Dead Stuff
 

I was just wondering how do you tell if a anemone or sea squirt is dead? Do they look pale? They both dont move much so how would I tell? Just curious.

Matt

I hear dead anemones gives off a horrible stench. :eek:

I had a few hitchhiker (well, they grew out of the rock quickly) sea squirts that stuck around in my tank for a few weeks.. When they died they just sort of vanished.
For anemones, sometimes they can look like hell and still be ok (just sulking). I find the best indicator is if you disturb the water around them a little bit and see if pieces start coming off it. A dead anemone is a falling apart anemone. Might wanna have a siphon handy..
Another pretty surefire way is just to try moving it.. If the foot is still attached firmly to its substrate, it's still kicking.

Ok thanks. Sounds fun.

Matt :eek:

If the anemone looks like it's dying (ie. not attached, torn foot, disintegrating), get it out of your tank immediately because it can totally pollute your tank & kill off a bunch of your livestock. Saw one devastate the display tank at a LFS, & it wasn't pretty. Just turns to mush. :scatter:

Anthony

Rule of thumb. If an anemone is not staying put & wandering the tank, it's an unhappy critter & something is wrong (either with the anemone or the tank setup). A happy anemone is an attached anemone.

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A dead anemone will also start to fall apart in a slimy mess. Definately remove ASAP.