Anemone Suicide???

Urchinsmurchin · Oct 8, 2009

Ok so I bought a RBTA about 3 weeks ago. He has seemed very happy opening almost as big as a dinner plate, eating, etc. When I first got him I had only a 75 gallon set up but knew I was transitioning to a 120 in the next 2 weeks. So I moved him to the 120 about a week ago and he seemed happy still opening and eating etc. He did move around a bit though. For example during the day he would come out on the rocks and at night he would pull back under the rocks. I didn't think anything of this and just figured it was normal anemone behavior. Last night when I went to bed I noticed he had pulled under a rock that was dangerously close to the power head but since I have koralia's and I read somewhere that those were safe with anemone's I thought he would be ok. GUESS WHAT??? Not so much. I woke up this morning to find shredded pieces of anemone all over my tank!!!!! Is it possible for the power head to completely chew up teh anemone. I can't seem to find any body only bits and pieces. Is it possible that the anemone pulled himself off of teh power head and is still in my tank somewhere. What is the liklehood of him nuking my tank as he dies if he is still in my tank in a form larger than shredded cheddar? Do I need to get the shredded pieces out? Thank you for your help. I have decided I am done purchasing things for the tank for a long while. I have lost a couple of high dollar things lately and unfortuantely it is hard to take pride in the hobby when you see your hard earned dollars going down the drain. <sorry for the rant>

Stray32 · Oct 8, 2009

Shredded nems are not good for any tank in any circumstance. I would do a major water change and run carbon to hopefully draw out the toxins. I wouldn't expect to find any living nem pieces anywhere in the tank either. Good luck man.

gflat65 · Oct 8, 2009

BTA's love to give themselves buzz cuts. I came home a number of times to tentacles floating around the tank. If it's not in the powerhead, there is a chance it is still alive. I never lost one to buzz cuts, but several have. Keep an eye on water chemistry for a while (sounds like it was a good sized one). It could pop up in a few weeks and surprise you.

jam3s · Oct 8, 2009

Koralias are not anemone safe. I have a purple gigantea that's gotten stuck in my Koralia TWICE. I was lucky to find it when I got home from work with only some flesh buzzed off. But both times pieces of the carpet was stuck inside the Koralia so I had to cut the plastic so that the holes are big enough for me to pull it out. Not fun.

mfinn · Oct 9, 2009

I know exactly how you feel.
I just had a very large RBTA (16"-18") get sucked into a seio 1500. By the time I saw what had happened, my tank looked as if it was full of milk.
I took six 90 gallon water changes ( it's a 240 gallon tank) and alot of carbon, before the tank looked better.

Urchinsmurchin · Oct 9, 2009

Thanks Guys

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am very upset that my little guy decided to make out with the stupid power head. I sincerely hope he is still in the tank and just ticked off due to an un needed trim. It is a bit weird because my water wasn't milky. The only reason I even knew he had come into contact with the power head was because of a few tentacles laying on the rock and sand bed and a little debris on the power head. Seriously only enough debri to equal about the size of a quarter and fully inflated this guy was at least 8 to 10 inches. Here are some pics of what he did look like.

I really hope he is hiding somewhere in my rock work and will come out when I least expect it.

gflat65 · Oct 9, 2009

If you only found a few tentacles and no mass of rotting tissue in the powerhead, it's probably just fine. If you happen to find one in a powerhead, I recommend just turning the power hed off and letting the anemone pull itself out. There will undoubtedly be times when this won't work (half or more of the anemone in the powerhead

), but for most cases, it should do the trick. Less stress on an already (buzz cut or worse) stressed animal. Hopefully, it'll turn up. Try looking through any and all holes in your rok and see if you see anything dangling. When mine clone, the mother usually hides for 4-7 days (the clone is usually out sooner), but then comes traipsing on out again like nothing happened.