OK, that about does it!

[aquarookie]

Well, am I the fool of the year or what! I think I just killed my pride and joy, my beautiful blue S. Haddoni. Somebody come kick me please.

I have had this anemone since last february, and it has lived through severe damage to its foot (when LFS tried to remove it from its rock), TWO cold periods (we're talking 60 degrees or less here), unstable salinity and lack of decent lighting. For many months now, everything has been going great. The water parameters have been stable, the lighting has been strong and the anemone has been flourishing (sp?).

The last couple days the anemone has decided to walk around the tank, and a couple of green striped mushrooms have been acting weird. So I figured I would check the water, and it turned out that the salinity was low (the skimmer has been skimming wet-ish, and the top off has been fresh water, so there). Anyway, I decided that if I dump a cup full of salt into the overflow, it will gradually dissolve and increase the salinity back to normal.

Well... I missed the overflow and dumped a half a cup of salt directly onto the anemone's oral disk. OHHHHH! Of course, I immediately "brushed" as much of it off as I could (well, actually, I just swished the water over the nem), but the poor creature shriveled up, got covered in slime and is NOT looking good at all. If the anemone dies now, I think that will be the end of reefing for me. Oh, I feel so STUPID! I am so mad at myself!!!

 

[thekingfish]

I wouldn't lose hope anytime soon.
If it was sick to begin with, then the salt burn might have pushed it over the edge. But since it was in good health with the closed mouth, I would think your chances are pretty good.
I've gotten lazy in the past when I dumped salt into the sump only to have the return pump spray it all over the corals. I guess its one of those learning experiences.

 

[aquarookie]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I am definitely not giving up on it, and praying and keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed that it will live. But boy, I still can't believe I did that!

 

[auqua man]

I have also had my share of " WHY THE ___K DID I DO THATs "
I have my fingers crossed for you good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Krish]

Don't give up... I've felt the same way many times before and was glad I stuck it out. Things happen and we learn from them. Hopefully he pulls through for you. I'll keep my fingers crossed

 

[Damsel13]

Oh my goodness. Sounds like some of my great ideas! :shock:

Debbie

 

[balogh03]

Sorry to here that man. I hope that the anenome gets better and pulls through for yah, good luck.

-augustus

 

[Juanfer]

good luck and dont give up!!!

 

[aquarookie]

Thanks again guys (and gals),
The poor nem is licking its wounds, so to speak... the part that got salt on it is all scrunched up and looks like the mouth is stretched over it. I would take a pic but of course, my camera is MIA. Unfortunately, more than half of the anemone got "salted", but I am still hoping and praying and checking up on it frequently. The slime that it produced is bright blue, just like the tips of the tentacles. Well, I do my best to learn from my mistakes. I just hope this one does not turn out fatal...

 

[burning2nd]

not enought of a good reason to quit, (IMO)

but we all make mistakes, sometimes the best are made when we do something outta the normal.

like add salt to the over flow insted of pulling water out mixing stronger and adding back....

it happens...

try no to rush yourself, im sure if it was low, a day or a few more hours woundlnt have hurt

 

[thekingfish]

How's it looking today?

 

[aquarookie]

Well, good news: he's alive! Looking better, too. He is still holding the damaged parts "closed", so to speak, and the mouth is wide open... but it is definitely an improvement over last night (oh, thank Goodness!).

BTW, I wasn't saying that I would quit the hobby over just this one incident. I have done way too many of really foolish things when it comes to reefing, and the death of my anemone would probably be the last straw... But I feel better now . At least I won't repeat THIS mistake again!

As far as the rest of the livestock goes, the clown is fine (other than being frustrated with the anemone being shriveled up), the zoas are fine, the one lonely piece of LPS is fine... but the mushrooms are still acting funky (shriveling up, producing slime, detaching from rocks...). They have been doing this for a while now, one shroom at a time, and making me wonder if there is a disease going around. Maybe I should start a new thread on mushroom trouble?

 

[aquarookie]

The anemone is looking better this morning (still looking horrible, mind you, but better than yesterday). I have high hopes

 

[trido]

I accidentally knocked some salt creep onto my anenome a few months ago. It did the same and made a full recovery.

 

[aquarookie]

He's still alive and more open now, I can actually see some of the damage. Like the tips of the tentacles burnt off. A part of the anemone is still closed up, that must be where the majority of the damage took place. I think he'll make it

 

[auqua man]

[ I think he'll make it [/QUOTE]

Great news I hope it makes a quick recovery.

 

[aquarookie]

making recovery

Well folks, I think we're safe. The anemone still looks horseshoe-shaped (the burnt-est part is all scrunched up), but there is definitely progress in the positive direction. The two upper pics are what it looked like before the incident. The left lower pic was a few days after (sorry, my camera was missing the first couple of days), then the right lower pic was taken in another few days. The color on it is goofy due to lighting, but you get the idea. The bright blue in the upper pics was not photoshopped, but it is not quite that blue in real life. I guess the camera likes it :lol:

 

[burning2nd]

its still eating??


just feed it, It will fix it self

 

[aquarookie]

Oh, it's eating all right. It is doing better. I need to do a water change though... The anemone is moving around, and it had previously been in the same space for months. So I have a feeling it is unhappy about something, and water quality seems to be the only possible culprit (although everything checks out perfect, chemically speaking). BTW, it started moving BEFORE I salted it, so I know that's not the issue.

 

[burning2nd]

sounds good.

mine has stayed right where i put it when i put it in the tank,

its geting much bigger as well..... it moves around the top of the same rock its on.