Anemone mistake :(

[KRG]

I feel just terrible. I woke up this morning and found one of my anemones in the powerhead . Last night while cleaning the tank I removed all of the sponges on my filters because cyano was starting to grow on them. They were all nutrient drenched. (see pic below) After cleaning them I put them on top of the tank to dry out over night. Well at some point during the night one of my anemones decided to move. I have one that has never moved but this one has before. I should have put the sponges back on last night!!! After turning the powerhead off this morning it took the anemone 4 hours to free itself. It's out but if you look at the last pic you can see the tear in it's foot. It looks like it survived the ordeal pretty well...hope it recovers soon! Sorry the pictures aren't very clear, it was the best I could do with my camera.

 

[spongebob lover]

ouch dood , sorry to hear what happened.
just leave it alone and keep having your water changes and feeding it.
i'm sure it'll heal, my anemone went through that, one time and it's still alive.
good luck dood

 

[Dr. Dee]

That happens alot it will recover fast

 

[Slickdonkey]

Sorry to hear that. The damage looks like nothing compared to what happened to mine, and it recovered. Have hope, run lots of carbon, and cover that powerhead!

 

[KRG]

Update:

Well it appears that the anemone isn't too stressed. It moved off the powerhead and is attached to the back wall near the powerhead. It doesn't seem too interested in going off to hide and recover. It has opened back up and the mouth is closed. My clowns keep swimming over to visit it and then swimming back to their main host. Hopefully this was just a reminder for me and not a disaster!

 

[Krish]

Sorry to hear about your anemone, but I'm glad things are looking up for you. As for your sponge, how long do you let it go before cleaning it? With any sponges, you should try your best to clean them every few days so as to not degrade water quality as detritus and waste builds up on them and break down. By the looks of it, it looks like a great food source for algae to grow. Just a thought...

 

[KRG]

By the looks of it, it looks like a great food source for algae to grow. Just a thought...

They needed cleaning badly! I was cleaning them weekly but I must admit that I have neglected my tank a little bit since starting the construction on the 125 through-wall project last month. I let is slide to the point of a cyano outbreak and now I'm having to do some major cleaning to correct the problems I've caused.

 

[snobanker]

I have had two anenomes commit suicide by powerhead.....I couldnt save them cause they looked like they jumped in a blender set to puree....they did make a good protein shake but thats another story... good luck I hope it heals up well, wish I'd have thought of the sponge idea

 

[class clown]

This happened to me before and everything is usually fine. Especially based on those photos you posted, I almost guarantee you that you have nothing to worry about. My RBTA did that once, but it got really beaten up in comparison, and about a week later, I had 4.

BTW- Yuck on the sponge filters! It sounds like you were already thinking the same thing, but I'd try to figure out a way to keep those bad boys out of there without sucking the anemone's up again.

 

[KRG]

Class Clown:

You changed your avatar!

I almost didn't recognize you!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

What do you guys use to cover powerheads besides sponges? I have 2 SEIO 2600s, one catches part of my RBTA regularly (once every 2-3 months)

 

[Maxx]

Buy some eggcrate at HD or Lowes, (or where is equivilent in your area) make a small box out of the eggcrate covering the intake of the powerhead. Use cable/zip ties to secure the sides of the box to each other/ and the powerhead.

Not pretty, but less maintenance than the sponge.

Nick

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Make an eggcrate box for each of the seio 2600s?

 

[KRG]

I like the egg crate idea.....I might just switch all of my sponges out this weekend! My anemone pulled through just fine!!! It never did hide, it moved off the ph and attached to a close piece of rock about mid-way between the top and bottom of tank. It's fully open, eating and looking good! I'm not to thrilled where it settled down at but hey, it's healthy and I'm thankfull!

 

[Maxx]

I received a PM about the eggcrate over teh powerhead...so for anyone else, here is a very simple version of what I was talking about.

The waffle looking thing at the top left is what the egg crate looks like. You can buy sheets of it that are 48x18 at Lowes or Home Depot fairly inexpensively...

The bottom image shows the eggcrate around the intake of the pump, which is where the problem area is... Zip ties would go over the top of the powerhead in this case to secure the eggcrate to the powerhead.

You could also make an eggcrate box, with the powerhead inside and the nozzle sticking out through one of the holes in the eggcrate. I've found wire cutting pliers, (called dikes for those who might not know) cut eggcrate most easily w/o causing it to shatter into annoying little pieces.

HTH,

Nick

 

[KRG]

wierd update:

12-2-06

My anemone is doing great! I'm a little perplexed though...it moved off the power head as I stated on 11/26. It moved to a nearby rock and has settled in the center of a colony of colt corals . It wont move away! It is centered between 5 half dollar sized stalks of colts. All of the colts are between 5" and 8" high. The anemone is fully open with great bubble tips, eating and seeming very happy. It's panning up and over the colts but the colts don't seem to mind the bta at all and also have their polyps extended. I've been expecting some sort of aggression from one or the other but I just haven't seen anything yet?!?!?!

In the past when this anemone has moved it would avoid other softies after touching them. It intertwined with my other anemone but anything else it avoided. Am I waiting on a bomb to drop or do bta's just get along with colts? This is weird as it's never hung out with the softies before.

 

[Maxx]

If the anemone isnt reacting negatively to the soft corals presence, and the soft corals arent affected by the anemone....everything is fine.

Nick