c0mp|ex's anemone disaster recovery thread (Long!)

c0mp|ex · 01/10/2011, 04:39 AM

A little over a year ago, I transferred schools and in the process of moving, i sold my beloved BTA back to the LFS before the move. Last Christmas, i finally finished re-setting up my 29g with 10 gallon sump. I always wanted a to get back into reef keeping but with school going on, my time was sparse and spending time and money on my tank was something I couldn't find time for. For about a year, the only life in my tank was live rock and a lonely clown, which was pretty low maintenance. This past fall, i started to get back into reef keeping and decided that i wanted to get another anemone for my clown. My girlfriend said that she would buy me one so i pulled the trigger and grabbed a good sized GBTA.
Here he is on the night he was introduced to the tank (my clown doesn't even know he exists)

The next day, he moved onto the rock above his previous spot and settled into a crevice and stayed happy as can be for about a month.

This is where it gets interesting. With Christmas coming around the corner, i would be going out of town so i had to make a few last minute preparations and prayed that my tank would be fine when i returned. When i came home on the 26th, this is what i saw..

He had gone roaming and I'm guessing he got too close to the overflow and got sucked in.

My skimmer was overflowing in my sump, and the timer that i put my MH's on had failed to work while i was gone. Why my nem went roaming as soon as i left, i'll have no idea but i hope it had to do with one of those reasons.

Anyways, I shut off the return for a bit and then realized he was probably going to split so i turned it back on because i didn't want to make any sudden changes while he was splitting (stupid me). About an hour later or two later, i heard my emergency drain gurgling so i rushed over to see what had happened. The split had complete, the guy inside the tank looked pretty good and his other half, well.. he was clogged half way down my drain which was being controlled by a gate valve.

I frantically shut off the return in an effort to save his other half. I opened the gate valve all the way but only a tiny piece of nem showed up in the sump. I looked down the drain and i saw the rest of him caught on the gate valve's "door". As i opened the door, part of him went up/down with the door acting with a shearing motion on the nems body. There was no way i could get him out other than turning on the flow and opening and closing the valve until he decided tear and come loose. When it finally happened, what came out the bottom were 3+ pieces of shredded BTA.

Just as i was about to throw out the shards of anemone, i remembered all the "powerhead vs anemone" threads and remembered that i had a little basket that i used to use for frags and decided to keep the "pieces" and see if they would recover. Here's what they looked like after i put them in the basket.

Being torn into the 4+ pieces (i only saved the smaller pieces), i wondered if they'd recover and if there was a mouth on each piece.

This is where the recovery begins. The next day, everything looked promising. The original nem (the one that stayed in the tank) moved behind my over flow box and i left him there to heal. The other three nems looked inflated and a full recovery seemed promising!

If you look closely on this pic, you can see a really small clone attached on the right of the foot of the biggest of the clones.

A few days ago i used a flashlight to check out the original nem (the biggest one) and his foot had fully healed so i moved him to the basket so he could get some light. He was actually a lot smaller than i thought. The largest of the clones actually didn't make it. He looked promising for about a week, fully inflated, foot was holding, but he never showed signs of healing. He was a wide open C shape with exposed mesenterial filaments. He was attached and managed to move to the other side of the little basket but then seemed to detach. He would try to pull himself together on one day but the next day, he'd be face down and twisted and mangled again. I tried to help, but as soon as i started to smell him, i pulled him from the tank. I actually gave him about week longer to pull together than i should have. He was definitely the culprit of my smelly room!

The other two small clones have been doing great and seem to be nearly fully healed. They all have mouths, albeit small ones, and sticky tentacles that have been grabbing at the smallest bits of raw shrimp. The surviving three are eating now! I fed them last week and i fed them again tonight. The odd part is that the smallest one doesn't seem to have a foot, if he does it is extremely small (perhaps a square mm.) He'll be attached to a rock or the bottom of the basket one second, and be lying on his side when lights are out, weird. Instead of a foot, he looks like he has a round stub, so i placed him in a rock fortress. I think he might be attached now, but not much.

Here's a pic i took earlier tonight after lights out! They look inflated and happy as can be. My fingers are crossed and i hope they are on the road to a full recovery!

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!
Tad

Kweli · 01/10/2011, 11:03 AM

Not as bad as it could have been... Could have been a power head disaster.. hope they pull through

celamb89 · 01/10/2011, 08:13 PM

niceee

glad to hear about the recovery!
good luck

c0mp|ex · 01/13/2011, 04:08 PM

Thanks guys! Here some pics i got of them last night! They are all doing well and nicely inflated!

This is the little guy that doesn't seem to have a foot or a very small one. Sometimes he looks attached and them sometimes he just lies on his side. He looks happy and healthy though.

