Carpet Anemone Help

iplayhockey1919 · Mar 7, 2019

I need some advice on a bit of an emergency with a carpet anemone. About 3 days ago, he decided to take a float into a wave maker. Thankfully, my father-in-law checked on the tank for me (we are moving into their house soon), and was able to turn it off.

I was able to rescue him from the wave make when I got over there later that day. To my surprise, his tentacles were still sticky to the touch and thought he could still be alive. I did cut a little of the encrusted tissue off from him but left most of it due to his position in the dish he was in.

I then put him into the peacemaker that I bought and the pictures show how he is recovering. I have read a few things about treating an anemone but not sure if I need to or if nature will cure him.

This morning I got the photo with part of the anemone "falling off" the rest of it. It looks like that is the encrusted part that was still attached.

I am looking for ideas or was to comfort it while it heals or if it is going to die.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

D-Nak · Mar 7, 2019

As long as it was healthy before the incident, it should be fine. You can cut off the dead tissue if there is any left.

No need to any antibiotics, as these are usually used for nems that are acclimating and may have an infection. I had a couple of carpet nems get caught in wavemakers and they healed fine in the DT.

In terms of long term care, your nem (looks to be a S. haddoni) will be better off in a tank with a deep sand bed, preferably 4" or more. They like to bury their foot in the sand, oftentimes attaching to the bottom of the tank. This could explain why the nem took a trip and got stuck in your wavemaker.

MarinaP · Mar 7, 2019

I would take it out of acclimation box and place it in bowl with sand for it to bury the foot. It needs flow to heal, too.

iplayhockey1919 · Mar 8, 2019

D-Nak said:
As long as it was healthy before the incident, it should be fine. You can cut off the dead tissue if there is any left.

No need to any antibiotics, as these are usually used for nems that are acclimating and may have an infection. I had a couple of carpet nems get caught in wavemakers and they healed fine in the DT.

In terms of long term care, your nem (looks to be a S. haddoni) will be better off in a tank with a deep sand bed, preferably 4" or more. They like to bury their foot in the sand, oftentimes attaching to the bottom of the tank. This could explain why the nem took a trip and got stuck in your wavemaker.

Before I moved into the larger tank, he was in my failed refugium filled with miracle mud and he loved it. I am thinking about how to get the DSB to stay in place and not consume the rest of the tank in the process. My thought is to use 4" pvc pipe to contain the sand hope he will take to it.

Thanks for the advice.

Annelise · Mar 10, 2019

Any updates??

iplayhockey1919 · Mar 13, 2019

Instead of planning my crazy idea of trying to reinvent the wheel. I talk to a friend of mine who said just go to Petco and get a plastic container. I got that and some sand and after about 10 minutes of encouraging the anemone to release its foot, it finally came loose and I was able to get him the new location. He has been in there for about a 5 days so far and it looks like he is healing just fine, but doesn't want to eat any of the silversides I give him. I am sure though that it is a healing process for him and will take some time before he is ready to eat again.

D-Nak · Mar 13, 2019

I don't think you should keep it in that closed container. The nem needs circulation in order to help the healing process. Alternatively, you can add more sand (enough to fill the container to about an inch from the top) so that the nem can dig in and have the top of the nem stick out over the top of the container.

iplayhockey1919 · Mar 13, 2019

The container lid is off so it has a small opening for water to flow through. My fear is that he will get lifted out again and go for a float.

I like the idea of adding more sand into the container for him to dig down.