Dying anemone crashed display tank at LFS

velvetelvis · 04/13/2010, 08:42 PM

...or, "Why you should do your homework before you get an anemone."

I went to the LFS tonight to get a part replaced on my skimmer, and noticed that the big display tank in the front of the store was strangely empty. When I asked him about it, the owner told me that a Heteractis ritteri anemone that they'd taken in to rehabilitate as a favor for a customer had died a day or two before and wiped out the tank.

I remembered seeing the anemone the last time I'd been in, a few days before. It looked puny, but honestly not as bad as the pictures I've seen of ones that experts on this forum have nursed back to health. I guess the stress of the move to a new system on top of its already weakened state was the coup de grace. The customer who'd brought in the ritteri had been keeping it in a 29-gallon nano. The store they'd bought it from told them it would be fine in there. (Moral of the story: don't always trust advice from someone who stands to make money off selling you something.)

The tank crash from the nem's death killed almost everything in the 250-gallon system, including SPS, tangs, wrasses, an orchid dottyback, and a spawning trio of Genicanthus angelfish. The only survivors were a few leather corals and a pair of melanopus clowns. Most of the fish had been in captivity for five or six years and were considered pets rather than livestock. It was a beautiful, thriving system before--it looks like a ghost town in comparison now.

Having seen firsthand the havoc that a dying anemone can wreak, I hope that this story inspires people to be very, very cautious before acquiring an anemone, and to do plenty of research--consulting multiple, varied sources--before buying one. I'm so glad in retrospect that the the manager of the store where I got my first SW tank kindly but firmly (and repeatedly) refused to sell me an anemone for my nano, even though I asked him about one for months. He knew I didn't have either the setup or the expertise to keep an anemone, and he cared more about having a happy, successful customer than he did about making a quick buck off my ignorance and inexperience. (I'm also glad that I listened to him, instead of just going to another store where they would indulge me, at my own eventual expense.) I only wish all people in this industry were so honest. It would save a lot of people money and heartache (and the lives of countless anemones).

Onedeadbob · 04/13/2010, 10:19 PM

Did the LFS owner have any guess as to how long the anenome had been dead in the tank before they removed it? Or maybe a better question, how long do you have after the nem dies before it wreaks havok on your tank?

Thanks

velvetelvis · 04/14/2010, 11:40 AM

It died sometime between late Sunday afternoon and mid-Monday morning (that is, between closing time Sunday and when the staff came in to take care of the tanks on Monday)--he wasn't sure exactly how long it had been in there. It could have been dead for hours, and given how much damage the tank crash did, maybe it was.

I hope I don't come across too preachy by posting this topic. I just hate to see anemones die and people lose their their livestock when a little caution and education beforehand could have prevented it.

I don't think anybody buys an anemone thinking "Screw it, I'll just get another one if this doesn't work out." I think they just don't know what they're getting themselves into.

Onedeadbob · 04/14/2010, 12:27 PM

I don't think you came across "preachy".
Thanks for the info!

Ben_Im · 04/14/2010, 11:45 PM

Thanks for sharing. That's so sad to hear.

gweston · 04/15/2010, 10:53 AM

That sucks they lost the entire tank. Though I suspect it will prevent the LFS from taking in sick cases in the future. Unfortunate result overall.

I have a 3-4" RBTA in my 29gal. Moving to a 125 in a few months... but ever since getting it, the condition of the anem has been top priority. I check the anem out every morning and evening before and after work and again before going to bed. Not like I wouldn't do that anyway, but I keep an closer eye on it above and beyond everything else in the tank.

Just glad the anem is in perfect health and seems to love where it is positioned. Right near where I put it and hoped it would stay. I also 'trained' the wife and kid to keep an eye on it during the day and call me if anything appears abnormal.

I'll just have to try to not be worried while I am out of the house for extended periods.. long weekends, vacations, etc. We all know that is when things just like to go bad.

