Condy

[Magnettae]

could someone help me...?
Ok i just bought a condy a 2 days ago and i acclimated it properly. It was very dark brown , green, purple, and pink, so i assumed it was healthy. After i put it in my tank it looked normal like the other i have had in the past. then the next day it was shriveled and expeling waste, but it was doing something unusual... it was almost....smoking. a smoke-like substance was coming from the mouth. i was wondering if this is ok or not. i was either thinking it was a reproductive process or if even possibly expelling it sybiotic algae, zooxanthallae because it has lost its brown color and is now more green, purple and pink. it is still shriveled and has seemed to have gotten weak. it cat quite hold its self up but it has a grip on LR. does anyone have any tips or anythign to say? the people in Reef Keepers dont seem to have any kind of answer.

[SHK_ATK]

did you purchase this condy at a LFS? if so was this condy well imbeded in the substrate? was it a lil difficult for the employee to "uproot" the condy? if it wasnt then it might be on the decline state of health, how new is this tank that you put the condy in? Enemones are REALLY hard to maintian (do-able but hard) what kind of lighting are you putting on the condy? all these are factors as to the health and prosperity of your condy. Not to sure about having it smoke as mine never did that. (I gave mine up though due to improper lighting) last question how did you acclimate the condy? you didnt drip did you?

[Grins]

From the little (very little) I know of them the "smoke" is stress related and either expelling their zoo or attempting to spawn to save themselves because they sense their demise. I've also read everything Shk said, they need tons of light and established systems.

[Magnettae]

ok i have had several anemones before and had almost no porblems, i love them and i honestly dont think they are hard to keep. my lighting is approriate and my tank is like a year old. at the LFS it was in sand and thats what it was attatched to, there was sand on its foot when i got it. and it seemed perfectly healthy.. i drip acclimated it over a period of four hours. his mouth was gaping earlier but its is mostly closed up. what should i do? any advice?

[SHK_ATK]

someone please correct me if im wrong but you Arent suppost to drip enemones OR clams as they will die.

[Magnettae]

i thought you were supposed to..? i have done it before for all anemones that i have had before and have had no problem

[Grins]

I've read that too. That they should be rinsed under water to help remove the mucus balls and then placed in the tank with circulation off.

[Magnettae]

ok well then i know for next time, hopefully there wont be a next time though.....so now that i know what i might have done wrong what can i do to fix it? what can i do for it to not die?

[darkcirca]

I have to say, my condy went to hell and back. I bought him from a petco, why, I don't know. I wanted one, actually killed my tire (and rim) on the way to get him, so I had to buy something to make up for that.

We didn't drip acclimate, just added a bit of water at a time, over probably 45 minutes. We then changed tanks after having him for a month, pryed him of his rock, and left him in a tank without light for 3 days (as this was the 'moving period' and killing off cyano). He's in the refuge right now, as no one has come by to pick him up (several people wanted to buy him, no one followed through with meeting up). He's actually doing great, under some CF bulb, happy as can be. Him and the cc star are now good buddies too.

Thought they were hardy though, as if any would have died, it would have been mine. Goodluck though.

[Grins]

Sorry Mag, I don't know. If you're not getting an answer in the reef forum here have you tried other ones?

[Subliminal]

Try going to reefcentral.com, look under the anemone and clownfish forum, and download the pdf anemone guide they have. Has a lot of good information...maybe 40 pages worth, although some is specific to certain kinds of anemones.

I think drip acclimating is totally fine, as long as they're totally under water the whole time, it's just slowly changing the water chemistry, which is the same as adding your water slowly from a cup over a period of time.

Either way, I'd recommend that pdf guide.

:)

Good luck!