He moved actually moved today. I'm not sure if that was his own doing or if it was because of the current. I'll get more pictures later today with the lights on.

ezhoops · 01/27/2011, 06:05 PM

OK this is crazy, same exact thing happened to me almost took the words out of my mouth.

check it out.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1958104

01/10/2011, 04:39 AM	#1
c0mp\|ex Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: San Antonio Posts: 296	c0mp\|ex's anemone disaster recovery thread (Long!) A little over a year ago, I transferred schools and in the process of moving, i sold my beloved BTA back to the LFS before the move. Last Christmas, i finally finished re-setting up my 29g with 10 gallon sump. I always wanted a to get back into reef keeping but with school going on, my time was sparse and spending time and money on my tank was something I couldn't find time for. For about a year, the only life in my tank was live rock and a lonely clown, which was pretty low maintenance. This past fall, i started to get back into reef keeping and decided that i wanted to get another anemone for my clown. My girlfriend said that she would buy me one so i pulled the trigger and grabbed a good sized GBTA. Here he is on the night he was introduced to the tank (my clown doesn't even know he exists) The next day, he moved onto the rock above his previous spot and settled into a crevice and stayed happy as can be for about a month. This is where it gets interesting. With Christmas coming around the corner, i would be going out of town so i had to make a few last minute preparations and prayed that my tank would be fine when i returned. When i came home on the 26th, this is what i saw.. He had gone roaming and I'm guessing he got too close to the overflow and got sucked in. My skimmer was overflowing in my sump, and the timer that i put my MH's on had failed to work while i was gone. Why my nem went roaming as soon as i left, i'll have no idea but i hope it had to do with one of those reasons. Anyways, I shut off the return for a bit and then realized he was probably going to split so i turned it back on because i didn't want to make any sudden changes while he was splitting (stupid me). About an hour later or two later, i heard my emergency drain gurgling so i rushed over to see what had happened. The split had complete, the guy inside the tank looked pretty good and his other half, well.. he was clogged half way down my drain which was being controlled by a gate valve. I frantically shut off the return in an effort to save his other half. I opened the gate valve all the way but only a tiny piece of nem showed up in the sump. I looked down the drain and i saw the rest of him caught on the gate valve's "door". As i opened the door, part of him went up/down with the door acting with a shearing motion on the nems body. There was no way i could get him out other than turning on the flow and opening and closing the valve until he decided tear and come loose. When it finally happened, what came out the bottom were 3+ pieces of shredded BTA. Just as i was about to throw out the shards of anemone, i remembered all the "powerhead vs anemone" threads and remembered that i had a little basket that i used to use for frags and decided to keep the "pieces" and see if they would recover. Here's what they looked like after i put them in the basket. Being torn into the 4+ pieces (i only saved the smaller pieces), i wondered if they'd recover and if there was a mouth on each piece. This is where the recovery begins. The next day, everything looked promising. The original nem (the one that stayed in the tank) moved behind my over flow box and i left him there to heal. The other three nems looked inflated and a full recovery seemed promising! If you look closely on this pic, you can see a really small clone attached on the right of the foot of the biggest of the clones. A few days ago i used a flashlight to check out the original nem (the biggest one) and his foot had fully healed so i moved him to the basket so he could get some light. He was actually a lot smaller than i thought. The largest of the clones actually didn't make it. He looked promising for about a week, fully inflated, foot was holding, but he never showed signs of healing. He was a wide open C shape with exposed mesenterial filaments. He was attached and managed to move to the other side of the little basket but then seemed to detach. He would try to pull himself together on one day but the next day, he'd be face down and twisted and mangled again. I tried to help, but as soon as i started to smell him, i pulled him from the tank. I actually gave him about week longer to pull together than i should have. He was definitely the culprit of my smelly room! The other two small clones have been doing great and seem to be nearly fully healed. They all have mouths, albeit small ones, and sticky tentacles that have been grabbing at the smallest bits of raw shrimp. The surviving three are eating now! I fed them last week and i fed them again tonight. The odd part is that the smallest one doesn't seem to have a foot, if he does it is extremely small (perhaps a square mm.) He'll be attached to a rock or the bottom of the basket one second, and be lying on his side when lights are out, weird. Instead of a foot, he looks like he has a round stub, so i placed him in a rock fortress. I think he might be attached now, but not much. Here's a pic i took earlier tonight after lights out! They look inflated and happy as can be. My fingers are crossed and i hope they are on the road to a full recovery! Any comments and suggestions are welcome! Tad Last edited by c0mp\|ex; 01/10/2011 at 04:45 AM.

01/10/2011, 08:13 PM	#3
celamb89 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Live in Mexico, from AustinTX Posts: 869	niceee glad to hear about the recovery! good luck __________________ CEL

01/27/2011, 06:05 PM	#5
ezhoops Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Royal Oak, Michigan Posts: 3,530	OK this is crazy, same exact thing happened to me almost took the words out of my mouth. check it out. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1958104 __________________ "Keep your Friends Close, Your Anemones Closer" Current Tank Info: Working on 60 cube, sicce 3.0 return pump, 29 gal sump with fuge,Bubble Magnus NAC6 Skimmer, Aquaticlife 4 bulb T-5 VHO, 29gal Rare Clown breeding

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01/10/2011, 11:03 AM	#2
Kweli Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 221	Not as bad as it could have been... Could have been a power head disaster.. hope they pull through

01/13/2011, 04:08 PM	#4
c0mp\|ex Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: San Antonio Posts: 296	Thanks guys! Here some pics i got of them last night! They are all doing well and nicely inflated! This is the little guy that doesn't seem to have a foot or a very small one. Sometimes he looks attached and them sometimes he just lies on his side. He looks happy and healthy though. He moved actually moved today. I'm not sure if that was his own doing or if it was because of the current. I'll get more pictures later today with the lights on.