# Long Tentacle Anemone- Dying?



## Ralij (May 16, 2014)

My anemone has shrunk itself like it has before, but this time he is refused to puff out again. He was one of the first inhabitants in the tank, about two weeks after the clownfish, and seemed to have been doing wonderfully over the past month, but never seemed to have found a place to stay, always moving around. He's very little, even fully stretched out he's only about 6 inches long, maybe 4'' in diameter. 

Had the water checked yesterday at the lfs and everything read good. Need a water change to drop the nitrates a bit, about 25, but not threatening. I use the salt water from the fish store so it should be the proper gravity and all of that. 

Couple of weird things this time around:

First, he retreated into the shade. If they're photosynthetic why did he do this?
Unlike the previous times his 'foot' has an odd texture to it, before it would become a near perfectly circular disk with no folds or wrinkles. This time its an irregular shape, still roughly spherical, and has wrinkles in it.
White bubble coming out of his mouth, like his stomach is hanging out or something. 
Found strips of what looked like the same material as the foot that were independent from the anemone. Is he falling apart?

Is this normal or is he dying and needs to be removed before he nukes the tank?


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

An anemone that does not find a spot is an anemone that is not happy. The anemone has only one opening to ingest and expell food and wastes. Hopefully it is waste and not actual internal tissues. If the foot looks damaged as well this can be a problem,not only is it a bit more difficult to regenerate this part versus the tentacles, anemones too can succumb to infections and are very difficult to treat if treatable at all. It may be retreating to a dark area just to get the foot attached and then it can stretch its main disk into the lighting as needed or if it is irritated it is simply just trying to find comfort. Your anemone may very well be on its way out,keep an eye on it and make sure it does not get caught in any power heads,circulation pumps, or intakes.

In general I don't recommend getting any anemone until the tank has been up for several months or longer,many do not like changes in chemistry or salinity and in the beginning stages of an aquarium these can be prone to change. I also feel that anemones are slightly more difficult than many soft corals so I usually recommend trying out some of those prior to an anemone purchase. Once you do decide to grab an anemone I make sure to check the foot for damage, no gaping oral disk, and that the tentacles are sticky and accepting of small food items if possible.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

badxgillen said:


> In general I don't recommend getting any anemone until the tank has been up for several months or longer,many do not like changes in chemistry or salinity and in the beginning stages of an aquarium these can be prone to change.


Second that. In fact, I might even just say to stay away from them altogether. Keep this in mind when buying an anemone. In the wild they are known to live for over 200 years. If you keep your anemone alive for 10 years, were you successful?


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## Ralij (May 16, 2014)

I apologize for not keeping up with this thread, final exams and the holidays have kept me from giving too much attention to forums. 

Thank you both very much for the advice, I watched it for a few more days and concluded that it was dead as it had not moved and started actively decomposing. I will likely wait a year or so before attempting another. 

Thanks again!


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