Safe and Easy DIY way to remove Nems

kittenbritches

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If it retracts to 2", you would need at least a 2" pipe. Trick would be to not have the pipe all of the way down the sponge. Leave a gap from the "base" of the sponge to the rock, so it makes the nem retract and it should be able to crawl up the pipe with no issues.

If no pipe that big, you could even take an old plastic cup, cut the bottom out, sand it smooth where cut and use that to block flow and light. Same idea, but may be something more readily available. Tecik is to have whatever at an angle to make the nem want to move to flow and light.
Gotcha! Thanks again! :)
 

muzikalmatt

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I have found that light colored pipes seem to work better in darker areas of the tank. I had to add a 45 on to the RFA Canon once and after 2 days I still had nothing. Turned the 45 so it was catching light and funneling it down the tube and within 2 hours, I had skirt poking out : )
Genius! So it's basically chasing the light through the tube.
 

McPuff

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I found that I could cut, scrape, poke, flame polish (ok, not really) the anemones to get them out of a rock... nothing seemed to kill them no matter how badly they may have looked at first. A day or two later they would look happy and bubby in their new (temporary) home. The easiest way to kill a coral seems to be worrying about it. :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:
 

Dolphin2409

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Ok, I’ve put the Anemone Cannon in. Fingers crossed. It’s my first attempt so might need to make some adjustments but I’m hopeful.
54629F35-360E-4421-B6AA-695DC02D4F9C.jpeg
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Ok, I’ve put the Anemone Cannon in. Fingers crossed. It’s my first attempt so might need to make some adjustments but I’m hopeful.
54629F35-360E-4421-B6AA-695DC02D4F9C.jpeg
Looks well placed. Just ensure there is no light coming in from around the edges, and there isn't a refection going straight down the tube from your lights.

If they have direct light, they are less inclined to walk up the tube.
 

Dolphin2409

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Looks well placed. Just ensure there is no light coming in from around the edges, and there isn't a refection going straight down the tube from your lights.

If they have direct light, they are less inclined to walk up the tube.
There is some light getting in on one of the sides but there is also a big ‘back door’ exit for the nem which I think he is more likely to take. If he does go out the back door I’m hoping to catch him while he’s moving. I really want that real estate back for corals.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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There is some light getting in on one of the sides but there is also a big ‘back door’ exit for the nem which I think he is more likely to take. If he does go out the back door I’m hoping to catch him while he’s moving. I really want that real estate back for corals.
Throw another big grout sponge in the back door exit.

If the only way out is through the tube you get your way.
 

Dolphin2409

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Result!

I ended up putting in about 6 of the sponges into the tank plus a few I had to cut to fit to try to block off escape routes. Even then there were areas I couldn’t block but I was hoping I would at least force him to start moving. And that’s what he did this evening and I managed to peel him off the underside of a cave roof as he was moving across it

The cannon is now being deployed on another BTA !!!
 

nano reef

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Result!

I ended up putting in about 6 of the sponges into the tank plus a few I had to cut to fit to try to block off escape routes. Even then there were areas I couldn’t block but I was hoping I would at least force him to start moving. And that’s what he did this evening and I managed to peel him off the underside of a cave roof as he was moving across it

The cannon is now being deployed on another BTA !!!
That is awesome! Thanks so much for posting the pic! I wasn't quite sure exactly how to do it! How big was your nem and where did you get the blue pipe and sponge? Also how big was the diameter of the pipe?

I have a small bta thats maybe 3 to 4 inches fully exteded. Not sure and he has retracted now since I tried to pull him off so he is only part way out but from what I recall!

About how long before he was on the move and did he totally escape the rock because you said you found him up under the cave or something!

Mine was fine for a while but he is getting bigger very fast and pretty sure he is why my hot pink gono looks like its been stung and also a zoa that was kind of close to him!
 

californiarob

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so watching this from the sidelines... great post btw.... does the grout sponge float when its full of water?
 

nano reef

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Canon in use. There are 3 on that rock that'll be coming off.
PXL_20220731_185601486.jpg
Are those shrooms or BTAs? also, is white ok because I was thinking maybe light could get through white! My bta just came back out and I d say he is about 3 inches so what diameter would you recommend?


Also how would I get the sponge to attach to a big rock that the anemone is on? I see you have rubberbands or something but that looks to be a small rock. Also about how long does it take? I have some corals coming in friday plus I had to move the corals surrounding it to the sandbed because he was stinging them so I am in a hurry to get him out!


Speaking of shrooms, I have never ever seen any of my shrooms move! I dont get it! I have lots of shroom too but the high end investment ones mostly. JBs, all kinds of bubbles, frankensteins, magic carpets, neptunes, deadpools, rhodactis bounces, yumas, sunkist, OG bounces. Do none of the above move? Yet to have a single baby either and I was wondering if its because they dont move so they cant leave a piece of the foot behind. I also have some in cages too so maybe I dont see them move. Those are the very tiny ones and ones I have a hard time getting to implant!
 

nano reef

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This is the size of the rock and the nem but he was retracted in the pic after I actually tried to pull him off...lol About 3 inches in diameter. I need him gone asap! Total menace!
 

