What Attacked My Anemones??

[phattreefrog]

I recently acquired a long tentacle (~6" wide) anemone and a rose (~6" wide) anemone. The long tentacle went in first, doing great for 3 days then, the next day it was shrunk to less than an inch upside down in the back of the tank. This same day the rose went in, was doing great for 5 days, then again next day it was less then the size of a quarter in the back of the tank. It appears something (bristle worms?) attacked both of them, especially since the rose was so badly hit I could hardly make out any features (mouth, foot, etc). I do have bristle worms in the rocks, some large that I am aware of.

I have currently have both anemones floating in bags with holes to allow circulation and they both appear to be rallying back with daily feedings of mysis. My local reef shop said that it is likely large bristle worms that attacked and have suggested using a remedy to kill them. Could the attack have been done by anything else? Since I am going into war this coming week against the bristles, I am curious to know if I have any other critters I should hit as well? I do have an abundance of small flower anemones (green with bright red/orange tips) all less than a half-inch in diameter that I am going to get rid of too with some Joe's Juice.

Any other suggestions??

Tim.

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Tim and :welcome:

IME most Polychaete worms are harmless to inverts, although Fireworms (Amphinomidae sp.) can do damage. Personally, I've never had to deal with Fireworms, but given the short time you've had the anemones, IMO it seems unlikely that's your problem.

Can you describe your setup a bit more including water parameters, etc.?

 

[phattreefrog]

Yeah I can give a little more detail into my set-up. I acquired it back about 4 weeks ago now as a donation to the adult education saltwater program I have started. It is a 36 gallon bowfront, Sunpod hood with two 150-watt MH's, 10 gallon sump with skimmer, 3 power heads, about 15-20 pounds of Boona live rock (the real knobby stuff), quite a few corals (LPS & SPS), a few clams, a pair of adult engineer gobies, a pair of false purcula clowns, pink spot watchman goby, lawnmower blenny, and a decent cleaner pack. I just tested the water parameters myself, as well as had the reef store run a test. All parameters are pretty good, with the exception of my alkalinity being a little low (around 8) and there were a few nitrates from a lack of flow in my skimmer - now fixed.

I would think that if one of my water parameters were off, there would be a gradual decline in the anemone's health - i.e. shorter, skinnier tentacles, smaller size, etc. But this happened overnight. From beautiful show quality to barely alive the next day. And with the rose, it was being hosted by both my clowns and my porcelain crab, so one would think it should be all set to do well. The only two things in the tank that I know I would rather not be there are the bristles and those smaller anemones. But there weren't any of the small anemones near where the rose was, so I'm thinking they had nothing to do with the attack.

My LPS has given me some form of treatment via a large capsul (normally for something else for dogs I think - I can't remember) but in the reef tank will kill all inverts, inc. bristles, but will not harm any of the fish, corals, or throw off my tank's balance - so they say. So I am planning on taking out all of my inverts and clams on Monday and getting a detailed description of how to use this remedy and then get rid of it, and hitting the tank on Tuesday. :twisted:

On a good note, it appears my long tentacle anemone has almost fully recovered as it has been floating in another of my 30 gallon reef tanks. The rose has a much further recovery to undergo, but appeared to be producing more tissue today.