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FAQs on Carpet Anemone Trauma

FAQs on: Carpet Anemone Disease 1,
FAQs on Carpet Anemone Disease by Category:
Diagnosing, Environmental (Pollution/Poisoning, Lighting...), Nutritional, Social (Allelopathy), Pathogenic (Infectious, Parasitic, Viral) Predatory/Pest, Treatments   
Carpet Anemone Reproduction,

Related Articles: Carpet Anemones, Stichodactyla spp., Use in Marine Aquariums by Bob Fenner, Carpet Anemones, big, beautiful and deadly by Mike Maddox, Bubble Tip Anemones, Tropical Atlantic Anemones, Anemones, Colored/Dyed AnemonesCnidarians, Marine Light, & Lighting

Related FAQs: Carpet Anemones 1, Carpet Anemones 2, Carpet Anemone Identification, Carpet Anemone Behavior, Carpet Anemone Compatibility, Carpet Anemone Selection, Carpet Anemone Systems, Carpet Anemone Feeding, Carpet Anemone Reproduction,

 

New Print and eBook on Amazon:  

Anemone Success
Doing what it takes to keep Anemones healthy long-term

by Robert (Bob) Fenner

Bleached Anemone     9/29/13
Hello Crew,
<Karen>
I ordered a Haddoni Carpet Anemone from Liveaquaria. It arrived yesterday and I am concerned that it may be bleached.
<... the pic of the animal you've sent? Yes>

 It is very light green. It seems to be very healthy. It is very sticky and quickly buried it's foot deeply in the sand. I have always had such a good result with all live stock ordered from them.
<A reputable firm>
 Should I be concerned or is it possibly the natural color?
<Am cc'ing Kevin Kohen, who runs this division of Dr.s Foster & Smith... Am very surprised that they'd send this specimen along. Bob Fenner>
Thanks for your help,
Re: Bleached Anemone     9/29/13

Wow!!!!! Talk about customer service, and from a volunteer site! Will let you know the outcome.
Thanks,
Karen
<I encourage you to contact LA as well. BobF>

Re: Bleached Anemone     9/30/13
Karen,
My name is Kevin Kohen and I am the LiveAquaria.com director for Drs. Foster and Smith.  I am very sorry to see that you experienced a problem with your recent LiveAquaria order number A2937672, as this is not the level of service that you deserve.
I have reached out this morning to the staff in California and sent along the image you had provided on WetWebMedia.com so that we can ensure that we take the proper steps to correct the problem.  The anemone you received is definitely far too translucent and bleached, as its expelled most of its Zooxanthellae.  Please keep the anemone illuminated well and offer food in the form of large Mysis, chunks of krill or other meaty foods several times per week and hopefully it will regain its beneficial algae.  This may take up to 6 weeks, but from the sounds of it, the anemone has the ability to capture food and adheres to a solid surface so that is a great sign. 
I have instructed our LiveAquaria.com staff to provide a refund back to your credit card which was used to make the purchase for both the anemone and the next day air Saturday shipping charge.  You should see this on your credit card statement in the next 72 hours.
Once again, this is not the level of service nor the quality of animals that we are known for, and I am sorry for the problems associated with your order.  We truly value you as a customer and sincerely appreciate your patronage and support. 
If you have any further questions please feel free to reach out to me directly or to our customer service staff by calling 1-800-334-3699 .
Sincerely,
Kevin Kohen
Director of LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith
www.LiveAquaria.com
www.DrsFosterSmith.com
www.PetEducation.com
<Outstanding Kev; thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
BobF>
Re: Bleached Anemone     9/30/13

Bob,
Thank you very much for emailing me,  I really appreciate it! 
<Kevin; your "A" efforts (Dr.s F & S) ARE the industry's exemplary standard. Am glad to bring occasional/anomalous events to your attention.
Cheers, BobF>
Sincerely,
Kevin Kohen

Re: Bleached <sic> Anenome; rdg., finally      9/30/13
Bob,
Thanks so much for the quick response. I received a fast refund this morning from LiveAquaria. You and your crew are the greatest! I will be attempting to revive this anenome since it is still sticky and accepting
food. Any other hints you may have would be appreciated.
<Please do read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cptanemdisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above. B>
Karen

Injured Carpet Anemone/Stichodactyla Systems/Health 2/28/2011
Good morning fish gurus,
<Good morning, EJ.>
I recently added a carpet anemone to my tank. Right now the left half of the tank is lit by LED lights and the right half metal halides. I put the anemone on the metal halide side. He did not seem to like the lights there. The parts of him that were under direct exposure would shrink and only the area in the shade would inflate. Also he would only grab on with half of his foot and not very securely. I woke up this morning and found him in a fan style powerhead.
<Yikes, should have researched first.>