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Lost in the Sauce

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so watching this from the sidelines... great post btw.... does the grout sponge float when its full of water?
It has Slight positive buoyancy so it does need to be connected in some way. Fishing line small bungee cables or rubber bands are my go to.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Are those shrooms or BTAs? also, is white ok because I was thinking maybe light could get through white! My bta just came back out and I d say he is about 3 inches so what diameter would you recommend?


Also how would I get the sponge to attach to a big rock that the anemone is on? I see you have rubberbands or something but that looks to be a small rock. Also about how long does it take? I have some corals coming in friday plus I had to move the corals surrounding it to the sandbed because he was stinging them so I am in a hurry to get him out!


Speaking of shrooms, I have never ever seen any of my shrooms move! I dont get it! I have lots of shroom too but the high end investment ones mostly. JBs, all kinds of bubbles, frankensteins, magic carpets, neptunes, deadpools, rhodactis bounces, yumas, sunkist, OG bounces. Do none of the above move? Yet to have a single baby either and I was wondering if its because they dont move so they cant leave a piece of the foot behind. I also have some in cages too so maybe I dont see them move. Those are the very tiny ones and ones I have a hard time getting to implant!
I just wrote you a novel in the other post. There's an entire paragraph or two there about shrooms.

These are BTA's, with the sponge rubber banded to the rock.. fishing line, small bungee cords, rubber bands, glue, stacking rocks on it... Getting them to stay where placed is usually pretty easy. It's going to be different for every application though.

Is white ok for the Tube? Yes. Also yes for the sponge. I use Mr. Clean Magic eraser for RFA tubes. One of the most overlooked tricks with the Canon is not having it pointed directly at the light. If they can see your lights they are not going to walk.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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This is the size of the rock and the nem but he was retracted in the pic after I actually tried to pull him off...lol About 3 inches in diameter. I need him gone asap! Total menace!
That BTA does not look 3 in when closed. If so, you have the largest Duncan Heads and, clove polyp I've ever seen. I'd say 1.5" should work Fine on that guy, and should be easy to attach the sponge to. A few hours, a day should be all it takes.
 

tweeter

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Due to seeing numerous post recently about how to remove anemones and shrooms without hurting them or destroying rock work. I felt like this was in order.

First off, a little back story. Years ago, when I lived in Florida and collected aquatic life on a regular basis, we always had issues with RFA and Warty sea nems being taken off of the rocks safely/ensuring no damage was caused to the foot. Had the same issues with ricordia, as well. As I hate to injure or damage those critters, my brother and I came up with a different way to collect them. We used pipe tied over the critters with fishing line. This worked some of the time, but most times the critters would just crawl to the side of the pipe and back to square one. At this point we pilled sand around the pipe and that really helped get the critters to crawl up the pipe. The issue with that, was tide change. Sand would wash away during this time. While at the hardware store to get some stainless steel screws for rod holders we were adding to the boat, my brother saw some grout sponges and a light bulb went off. He bought all they had lol. The next weekend we meet up to go collecting and he showed me his super idea. Cut a hole in the sponge for the pipe, insert pipe and place over the critter. We would then use rubber bands to fasten the pipe to the rock, pieces of rock, etc. So we tried it. Placed them out first thing in the morning, came back up and fished our usual spots until that afternoon. At that point, they were wet for about 7 hours. When we dove back down, we were amazed that all but one pipe had an RFA at the top. The one just did not want to budge. We removed all of the sponge/pipe combos and have been using them ever since for nem and shroom collection. With this said, I then started to use them to remove BTAs when mine decided to try and take over my tank years ago. Worked like a charm for them. Since then, I have tried to assist other reefers with nem removal by using this method. Best thing about it, NO DAMAGE TO NEM!!!!! It forces them to move on their own. Same applies to shrooms, but you use a shorter pipe of a smaller diameter. So I cannot take full credit for this. The pipe was my idea and the sponge was his. So, much thanks to him years ago for being the smart one lol. (He still is the smart one and works for FWC now and does not have to deal with the Corporate IT world like I do lol)

One note: For BTAs, the pipe needs to be a little longer than you may think. Sometimes BTAs will just stretch and never move their foot. If longer is not an option, placing the pipe sort of sideways always seems to make them crawl and not stretch.

Edit Note: (THX @F i s h y) for tight places or to extend the pipe length to where it may be needed, but space is an issue, use a 45 degree or 90 degree elbow to extend the pipe. The elbow can also be placed on the sponge side for more hard to reach places.

Hope this helps someone and saves a new from having its foot torn and causing damage to it.

Pics are credit to @Lost in the Sauce, as I am worthless and do not have any pics lol. The name is also thanks to @Lost in the Sauce.

Small "Major Eagle_Steve Nem/Shroom Cannon"
Small Nem Cannon.jpeg



Large "Major Eagle_Steve Nem Cannon"
Large Nem Cannon.jpeg
I am needing to move some rock nems,so I did some searching on here for ideas, and just found this thread. What a great and smart idea!! I'm going to use this for my nems, which I love! Thank you so much for sharing!! It's a great help!
 

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