Anemone "lifespan"?

[RyanSweet]

Do anemones have a lifespan?

I've had an RBTA in my tank for over 8yrs. It has given me at least 13 clones (that have gone to fellow reefers local to me) and never shown signs of distress or sickness, even through 2 tank crashes. But over the last couple weeks the tentacles have shrunk in and don't bubble at all. I have 2 other BTA's (not clones of the original, different colors) in the tank that only 3yrs old and are doing great, but the original looks really unhealthy.

No changes in water parameters that are out of the ordinary. No change in lighting. The only change that I've done was a week ago (after the nem started looking bad) I replaced the powerheads with wave makers and the water has more of a back and forth motion rather than random flow pattern. As I mentioned, though, this was after the nem started looking bad and had been planned for a couple of months.

 

[Nemguy123]

As far as we know there really isn't a lifespan for anemones they live as long as the environment lets them.

 

[Nemguy123]

He could just have gotten unhealthy maybe too many nems in the tank too much competition it's hard to say :(

 

[RyanSweet]

Would you say 3 nems in a 75gal mixed Reef to be competition? None of them touch at all and the sick one is on a rocks by itself. I'm really confused since I haven't made any changes or anything like that.

 

[Nemguy123]

No that's a small amount of anemones it could have just gotten a bacterial infection and might need to be taken out and treated he could also be splitting because bubble tips will go through a deflation cycle before splitting

 

[RyanSweet]

No that's a small amount of anemones it could have just gotten a bacterial infection and might need to be taken out and treated he could also be splitting because bubble tips will go through a deflation cycle before splitting

Interesting. What would I treat with for an infection? I've had this one for a little over 8yrs and it's split many times and never deflated like it has the past few weeks (though I'm hoping that's it)

 

[Nemguy123]

I use ciprofloxacin and that's strange I guess you can try removing him and treating him. There are a few threads here on the cipro antibiotic treatment process :)

 

[RyanSweet]

Thanks for the info and the help!