Something is eating my RBTA!

[BestMomEver]

My biggest RBTA retreated into a crevice in the rock a few days ago. It does this on occasion but not for long. This time it’s been like that for four days. Today I noticed that one whole side of it is missing. The base seems ok but all the tentacles are gone and the area where they attach is black. I’ve never seen anything like this. All my other anemones are thriving. The only fish I have is a Clarkii Clown, a Pygmy angel and a sunrise dottyback. Any suggestions?

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Can you post a pic?

 

[PDR]

Can you get a picture of it? Any inverts worth noting?

 

[A$AP-Reefer]

My biggest RBTA retreated into a crevice in the rock a few days ago. It does this on occasion but not for long. This time it’s been like that for four days. Today I noticed that one whole side of it is missing. The base seems ok but all the tentacles are gone and the area where they attach is black. I’ve never seen anything like this. All my other anemones are thriving. The only fish I have is a Clarkii Clown, a Pygmy angel and a sunrise dottyback. Any suggestions?

you noticed half of it missing? if im reading that correctly. It could have split into 2! which isn't a bad thing just now you have 2 of them. as for the black part im not sure of!! can you post some pictures, it would be so helpful!

 

[Mical]

+1 on splitting

 

[BestMomEver]

Please excuse the quality of the picture. Not only do I not have a filter, the anemone is in the back of the tank. The photo makes it look like the sand is covered in slime but it’s not. There is a we bit of algae on the back wall. And the glass isn’t exactly clean....

 

[BestMomEver]

Can you get a picture of it? Any inverts worth noting?

No inverts. The rock came from KP Aquatics in Key West and an evil mantis hitched a ride. But we removed him months ago. In the meantime, he ate most of my clean up crew. There may be some hermits left, but nothing else. Do mantis or pistol shrimp cause this? I have a BTA and pistol shrimp in my other tank.

 

[A$AP-Reefer]

your nem looks happy and opened up, tbh I think it split in half! which is not a bad thing. it propagated itself look around the tank for the other half which might be healing up. somewhere within your rockscape and is on the move.

 

[BestMomEver]

I sure hope that’s the case. It is a beautiful anemone and really big. I’ve never seen an anemone split. How long does it take typically?

 

[MSB123]

To split? 4-10 hours
To heal?
1-3 weeks

 

[rkpetersen]

They can split from start to finish in a matter of a few hours. Both parts don't have to be the same size either. I recently had one of my RBTAs do a 4-way split which I had never even heard of before; all 4 'babies' are doing well.

 

[rkpetersen]

If you get a good pic, it's usually pretty obvious what happened, because the anemone's mouth will be right along the edge of the disc and there will be no tentacles on that side.

Here are two of the clones from the 4 way split that happened about a month ago. You can see the mouth of the smaller one as the oval white area at the bottom edge lacking tentacles. Even though it isn't symmetric yet, it's open and eating and otherwise happy.