anemone lost its stinging tips

[dan2381]

so here's a picture, if its there, my anemone has lost all of its stinging tips over a 2 week period could be more, i cant get the picture uploaded of its current state some server error, anyhow it seemed like it was gonna die but now that all the tips have fallen off its looking healthy again?, im rather confused, is there anyone here that has had it happen 2 them? its a florida anemone or so the lfs told me i've had it for about 3 months looking like it does in the pic, it stopped eating for a while and started losing its tips not the whole tentacle, it split its tentacles just below the purple stinging tips in the pic. anyone have a:confused: clue?

Ok here's the after pic, finally got it, as u can see the tips are missing dont let the picture fool you, the light was only recently turned on so its still opening up

[RadleyMiller]

hmm, I don't know much about anenomes, but shouldn't the cnmatocysts (spelling) grow back? They are like jelly fish tentacles so they should come back.

[Max]

It needs more food I'd try to give it some small silver sides or cocktail shrimp. If it's tentacles aren't sticky enough to grab foods try cyclopees or other zoo plancton. We also really need to know your water params condalactis are some of the most hardy anems. They aren't a high light species like some of the carpets or even bubbletips but, they do need some. They also need very stable water conditions and it's probably stressed by the clown. They aren't a natural host as they are an Atlantic species.
hth
Max

[FishSkins]

i am not sure but they don't even apear to be the same anemone..looks good now tho

[DeLgAdO]

so here's a picture, if its there, my anemone has lost all of its stinging tips over a 2 week period could be more, i cant get the picture uploaded of its current state some server error, anyhow it seemed like it was gonna die but now that all the tips have fallen off its looking healthy again?, im rather confused, is there anyone here that has had it happen 2 them? its a florida anemone or so the lfs told me i've had it for about 3 months looking like it does in the pic, it stopped eating for a while and started losing its tips not the whole tentacle, it split its tentacles just below the purple stinging tips in the pic. anyone have a:confused: clue?

Ok here's the after pic, finally got it, as u can see the tips are missing dont let the picture fool you, the light was only recently turned on so its still opening up

well, anemones dont have "stinging tips"

The things that sting are called nematocysts and they are all over each tentacle. Each nematocyst contains a small vesicle filled with toxins (actinoporins), an inner filament and an external sensory hair. When the hair is touched, it mechanically triggers the cell explosion, that fires a harpoon-like structure which attaches to organisms that trigger it, and injects a dose of poison in the flesh of the aggressor or prey. This gives the anemone its characteristic sticky feeling

are you sure they "fell off", did you find the tentacles laying around?

it looks like the anemone just retracted them.

and how did it stop eating? what did you feed it? it should take it without any issue, with anemones your suppose to target feed them since they are mostly stationary.

when did that clown fish appear? or has it always hung out in the anemone?

[DeLgAdO]

It needs more food I'd try to give it some small silver sides or cocktail shrimp. If it's tentacles aren't sticky enough to grab foods try cyclopees or other zoo plancton. We also really need to know your water params condalactis are some of the most hardy anems. They aren't a high light species like some of the carpets or even bubbletips but, they do need some. They also need very stable water conditions and it's probably stressed by the clown. They aren't a natural host as they are an Atlantic species.
hth
Max

i doubt its stress by the clown

both have a symbiotic relationship and both benifit from each others company

clowns wont harm an anemone, but certain species of anemone dont tolerate clowns and kill them.

[chrisdef15]

Clowns can harm anemonies by stealing food from them. If they are well fed they look after the anemone (mine feed it silverside chunks i drop in) but if not they can steal food the anemone would eat.
It also looks very bleached what sort of lighting do you have???
If its not atleast 150w then that could be it.

[dan2381]

Well its been that colour since the day i got it, as for the tips i did see a few laying around, the clown came at the same time as the anemone and it seems to bring food 2 the anemone rather than steal it, my clown has a thing 4 silversides and usually bites a piece off and drops the rest in the anemone, i've tried a few different types of food it use 2 eat silversides all the time but it seems 2 have lost interest, i fed it some squid yesterday and it didn't spit it out which was a relief, its tentacles aren't sticky anymore if that means anything to anyone, so its rather difficult to feed, water parameters are pretty stable except nitrate's are slightly high, but they always have been dont ask me why i've got my skimmer running 24/7 got ammonia
ball de-nitrate filter media, done 2 water changes in the past 3 weeks, my xenia, leather coral
and my bubble coral are all fine so i dont think its the water. Its only a 20gallon or 80 litre if the conversion is correct.

