Coralkin honest saltwater & reef care

🩺 Emergency Vet-Prep

Condy Anemone Emergency Vet-Prep

Marine vets are rare and it's easy to freeze in a crisis. This is the one page to have ready — how to find a vet, what to bring, what to tell them, and the questions to ask. Print it, keep it with your care notes.

Black & white saves ink and prints cleanly on any printer.

Not sure it's serious yet? Run the symptom checker or the water-test checker first — many worries turn out to be a husbandry fix.

Coralkin honest saltwater & reef care · coralkin.com
Condy Anemone — Vet-Prep

🔍 Find an aquatic vet

  • Search the WAVMA (World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association) directory — or search "aquatic / exotics vet near me".
  • Call ahead: "Do you treat marine fish?" Few vets do — find and save one now, while things are calm.
  • Ask the exam fee when you call — knowing the cost up front removes the money-panic in a crisis.

📇 Fill this in now

My vet
My condy anemone
What I'm seeing

🚨 Is this an emergency now?

Quarantine and get help promptly if you notice any of these:

  • Staying tightly retracted and not opening for days — short-term is normal, persistent isn't (check light, flow, water).
  • Mouth gaping open or expelling its insides, or a deflating, shrinking column — classic decline; act on water quality fast.
  • Constant wandering that never re-anchors — unhappy with light, flow or placement.
  • Pale/bleached colour — loss of zooxanthellae from too little light or stress; and remove a clearly melting anemone before it fouls the tank.

🚗 On the way / while you wait

✅ Do

  • Test your water NOW — salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity and temperature — and correct anything obviously off.
  • Move the fish to a hospital / quarantine tank if you have one.
  • Keep it in its own stable tank water.
  • Keep the tank calm and dim.

⛔ Don't

  • Don't dose the display tank with OTC or shop “cures” blindly — copper and many meds are harmful to inverts and corals, and they mask the real cause.
  • Don't make a big, sudden parameter swing.
  • Don't add anything you can't explain the reason for.

🎒 What to bring

  • A recent, full water test — salinity, alkalinity, nitrate, temperature (and ammonia/nitrite/pH if you have them).
  • Photos plus a short video of what you’re seeing — it may not show it in the clinic.
  • A note of your system and how you feed.
  • Only if advised: the animal itself, in its own tank water.

🗣️ What to tell the vet / expert

Adult size
Roughly 6–12 in (15–30 cm) across in a home tank; larger in the wild.
Lifespan
Several years to 10+ with good care; anemones are effectively very long-lived when kept well.
Minimum tank
30 gallons is the absolute minimum, 50 gallons-plus preferred per anemone — and an established, stable tank (commonly ~6 months in).
Lighting
Moderate-to-high reef light — it's a photosynthetic carnivore that relies on symbiotic zooxanthellae. (Sources don't give a firm PAR figure, so match good reef lighting to your tank depth.)
Water flow
Moderate, indirect flow — enough to keep the tentacles gently moving, not a direct blast.
Placement
It anchors/buries its foot in a rock crevice or sand, but it WANDERS until it finds a spot it likes — so screen every powerhead and overflow, or it can be sucked in and shredded.
Temperature
72–78°F (22–26°C).
pH
8.1–8.4.
Specific gravity
1.023–1.025 (standard reef ~1.025 / 35 ppt).
Other targets
dKH ~8–12; zero copper, as with any invert.
Feeding
Photosynthetic PLUS a carnivore — small (~¼ in) meaty pieces of fish, shrimp or mussel every 2–3 days when new or small, tapering to 1–2× a week once established under good light.
Temperament
Aggressive for an anemone — a strong sting that's often fatal to nearby corals and other anemones, and it actively preys on small fish and shrimp that brush its tentacles.
Reef-safe
No — it wanders and stings (often fatally) corals and other anemones, and it eats small fish and shrimp. Keep it in a species or FOWLR tank, not a mixed reef.
Natural range
Caribbean / Western Atlantic (south-eastern US through the Caribbean).

⚕️ Most marine illness starts with water quality or acclimation, not infection — bring a full set of parameters (salinity, alkalinity, nitrate, temperature). Marine-fish medicine is specialised and few vets treat fish, so call ahead. Copper and many OTC 'cures' are toxic to invertebrates and corals — never dose them in a reef display; treat a sick fish in a separate quarantine/hospital tank, and tell the vet exactly what you've already added.

❓ Questions to ask

  • Do you treat marine fish?
  • What are the likely causes — and could my water or acclimation be the cause?
  • What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for?
  • How do I prevent this happening again?