He has injuries around the edge but his foot is undamaged. I moved him to the LED side
and he fully grabbed onto rock with his foot right away. He hasn't opened up much all day today. But that is to be expected. My question is can he survive injuries like that or is he a goner.
<A pic or two would have helped, but generally do not survive.>
As I said his ain body is fully intact. But along the edges he has damage.
He sort of looks frayed in spots. Also I have a rose bubble and a maxi mini that are doing very well. Both on the led side of the tank. Don't worry, They are several feet from the carpet (it's an 8 foot wide tank), I also have all the fish in quarantine to fight an ich outbreak so there are no fish in the tank at this time and ammonia nitrite and nitrate all test to 0.
<Do read/learn by going here.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/carpetanemones.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_3/capranem.html
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm>
Thanks for your help.
<You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)>
Ej

URGENT carpet help? Bob - <Anthony Calfo in your service> I have been reading all thru your materials on anemones and carpets. here are some pics 12 hours apart from my new carpet in my third tank. I was very disturbed to find that a day after my clown took to the anemone (very aggressively for the female), I came home from work and the mouth was all swollen (like it had turned inside out). I separated the clowns and 12 hours later it looks like the second pic - e.g.. now more swollen looking and moving its foot. third pic - the mouth is more under control but don't have enough experience with carpets to know if this is a rebound or not? Carpet has been in the tank for 5 days now and I know it is still acclimating - just don't want it to be dying. <alas... by any definition you have a severely stressed animal that is dreadfully close to dieing. For starters, the very pale cream yellow color to the animal indicates a specimens that was bleached from stress or dyed. It should be dark green and/or brown most likely. For how notoriously sensitive these animals are upon import and for how quickly a dead anemone of this size and wipe out an aquarium, I am honestly and especially disappointed that this anemone was not placed first in quarantine to acclimate without the additional stress and imposition of clownfish> from the first pic you can see that the clowns were most interested in eating from the expelled food from the mouth. I believe this is a Stichodactyla. gigantea - can you confirm this? thanks for any helpful insight you may have here. <this anemone needs moderate to strong water movement right now, and quite frankly the clowns are a hindrance and possibly a harm. Please feed this anemone very fine shredded meats of marine origin (nothing larger than 1/4 inch for easy digestion). Feeding several times weekly is CRUCIAL for the survival of this animal. Maintain very good light, clear water (carbon, PolyFilters, water changes) and aggressive protein skimming (dark daily skimmate collected). A darker color change would be a good sign.> ken
<best regards, Anthony>
Re: URGENT carpet help? also, even today it remains very sticky to touch - should I attempt to feed even tho it looks to be spitting everything out?  <yes... please do feed small amounts of fine food. It may be crucial for its survival. Such anemones are hardly autotrophic but rather need significant food daily on top of the products of symbiosis (assuming the zooxanthellae are even working at peak health, which they clearly are not at this point). Thus, an unfed weak anemone is suffering a daily net loss of carbon and IS starving. Feeding is critical for most coral and anemone at least several times weekly> also, if you have an acclimation procedure that you use Id like to hear it! ken <do look over the following for Cnidarian (coral and anemone) acclimation to light: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm as far as acclimating to water chemistry, any variation on a slow drip of 20-40 minutes is definitely in the ballpark. kindly, Anthony>
Re: URGENT carpet help? ok - have told my wife to feed it since I am at work - it still seems to have strings and small balls expelling from its mouth ... I hope the food will help revive it - I am quite concerned about the amount of expectorant - is this normal for a stressing fish OR for a dying fish?  <alas... not uncommon at all for a stressed animal> well - it finally lost its foot again, left a slime trail down to the lower corner of the tank, and turned upside down.  <yes... bad> at that point, it was obviously done - so I took it out of the tank. thanks again for your help - there really should be some pics like the ones I sent you somewhere on the net so that others can SEE what is going on -  <they are on the net now and will be archived soon <wink> Thank you> there are tons of questions from folks when these types of things start happening that may help them see what could happen. <yes, agreed. And do consider the value of the "deposit game" that Bob describes in his book as an invaluable tool to procure healthy animals and keep dealers honest even before bringing an animal home to a proper QT (bare bottom tank, one species per, 4 weeks, etc)> thanks again! ken
<my very best regards, Anthony>
Re: URGENT carpet help? Anthony Calfo - first off let me say that I consider your help invaluable!  <it is a pleasure and honor to be of help, thank you> also, this is in actuality my quarantine tank, with skimming - just a little more upscale than normal. I shouldn't have let the clowns at it so quickly tho. <indeed... the clowns are a significant problem. QT with mixed species is improper but perhaps of little matter here after all> yesterday the anemone was looking quite chipper (12 hours after looking inside out) but the stingers of the oral disk were not swollen but pointed. <picture 1(?), yes... looked quite good> but alas, this morning it was back to inside out again. also I have been noticing small acorn shaped white cottony mucus balls that it is expelling about the size of a peanut - have you seen this before? <yes... sounds like regurgitation. Common with foods fed too large (chunks). Although this animal can sting and kill a whole fish, it is rare in nature to have something so large, dead or stupid free fall through a reef full of other hungry/predatory fishes untouched and land on any such anemone. They eat zooplankton and largely at night. Thus, very finely shredded meats are appropriate: nothing large than an adult brine shrimp preference (although brine shrimp itself is a very poor food). Never chunks of meat, especially to a weak anemone. Try Mysis shrimp, or Pacifica plankton... or shred raw cocktail shrimp> the anemone is actually green not yellow - that could have been the flash on the poor digital camera I have. <ahh... very well then and good to hear> however, it definitely looks bad at this point. there are stings coming from the mouth and when it opens wider it looks bad. I have refrained from feeding over the last 2 days because it obviously was trying to get stuff out of its mouth not in - should I have done something different? <all is well is the food you were feeding was fine, else perhaps resume feeding with small bits> the first pic is 24 hours after the yesterdays first pic, then the last two are this morning - 36 hours after the first pic thanks for helping ! ken <I wish you the best with this beautiful animal and beyond. Yet, for other daily FAQ readers, this situation is rather common and almost the rule with anemones... very difficult to acclimate into captivity: far more dwindle than survive. IMO anemones are rarely to be recommended to aquarists short of species tanks and study. So many other fine and hardy animals to be had that ship well. Still, I do not begrudge you for your efforts but rather applaud you for your very empathetic attempts to save this critter. Again, best regards Anthony>

