Rock Flower Anemones dying. HELP!

[Noinoi24]

So I got 10 RFA on 12/1/17 from VIPReef @VIPReef as my birthday  gift. My tank has been running and all is well, except that yesterday I found one dead and rotting in my tank, today, another 3 are detached, shrinked and I think dead. I don’t know what to feel anymore. Aside from being expensive and supposedly hardy, in my experience they are not... I don’t want to loose all of them. Please help.

 

My tank has 2 bullethole clowns, 2 cardinals, 1 tail spot blenny, purple fire fish, another goby, with a cleaner shrimp and sexy shrimp. Most in my tank are softies and LPS.

 

 Temp: 82

Salinity: 1.026

PH: 7.8

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 5.0 ppm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lawnman]

Happen to me as well. They would detach and face plant in the sand. No matter what I did they weren’t happy. 

[markalot]

Maybe temperature and light acclimation.  Un(fortunately) I only notice good in this tank.  Personally I run both my tanks at 79F, but I don't think that's an issue unless these anemones come from much cooler tanks.  Any idea what temp they are acclimated too?

 

Looks like you have some yellow blastos, some giant green pally's, and an awesome collection of hammers that are all doing well.     There's nothing wrong here IMO.  Must have been damaged in shipping.

 

@gena has been looking for yellow blastos, you need to contact her. 

[Noinoi24]

I Hope they didn’t tore the foot when they picked them up for shipment.  I’m really disappointed with this.

[SeaFurn]

I've placed 2 orders of 10 RFAs from VIP and each time I've lost 2-3 within the first week. 

Your pictures look very similar to ones I took of my losses.

 

I believe that shipping is very difficult on them.  Once they get through a week I start to feel better about their chances of survival. 

 

I've had discussions with @BulkRate and he's experience the same kind of losses on a percentage basis. 

 

I run my tank at 1.025, 78-79 degrees with moderate lighting for 8 hours (the only coral in my tank is GSP). 

Nitrates are higher than usual now at 10 probably due to the extra feeding of the baby RFAs in my tank. 

 

Give Frank at VIP a call. He's very helpful. Send pictures of your losses and he'll most likely credit you. 

 

I know it's tough. Been there. You feel helpless when everything seems fine in your tank. Unfortunately I think it's part of the deal with these inverts. 

[Nola Bear]

25 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

I've placed 2 orders of 10 RFAs from VIP and each time I've lost 2-3 within the first week. 

Your pictures look very similar to ones I took of my losses.

 

I believe that shipping is very difficult on them.  Once they get through a week I start to feel better about their chances of survival. 

 

I've had discussions with @BulkRate and he's experience the same kind of losses on a percentage basis. 

 

I run my tank at 1.025, 78-79 degrees with moderate lighting for 8 hours (the only coral in my tank is GSP). 

Nitrates are higher than usual now at 10 probably due to the extra feeding of the baby RFAs in my tank. 

 

Give Frank at VIP a call. He's very helpful. Send pictures of your losses and he'll most likely credit you. 

 

I know it's tough. Been there. You feel helpless when everything seems fine in your tank. Unfortunately I think it's part of the deal with these inverts. 

+1. I have had very similar issues over the years. The ones that do make it tend to become very tough, but some just do not make it through their freshman stage. 

[Noinoi24]

I think we better off buying the adult ones instead of the smaller 1 inche one

[RIP Sebastian]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with these guys. I personally have ordered from @Got Corals and everything I've gotten from them is still alive from about a year and a half ago, except for one little guy I lost a week or so ago, but that was because I think I accidentally tore part of his foot during a rock transfer. I can't speak for VIP (I've never ordered from them), but I'd give Got Corals a try.

[Noinoi24]

19 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with these guys. I personally have ordered from @Got Corals and everything I've gotten from them is still alive from about a year and a half ago, except for one little guy I lost a week or so ago, but that was because I think I accidentally tore part of his foot during a rock transfer. I can't speak for VIP (I've never ordered from them), but I'd give Got Corals a try.

I have talked to them, might have to try them.

[Noinoi24]

On 12/13/2017 at 5:53 PM, SeaFurn said:

I've placed 2 orders of 10 RFAs from VIP and each time I've lost 2-3 within the first week. 

Your pictures look very similar to ones I took of my losses.

 

I believe that shipping is very difficult on them.  Once they get through a week I start to feel better about their chances of survival. 

 

I've had discussions with @BulkRate and he's experience the same kind of losses on a percentage basis. 

 

I run my tank at 1.025, 78-79 degrees with moderate lighting for 8 hours (the only coral in my tank is GSP). 

Nitrates are higher than usual now at 10 probably due to the extra feeding of the baby RFAs in my tank. 

 

Give Frank at VIP a call. He's very helpful. Send pictures of your losses and he'll most likely credit you. 

 

I know it's tough. Been there. You feel helpless when everything seems fine in your tank. Unfortunately I think it's part of the deal with these inverts. 

Will my temp 81-82 a reason for their death?

[SeaFurn]

15 hours ago, Noinoi24 said:

Will my temp 81-82 a reason for their death?

No, I don't think so.  It is a little higher than I am personally comfortable keeping it though.  I believe their deaths were due to the stress from shipping.  Miami to SoCal is a long journey. 

[Noinoi24]

1 hour ago, SeaFurn said:

No, I don't think so.  It is a little higher than I am personally comfortable keeping it though.  I believe their deaths were due to the stress from shipping.  Miami to SoCal is a long journey. 

That’s what I thought. I don’t know, I hope Frank would be able to help me with the losses. Will update when I hear from them.

[TheBig053]

I don't think this had anything to do with the nems dying, but 7 fish in an EVO 13.5g is way too many. You should look into re-homing at least 3, if not 4, of those fish. Especially once the clowns get bigger.