WDLV · 04/15/2010, 11:00 AM

Last time I lost one in a 210 gallon was on a weekend. The only ill effect I noticed was that the skimmer cup was excessively full. That really sucks to hear that they tried to help out a customer and got burned. On the other hand, to have added an anemone to the system not knowing if the tank it came from had ick or brook or coral diseases was a foolish move on their part. They should have added it to a sale tank.

troyman · 04/15/2010, 11:02 AM

i with you gweston if you know your pets in tank you will be fine my condy someone didnt want she is going on 2 years old now and she is star of tank she is happy and very healthy the tank wouldnt be the same without her dancing in the water

elegance coral · 04/15/2010, 01:04 PM

I don't think the anemone simply died causing the tank to crash. A "puny" magnifica dieing in a "big display tank", shouldn't cause it to crash like that. Unless the system was in trouble to begin with. A magnifica going through a power head could cause that type of damage though. There have been several cases on here where magnifica nematocysts drifting in the water, after the anemone went through a power head, killed all the fish in the tank. The only fish to survive were clowns, and I believe they have some level of immunity to anemone stings.

WDLV · 04/15/2010, 01:05 PM

That's a good thought.

rkelman · 04/15/2010, 05:38 PM

I don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and I suspect this one is no different. Flame away

MarinaP · 04/15/2010, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

i don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and i suspect this one is no different. Flame away

+1

velvetelvis · 04/15/2010, 06:19 PM

Huh. I was going on what I was told...I've had an anemone die on me, but I got it out of the tank well before it actually gave up the ghost, out of fear that it would cause the fabled (and perhaps overstated?) tank crash. (I also didn't want to experience the infamous stench of a decomposing anemone.) I'd always heard that a dying anemone would cause disaster and the LFS owner's story seemed to support that...but maybe the tank was out of balance to begin with and this pushed it over the edge? Or would the anemone's death be able to cause that much trouble even in that case?

MarinaP · 04/15/2010, 06:23 PM

Me thinks power went out overnight on that LFS tank

velvetelvis · 04/15/2010, 06:31 PM

LOL. And here I've been maligning that poor abused little ritteri (which, like I said, really didn't look as bad as some I've seen here--I know Orion has a thread about a couple that he nursed back to health). Too bad they weren't able to get it back up on its feet (foot?), so to speak...

rkelman · 04/16/2010, 04:31 AM

Don't take my comments the wrong way velvetelvis. I was indicating your lfs was full of it not you

elegance coral · 04/16/2010, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

I don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and I suspect this one is no different. Flame away

Maybe a little harsh, but you could be absolutely right. I'd like to know how the LFS determined that the magnifica caused all the problems. If they simply walked in to find all the SPS corals, fish, and magnifica dead, it's kinda hard to say that the magnifica caused it. It is a good excuse to cover up the fact that they don't know how to care for a large display, or simply neglected to do so.

chewey · 04/16/2010, 11:05 AM

BAM...good to know...sux.

i had an anemone that split in my 29 gallon, then i moved it from garage to indoor, and it slowly died. it didn't affect any other fish or corals.

so i'm not sure if the anemone of the cause

velvetelvis · 04/17/2010, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

Don't take my comments the wrong way velvetelvis. I was indicating your lfs was full of it not you

I didn't think you meant it personally. Thanks.

Crustman · 04/18/2010, 07:21 AM

I know from a fellow reefer that a spawning LTA crashed his tank.

rkelman · 04/18/2010, 03:13 PM

I've heard of that also. I don't really believe that either

Most that I've seen are newbies that say their Nem spawned when really it was just dieing along with the rest of the tank. I'm not sure of the biology of a nem spawn but I don't see how a spawning event can kill fish / corals.

IPowderBlueTang · 04/18/2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

I don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and I suspect this one is no different. Flame away

I have had a ritteri and also a LTA die in my 120 gal, not at the same time. I had no crash.

So I agree the tank was on its last legs to crash. The small retteri would not caused the crash. Neglected tank maintenance!

taylor t · 04/18/2010, 06:45 PM

I've had nems crawl behind rocks, never to be seen again. No crash. No nem removal either...

