RBTA vs Koralia Powerhead

[Jan]

Well, the RBTA that I posted about earlier had a run in with my Koralia powerhead last night. It has been moving quite a bit the past 6 weeks or so and I've had to rescue it from near misses with this powerhead before. But I honestly didn't think that it could fit in between the slots of the powerhead sides, and I have "gutter guard" inside the front output so I thought it would be okay even if it got close. I was wrong.

As of now it is slowly moving and repositioning itself around the Koralia (the power is off now). The tentacles are moving and don't look too bad. I did syphon out a few bits from the tank that I could see. Of more concern is that I now see some of its column inside the housing near the impeller blade and the edge of it looks like it is chewed up and/or dissolving.

Do you think it is safe to leave the anemone in my tank and hope that it removes itself and heals? Or do I need to put it in my 10 gallon QT? I find it difficult to maintain the water quality in the small QT so I only use it when absolutely necessary.

Advice?

 

[Elmo18]

Hi Jan.

Don't worry about removing it. Removing the anemone now will just give it more stress. It will recover...

Just cover any powerheads (the MJ types) with some nylon fiber material, if you have any other powerheads..

These creatures are very resilient. I kept a couple Rbtas exposed outside of the tank for 2 hours, and they were fine. They were on a rock that I had placed in an empty bucket while remodeling the tank. I had forgotten they were there...but no harm done.

The best you can do, IMO, is put a new bag of carbon.

Best,
Ilham

 

[Jan]

OK, thanks, Ilham.

 

[Jobiwan]

What Ilham said Jan, I had an RBTA get into a powerhead, every single tentacle was torn off, nothing left but the stalk, I almost flushed it, but I decided to just leave it in the tank, that was about three months ago, now you can't tell it from any of the other ones, you should have no problem.

 

[Maxx]

Once again....leave it alone, leave the power off....it will free itself.

Nick

 

[Jan]

I do plan to leave it alone.

Any advice related to lessening the impact to other tank inhabitants, or tips that will show that the anemone is not going to make it (so I can remove it)?

So far I have added a fresh bag of carbon, a fresh bag of zeolith (SW variety, to remove ammonia), and I've done a small water change.

The anemone looks 80% fine, but 20% of it is pulverized-looking and still stuck to the side of the Koralia. I don't know if this pulverized stuff is going to rot or not, and possibly put the other inhabitants at risk. My net water volume on this system is ~145 gallons.

 

[Jobiwan]

Don't worry about it, anemones are mostly water, not that much protein compared to a fish to rot into NH3, might be different in a nano, but with your water volume and a well established tank you won't have any problem, esp with the steps you have taken, if it turns into goo you can remove the glop with a siphon, but even if you miss it your tank will be fine, your anemone will look really stressed while it recovers, don't panic

 

[Jan]

thankyou, Jobiwan.

 

[Jan]

My formerly blind but now only half-blind Clarkii clownfish refused to eat last night for the first time in his life. If I didn't know better I'd think that our fish have emotions.

hopefully his buddy the RBTA will come down off the Koralia before too long...

 

[spongebob lover]

My formerly blind but now only half-blind Clarkii clownfish refused to eat last night for the first time in his life. If I didn't know better I'd think that our fish have emotions.

hopefully his buddy the RBTA will come down off the Koralia before too long...

sorry to hear about yoru anemone girl .

 

[Jan]

Thanks, Gaby.

Well, he's out of the Koralia now, and I cleaned out the dead tissue from inside and turned it back on (sponge wrapped around it...need a better solution though).

Anemone is looking very rough, he's got some intestines showing etc. Plus the clownfish is wiggling all over him. Still, I think he's going to pull through.

 

[jamiehill]

Thanks, Gaby.

Well, he's out of the Koralia now, and I cleaned out the dead tissue from inside and turned it back on (sponge wrapped around it...need a better solution though).

Anemone is looking very rough, he's got some intestines showing etc. Plus the clownfish is wiggling all over him. Still, I think he's going to pull through.

It might be a good idea to cover the anemone with something like one of those baskets you get strawberries in at the store. Something to keep the clown away from the anemone while it heals itself. With the clown still hosting in the injured anemone, it might be causing some extra stress that can hinder the healing process.

 

[Jobiwan]

That's a great idea Jamie, I never thought about using those strawberry containers, I could see using them for a lot of other uses, like trying to get something to attach in a certain area, gotta love these forums...

 

[Jan]

I'll be keeping a close eye on the situation...I had that thought too, that the clownfish's "ministrations" might hinder healing/stress the anemone. I may have to remove the clown to the QT tank as I wouldn't trust him to leave a strawberry basket alone. I could easily see him bulldosing it into the anemone in his attempts to get at him. (What can I say, he's a "basket case," lol...)

 

[jamiehill]

How is your anemone doing Jan?

 

[Jan]

It seems to be healing. It has itself wedged between a coulple of rocks, hiding its injured parts, and undamaged tentacles poking out. It hasn't changed color in its tentacles from what it used to look like. I will try feeding it some live baby brine shrimp this evening. The clown has been trying to feed it but I don't think it's eaten those larger chunks of food.