Today it was completely retracted for about an hour and then seemed to come out and now it looks perfectly happy and healthy except for missing those purple tips which it use 2 grab the food with, i dont think the entire tentacle was ever sticky. Im still a beginner, so i cant tell you much more about it. It's been an awesome anemone for a long time, great 2 look at specially when its tentacles where reaching far out. Was scared it was gonna outgrow my tank very quickly but now it's dissapointing. I really wanted it 2 turn into a monster, i remember it being so sticky during feeding that i actually had to flick the food at it to make sure it doesn't try take my finger or me pulling it off its perch more likely.

[RadleyMiller]

Purigen will help with keeping the nitrates down as well

[DeLgAdO]

the clown came at the same time as the anemone and it seems to bring food 2 the anemone rather than steal it, my clown has a thing 4 silversides and usually bites a piece off and drops the rest in the anemone.


like i said ;)

[FishSkins]

I am even surprised to see the clown going in to a Condylactis anemones

[Max]

i doubt its stress by the clown

both have a symbiotic relationship and both benifit from each others company

clowns wont harm an anemone, but certain species of anemone dont tolerate clowns and kill them.

Not these two man. The condies are from the Atlantic and the clowns are from the Pacific. They do host some critters but, mostly crabs, shrimp and the every present aneliads. I'm not sure that the anem knows the clown is there as it coats it's self with the slimes etc.from the anem. They do however even stress their natural hosts if there the clown is too big or aggressive ,"maroons and tomatoes."
hth
Max

[Max]

Well, fix your nitrate problem slowly. The anem is already pretty stressed it looks quite bleached to me and you can see it has fewer tentacles. What sort of lights do you have? It may also have been bleached when you purchased it they normally don't ship very well.

They can be a bit difficult to bring back from a decline. I'd feed it phyto and zoo plancton to buff it up a bit. The reason it's not sticky is that it doesn't have the energy to re-create it's stinking cells . You might also consider finely minced whole fish or shell fish,"don't over feed a drop or two every day for the immediate future. You might also consider putting a critter keeper or other clear plastic container over it for a while to keep the clown off of it. If you give it enough tlc it can bounce back. That having been said if it starts to look like it melting remove it from your tank.
Fwiw, conidies can indeed be monsters they get to be about the size of a NBA regulation basketball.
Hth
Please, keep us posted

[chrisdef15]

Yeah if you have actually found the tips on the ground that is probably bad water and maybe just up your water changes abit. Although the whole thing usually melts once its dieing. Condys do host clowns so if you dont think the clowns are annoying them then water quality would be the next thing to look at.

[DeLgAdO]

Not these two man. The condies are from the Atlantic and the clowns are from the Pacific. They do host some critters but, mostly crabs, shrimp and the every present aneliads. I'm not sure that the anem knows the clown is there as it coats it's self with the slimes etc.from the anem. They do however even stress their natural hosts if there the clown is too big or aggressive ,"maroons and tomatoes."
hth
Max

this is true

Not these two man. The condies are from the Atlantic and the clowns are from the Pacific. They do host some critters but, mostly crabs, shrimp and the every present aneliads. I'm not sure that the anem knows the clown is there as it coats it's self with the slimes etc.from the anem. They do however even stress their natural hosts if there the clown is too big or aggressive ,"maroons and tomatoes."
hth
Max


well It is not yet completly understood whether the protective mucus stops the nemtocysts from penetrating the flesh of the clownfish or if the mucus suppresses nematocysts from firing.

so we're stumped on that one :(

[dan2381]

Well its looking perfectly healthy again, its back 2 its normal huge size, tentacles are almost all fully inflated and its turned towards the light, i dont know what lights i got to be honest but they seem 2 do the trick with all the other corals, none of this makes any sense 2 me, although i did get 2 feed it yesterday that might b why its looking almost normal again, i'll try get a pic tomorrow 2 show you guys, it used 2 eat half a silverside every second day before it went bad, i only gave it a small piece of squid yesterday, so what would you guys suggest i do with its feeding from here on, every second day or maybe longer periods? could it have had a infectious disease of some kind that could make it lose its tentacles? Something else i 4 got to mention, the tips that broke off had a brownish tinge to them not very dark, it just looked dirty, only about a centimeter of the tentacle actually came off, reminds me of someone losing their fingers from frostbite:D