BonsaiNut · 04/18/2010, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

i don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and i suspect this one is no different. Flame away

+2

natewils · 04/18/2010, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelman

I don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and I suspect this one is no different. Flame away

+3
I have to agree.. When have you ever heard some one say " well I neglected my tank and all my live stock and corals died because of my ignorance"
nope wont see that but we will place blame on something

04/13/2010, 08:42 PM	#1
velvetelvis Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 1,749	Dying anemone crashed display tank at LFS ...or, "Why you should do your homework before you get an anemone." I went to the LFS tonight to get a part replaced on my skimmer, and noticed that the big display tank in the front of the store was strangely empty. When I asked him about it, the owner told me that a Heteractis ritteri anemone that they'd taken in to rehabilitate as a favor for a customer had died a day or two before and wiped out the tank. I remembered seeing the anemone the last time I'd been in, a few days before. It looked puny, but honestly not as bad as the pictures I've seen of ones that experts on this forum have nursed back to health. I guess the stress of the move to a new system on top of its already weakened state was the coup de grace. The customer who'd brought in the ritteri had been keeping it in a 29-gallon nano. The store they'd bought it from told them it would be fine in there. (Moral of the story: don't always trust advice from someone who stands to make money off selling you something.) The tank crash from the nem's death killed almost everything in the 250-gallon system, including SPS, tangs, wrasses, an orchid dottyback, and a spawning trio of Genicanthus angelfish. The only survivors were a few leather corals and a pair of melanopus clowns. Most of the fish had been in captivity for five or six years and were considered pets rather than livestock. It was a beautiful, thriving system before--it looks like a ghost town in comparison now. Having seen firsthand the havoc that a dying anemone can wreak, I hope that this story inspires people to be very, very cautious before acquiring an anemone, and to do plenty of research--consulting multiple, varied sources--before buying one. I'm so glad in retrospect that the the manager of the store where I got my first SW tank kindly but firmly (and repeatedly) refused to sell me an anemone for my nano, even though I asked him about one for months. He knew I didn't have either the setup or the expertise to keep an anemone, and he cared more about having a happy, successful customer than he did about making a quick buck off my ignorance and inexperience. (I'm also glad that I listened to him, instead of just going to another store where they would indulge me, at my own eventual expense.) I only wish all people in this industry were so honest. It would save a lot of people money and heartache (and the lives of countless anemones).

04/15/2010, 11:00 AM	#7
WDLV Skunk Hybrid Freak Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Pasadena, MD. USA Posts: 3,003	Last time I lost one in a 210 gallon was on a weekend. The only ill effect I noticed was that the skimmer cup was excessively full. That really sucks to hear that they tried to help out a customer and got burned. On the other hand, to have added an anemone to the system not knowing if the tank it came from had ick or brook or coral diseases was a foolish move on their part. They should have added it to a sale tank. __________________ - Walter D. LaRoque V "The tanks go or I go." - Ex Wife

04/15/2010, 01:05 PM	#10
WDLV Skunk Hybrid Freak Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Pasadena, MD. USA Posts: 3,003	That's a good thought. __________________ - Walter D. LaRoque V "The tanks go or I go." - Ex Wife

04/15/2010, 06:23 PM	#14
MarinaP Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern VA Posts: 3,489	Me thinks power went out overnight on that LFS tank __________________ Marina

04/18/2010, 07:21 AM	#20
Crustman Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Mobile, Alabama Posts: 941	I know from a fellow reefer that a spawning LTA crashed his tank. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: 65 gallon reef with 8 T-5's, ATI Blue Plus, Blue Special, KZ Fiji Purple, Vertex IN 100, phosphate and carbon reactor Coralife Turbo Sea Pump

04/13/2010, 10:19 PM	#2
Onedeadbob Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Meridian, Idaho Posts: 76	Did the LFS owner have any guess as to how long the anenome had been dead in the tank before they removed it? Or maybe a better question, how long do you have after the nem dies before it wreaks havok on your tank? Thanks

04/14/2010, 11:40 AM	#3
velvetelvis Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 1,749	It died sometime between late Sunday afternoon and mid-Monday morning (that is, between closing time Sunday and when the staff came in to take care of the tanks on Monday)--he wasn't sure exactly how long it had been in there. It could have been dead for hours, and given how much damage the tank crash did, maybe it was. I hope I don't come across too preachy by posting this topic. I just hate to see anemones die and people lose their their livestock when a little caution and education beforehand could have prevented it. I don't think anybody buys an anemone thinking "Screw it, I'll just get another one if this doesn't work out." I think they just don't know what they're getting themselves into.

