns me as I don't want the rest of my tank suffering if there's a problem I'd rather catch it now I've already lost a complete tank of fish to disease and do not want to go through that again!! Your help is much appreciated

 

[Rtaylor]

That looks like a gigantea anemone. They can be extremely difficult to acclimate to aquarium life and are prone to bacterial infections. There’s a sticky on how to treat them in the anemone forum. If you don’t think you can care for it try to find someone locally who can. Gigantea are hard to find and very desirable in the US. I’d take it from you if you are nearby.

Protocol for using antibiotics to treat infected anemones

This is a re-post of what I wrote in ReefCentral on 3/09/2013 Many anemone keepers know, the collection and shipping process from ocean to local fish store (LFS) is a stressful event. Most host anemones do not survive this process without help, especially H. magnifica and S. gigantea. Other...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Rtaylor]

Any update? Is it doing ok?

 

[Lindap.32]

Any update? Is it doing ok?

Sorry for the delay in responding, been a tad busy with work and tank/sump clean ups! Also thank you for the link I'm not very good at trying to locate the best info or where to post on here but I'm sure I'll find my feet eventually!!
So update I had moved the anemone from my DT as it looked really not good and I was scared it would poison everything else should the worse happen! In the QT tank it perked up for a day of antibiotics went from the horrible blue /grey look to it's pinky/white colour, never fed it at all infact it hadn't ate in about a week wouldn't eat in DT tank either, then next day it looked like it had vomited all over the tank so cleared that out next day it was dead!!! All the while in my DT I have noticed that my blue mandarin has vanished never thought about it at first just thought he would be hiding on back of the rock work somewhere but still nowhere to be seen nor a carcass of any sort!! So I'm possibly thinking could the anemone have ate him whilst he's been foraging on the rocks next to it and poisoned itself and died as a result!?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

With that info, it sounds (and looks) like your nem succumb to bacterial infection.

I don't think it to be very likely that it would have eaten your Mandy in that condition.

 

[Lindap.32]

With that info, it sounds (and looks) like your nem succumb to bacterial infection.

I don't think it to be very likely that it would have eaten your Mandy in that condition.

How do you reckon it could have got bacterial infection? Water parimeters were all fine so could it be something it has picked up from stress? It was doing fine sitting at the top of the rock with the clowns hosting it the it started to move down under the rock over a few days and it's over these few day I noticed my mandarin not around but as I say just assumed he'd be hiding in the rocks at back of the tank, but as the anemone didn't look good I removed it to quarantine but poor thing never made it and I've learned what a heck of a mess they leave when they die!! I've never had an anemone die before.

 

[Rtaylor]

How do you reckon it could have got bacterial infection? Water parimeters were all fine so could it be something it has picked up from stress? It was doing fine sitting at the top of the rock with the clowns hosting it the it started to move down under the rock over a few days and it's over these few day I noticed my mandarin not around but as I say just assumed he'd be hiding in the rocks at back of the tank, but as the anemone didn't look good I removed it to quarantine but poor thing never made it and I've learned what a heck of a mess they leave when they die!! I've never had an anemone die before.

There’s always bacteria (good and bad) in the water. If the anemone is under stress it is likely to become infected. It may also have had an infection prior to your acquisition of it. Most people with experience keeping s.gigantea treat all of them proactively for infection.

 

[Rtaylor]

Sorry for the delay in responding, been a tad busy with work and tank/sump clean ups! Also thank you for the link I'm not very good at trying to locate the best info or where to post on here but I'm sure I'll find my feet eventually!!
So update I had moved the anemone from my DT as it looked really not good and I was scared it would poison everything else should the worse happen! In the QT tank it perked up for a day of antibiotics went from the horrible blue /grey look to it's pinky/white colour, never fed it at all infact it hadn't ate in about a week wouldn't eat in DT tank either, then next day it looked like it had vomited all over the tank so cleared that out next day it was dead!!! All the while in my DT I have noticed that my blue mandarin has vanished never thought about it at first just thought he would be hiding on back of the rock work somewhere but still nowhere to be seen nor a carcass of any sort!! So I'm possibly thinking could the anemone have ate him whilst he's been foraging on the rocks next to it and poisoned itself and died as a result!?

It was likely expelling zooxanthelle, the symbiotic algae that allows it to derive energy via photosynthesis. Sick anemones often do this and the result is bleaching.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

How do you reckon it could have got bacterial infection? Water parimeters were all fine so could it be something it has picked up from stress? It was doing fine sitting at the top of the rock with the clowns hosting it the it started to move down under the rock over a few days and it's over these few day I noticed my mandarin not around but as I say just assumed he'd be hiding in the rocks at back of the tank, but as the anemone didn't look good I removed it to quarantine but poor thing never made it and I've learned what a heck of a mess they leave when they die!! I've never had an anemone die before.

Stress, transport, bagging with too little water.. Some anenome are prone to bacterial attacks and many treat them with antibiotics upon acquisition. If you plan to get another carpet, I would recommend having ciprofloxacin on hand first, as well as a hospital tank to treat it in.