[Noinoi24]

I already have planed it like that. So when they grow, I will re-home them, then get other smaller once to replace them. I spoke to VIP reef and will get credit for the deaths. Thank you so much @VIPReef

[Andreww]

Had a green one shrivel and hide for weeks then come out to eat, started looking better for a week or so ,then I moved some rocks around and removed the rock the nem was attached to and forgot it in 80 degree weather for 2 days with no circulation in a bucket.

The smell was horrendous and the water in that bucket was hot , but the nem was still sticky. Put it back in the tank and it survived another 2 months then detached one day and died.

So mine was very hardy as no coral would have survived that let alone an invert, but yeah I agree with the others , yours might have been damaged in shipping or when removed from the rock...

Whenever I buy nems at the LFS I ask if I can remove them myself and put it in the bag...most of the times they’ve let me.

[Noinoi24]

One thing I  noticed too. When she shipped the nems, it was just styrofoam then bagged individually and not on an insulation bag like most would do for added protection. And CA weather gets to 48. Could temp make it weak and die? 

[eslatts11]

FWIW, bought one from my LFS, he literally got it in the same day I purchased - my first mistake. Put it my tank and two days later it basically disintegrated and my RBTA is perfectly fine. Will make sure if I purchase one in the future that its been settled in for longer.

[Noinoi24]

Another update, today another 2 is dead. One left...  it’s so disappointing because I have no clue why they just melt and die...

[Got Corals]

Hi there, sorry for your losses.. I would hate to have them die on me too..

 

Frank and I are competitors, but he does have a great  healthy stock.

 

If I may give you my opinion on your losses and what I would do the next time you get some nems..

 

At the first sign of distress on any nem, take them out immediately- their secretion will kill the rest of your nems. I ship nems all over the US (MIA to CALI) all the time and they all arrive and stay healthy, so I don't think its was the shipping stress. However, I do think the packaging might have had something to do with it. Next time, try acclimating them to your temp for a good 15-20 minutes before putting them in. Also, did you shut down your flow for a couple minutes when you dropped them in? I like for them to be attached before I turn the flow back on.

 

Nonetheless, don't give up on nems, they are beautiful and easy to keep. it could have been anything that affected them damaged foot, not healed properly...

 

Good Luck!

 

Sandy

 

 

[Noinoi24]

38 minutes ago, Got Corals said:

Hi there, sorry for your losses.. I would hate to have them die on me too..

 

Frank and I are competitors, but he does have a great  healthy stock.

 

If I may give you my opinion on your losses and what I would do the next time you get some nems..

 

At the first sign of distress on any nem, take them out immediately- their secretion will kill the rest of your nems. I ship nems all over the US (MIA to CALI) all the time and they all arrive and stay healthy, so I don't think its was the shipping stress. However, I do think the packaging might have had something to do with it. Next time, try acclimating them to your temp for a good 15-20 minutes before putting them in. Also, did you shut down your flow for a couple minutes when you dropped them in? I like for them to be attached before I turn the flow back on.

 

Nonetheless, don't give up on nems, they are beautiful and easy to keep. it could have been anything that affected them damaged foot, not healed properly...

 

Good Luck!

 

Sandy

 

 

Thanks Sandy. I did all that you mentioned like acclimating with my temp and turning off the pump, actually more than few minutes. 

 

I didn’t know the secretions will kill them, no wonder most of them but 2 are left now... I am more than disappointed with the experience as I don’t know where i messed up as I have followed all the instructions. At least 5 will be replaced which I’m okay with... I have now set-up a RFA tank only for the 5. And maybe next time I’ll get some from you guys... 

[Oldsalt01]

7.8 pH is a little low, but not terrible. 8.1 - 8.4 is suggested, but not necessary to strictly adhere to. I don't think that's the issue. More likely shipping stress or poor handling at the source. One more reason I generally don't order on-line. Sorry for the losses.

[RIP Sebastian]

53 minutes ago, Noinoi24 said:

Thanks Sandy. I did all that you mentioned like acclimating with my temp and turning off the pump, actually more than few minutes. 

 

I didn’t know the secretions will kill them, no wonder most of them but 2 are left now... I am more than disappointed with the experience as I don’t know where i messed up as I have followed all the instructions. At least 5 will be replaced which I’m okay with... I have now set-up a RFA tank only for the 5. And maybe next time I’ll get some from you guys... 

You should order from @Got Corals or @AustinAquaFarms.com. I've ordered from both with success. All of mine from Sandy are still alive (except for one-but that was my fault. I had to remove him from a rock and I think I hit his foot with  chisel by accident). The ones from Austin are excellent, too. I've had them for a few weeks now and they're doing very well. However, they are a lot smaller than the ones I got from Got Corals-they've got some growing to do. That's not bad, just an FYI.

 

-Nick

[Lula_Mae]

On 12/20/2017 at 12:59 PM, Noinoi24 said:

I already have planed it like that. So when they grow, I will re-home them, then get other smaller once to replace them. I spoke to VIP reef and will get credit for the deaths. Thank you so much @VIPReef

When you rehome some of your fish, don't replace them.  Even being small, 3-4 is the max you should have in a tank that size, really.

[colleen78]

I know this thread is 5 years old, but I had a couple of RFA that seemed healthy just shrivel up and die.  The first one I wrote off as shipping/damaged/whatever.  The second one was far enough past shipping that I didn't feel it could've been that.  THEN I caught my little bastard cleaner shrimp ripping out the middle of another one and chomping away.  Adopted him out to another home and now I have a whole herd of really pretty RFA's (I have a momma that has spewed out babies twice).  So... make sure something isn't eating them.