04/14/2010, 12:27 PM	#4
Onedeadbob Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Meridian, Idaho Posts: 76	I don't think you came across "preachy". Thanks for the info!

04/14/2010, 11:45 PM	#5
Ben_Im Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Orinda, CA Posts: 734	Thanks for sharing. That's so sad to hear.

04/15/2010, 10:53 AM	#6
gweston Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Gardner, MA Posts: 961	That sucks they lost the entire tank. Though I suspect it will prevent the LFS from taking in sick cases in the future. Unfortunate result overall. I have a 3-4" RBTA in my 29gal. Moving to a 125 in a few months... but ever since getting it, the condition of the anem has been top priority. I check the anem out every morning and evening before and after work and again before going to bed. Not like I wouldn't do that anyway, but I keep an closer eye on it above and beyond everything else in the tank. Just glad the anem is in perfect health and seems to love where it is positioned. Right near where I put it and hoped it would stay. I also 'trained' the wife and kid to keep an eye on it during the day and call me if anything appears abnormal. I'll just have to try to not be worried while I am out of the house for extended periods.. long weekends, vacations, etc. We all know that is when things just like to go bad.

04/15/2010, 11:02 AM	#8
troyman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: troy ny Posts: 1,025	i with you gweston if you know your pets in tank you will be fine my condy someone didnt want she is going on 2 years old now and she is star of tank she is happy and very healthy the tank wouldnt be the same without her dancing in the water

04/15/2010, 01:04 PM	#9
elegance coral They call me EC Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: central Florida Posts: 6,208	I don't think the anemone simply died causing the tank to crash. A "puny" magnifica dieing in a "big display tank", shouldn't cause it to crash like that. Unless the system was in trouble to begin with. A magnifica going through a power head could cause that type of damage though. There have been several cases on here where magnifica nematocysts drifting in the water, after the anemone went through a power head, killed all the fish in the tank. The only fish to survive were clowns, and I believe they have some level of immunity to anemone stings.

04/15/2010, 05:38 PM	#11
rkelman Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Belleville, Ontario Canada Posts: 3,438	I don't believe it. Not even a little. There is no way a puny nem caused all that havoc. I don't care if it went through a powerhead or not. Unless it was soaked in gasoline before it went through. All tank crashes get blamed on something. If the nem wasn't there they would have blamed something else. Most tank crashes are caused by neglect and I suspect this one is no different. Flame away

04/15/2010, 06:19 PM	#13
velvetelvis Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 1,749	Huh. I was going on what I was told...I've had an anemone die on me, but I got it out of the tank well before it actually gave up the ghost, out of fear that it would cause the fabled (and perhaps overstated?) tank crash. (I also didn't want to experience the infamous stench of a decomposing anemone.) I'd always heard that a dying anemone would cause disaster and the LFS owner's story seemed to support that...but maybe the tank was out of balance to begin with and this pushed it over the edge? Or would the anemone's death be able to cause that much trouble even in that case?

04/15/2010, 06:31 PM	#15
velvetelvis Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 1,749	LOL. And here I've been maligning that poor abused little ritteri (which, like I said, really didn't look as bad as some I've seen here--I know Orion has a thread about a couple that he nursed back to health). Too bad they weren't able to get it back up on its feet (foot?), so to speak...

04/16/2010, 04:31 AM	#16
rkelman Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Belleville, Ontario Canada Posts: 3,438	Don't take my comments the wrong way velvetelvis. I was indicating your lfs was full of it not you

04/16/2010, 11:05 AM	#18
chewey Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: good o' sunny cal Posts: 336	BAM...good to know...sux. i had an anemone that split in my 29 gallon, then i moved it from garage to indoor, and it slowly died. it didn't affect any other fish or corals. so i'm not sure if the anemone of the cause

04/18/2010, 03:13 PM	#21
rkelman Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Belleville, Ontario Canada Posts: 3,438	I've heard of that also. I don't really believe that either Most that I've seen are newbies that say their Nem spawned when really it was just dieing along with the rest of the tank. I'm not sure of the biology of a nem spawn but I don't see how a spawning event can kill fish / corals.

04/18/2010, 06:45 PM	#23
taylor t Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Naperville, Il Posts: 2,396	I've had nems crawl behind rocks, never to be seen again. No crash. No nem removal either...