Carpet Anemone emergency!!! Hi all!! <cheers> I think the underside of its foot has split open.   <unusual and does not occur spontaneously. If it hasn't moved or been moved lately (2 weeks) then look for a predator (like a crab, nipping dwarf angel of puffer, etc)> I had noticed it move behind some rocks recently and today I tried to see if it was okay and possibly move it to a different area.  Well when I was feeling around, I hadn't tried to move it yet, it seemed as though I was feeling inside it.  I carefully detached it from the bottom and it looked like its inside are coming out the bottom!<indeed... mesenterial filaments in defense perhaps. Worse... organ tissue> There is a slime coat that it usually has when has just expelled food from eating or where it attaches at the base, but this looks different.  It reminds me of a dying anemone after it has been sucked in a power head.   <another possibility here is that it was fed food that was too large. Many aquarists make this mistake with whole pieces of shrimp, krill or silversides (fish). Although the animal stings it and draws it in... that doesn't mean that it is appropriate, safe or even smart. Tears occur attempting to digest a whole chunk of food that would never make its way through a water column of fishes on a wild reef naturally. The rule is finely minced foods: 1/4 or smaller ideally> I moved him to corner where I can keep an eye, but I am getting nervous.  Any suggestions.  I don't know what could have caused this since it was moving while still attached under the sand bed. <no worries for now my friend... they can heal rather quickly, sometimes they will propagate (split)... but know that they rot quickly (24 hours for lack of skeletal mass)... and so... no matter how bad it looks, don't give up unless you see it become necrotic at which point remove it immediately. Maintain good water quality and very small feedings in the meantime> Please help, Kim <best regards, Anthony>
Carpet Anemone emergency!!!
So, if it doesn't become necrotic within, ...let's say 48 hours, then I should be somewhat in the "clear"??   <without a guarantee, we can say that after 48 hours... an injured anemone with integrity is in a very hopeful/good position. Most would succumb within that time if they were going to> What I mean is, maybe it is healing if a tear or wound is the case?   <yes... agreed> This morning it has swelled up to it's normal size, but it's foot has still not completely gone under the sand bed like normal. <no worries... all in good time. An excellent behavior. Sounds good> Since I normally on feed once or twice a week, should I keep this regime or increase the times per week and still keep the feedings small?? <under normal conditions several times weekly with small minced foods would be recommended. Almost daily for optimum growth/health if you like. Many small feedings are better than occasional large ones> How about adding anything to the water, aside from water changes? <normal maintenance for now. Perhaps just a little bit of reef iodine if you do not add it already. Small daily doses here too are better than large weekly ones. Iodine is antiseptic, nutritive and improves water quality slightly> Thanks again for the help...Kim <best regards, Anthony>

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