My anemone just threw up! What is this?

Discussion in 'ID This!' started by Nikon Samurai, Feb 1, 2009.

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  1. Nikon Samurai

    Nikon Samurai Bristle Worm

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    This ones new to me, My anemone was in full bloom looking so beautiful i called my girlfriend to see it. I turned away and she said "what's it doing. When i looked back it had ooze coming out of it. Is this normal? DSC_0923web.jpg
     
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  3. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    It may just be pooping which is fine, but that sort of looks like it could be expelling its zooxanthellae to me. Which can go two ways. It can be good in the sense that it could just be expelling it be replaced with a better strain, or it could be that its stressed/sick/dieing.
    How old is the tank? What lighting do you have?
     
  4. Cat4wisson

    Cat4wisson Feather Duster

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    Have you fed it lately, they will get rid of waste in this fashion after they eat. Nothing to worry about

    Cat4wisson
     
  5. Nikon Samurai

    Nikon Samurai Bristle Worm

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    The tank is 2 years old. My friend gave it to me about a month ago. I kept all the water durring the move and have been doing 5 gallon water changes about once a week. I use test strips once or twice a week. All levels seem to be fine. The onlything i do not test for is calcium but i do use the liquid calcium about once every week or 2 weeks. The week i purchased this guy, about 3 weeks ago i read online they eat shrimp so i fed it a little piece from my freezer. He took it off my stick instantly and i never saw it again. One week later i tried to feed him another piece. He took it then spit it out a few minutes later. I asked the guy at the store what the deal is. He said not to feed it because it gets all the food it needs from the lights. I have a biocube 29 gallon. It has 2 types of light, 36W 10K Daylight (16")
    36W Actinic 03 Blue (16")
    My friend didn't give me a skimmer with it. The company makes a custom skimmer for this tank. Is this something i should definitely have?

    The anemone was under a rock for a few days then he popped up to the top yesterday. Maybe he was eating while he was down there.
     
  6. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    Your probably ok then. But those lights are awful weak for an anemone. And the guy at the store was correct; anemones shouldn't need to be fed very often at all, but I would try maybe once a month because of the lights.
    The first thing I would do is ditch the strips and go to a liquid test. The strips are notoriously inaccurate. Ammonia, PH, nitrite, nitrate, dKH, ca, mg, po4 are all things you should be testing for. I would definitely stop dosing CA until you get a test kit for ca, mg, and dKH (all tie in with each other). Never dose anything you can't test for.
    And skip on the oceanic skimmer. They are complete junk and a waste of $50, plus you have to remove some of the filter to install the, so they sometimes do even more harm then good. If you want a good skimmer for the tank look at a Tunze.
    With all that being said, its probably fine. Just make sure it stays sticky and doesnt develope a bad smell
     
  7. Eli_The_Eel

    Eli_The_Eel Fire Worm

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    This is awfully similar to when my brother's anemone croaked. It's probably nothing if it just goes away, but if you see a mass of brown nasty there for more than a day or two, you might have to do a little more research. The LFS guy I talked to said every once in a while he will get an anemone that he cant sell because it dies in this fashion from moving stress.

    It's probably fine, just wanted to let you know what to look out for.