Anemone caught in filter!

[Shifferbrain]

My haitian anemone apparently got too close to my filter and got sucked in. I noticed it when I got up yesterday and turned the filter off. Half of him is sucked into the siphon tube and the other half is just hanging there. One of his "arms" waves around a bit still. I was told that they never really die, but I don't want him living there.

What should I do?

[caitrina]

I read somewhere that someone had one do this and it did come out, but I know that probably wasn't much help. I think if you search through the forum you might find that same post. Someone will come along with the answer though I am sure.

[bluespotjawfish]

Mine just did this! I removed the tube from the filter. It removed itself (took a few days) and is still recovering. If you have any doubts as to whether it is dying or not, you might want to put it in a QT, but you need to keep flow, WQ, lights as close as possible to what it is used to. If it isn't smelly, slimey, etc, then it isn't dying. It will look very chewed up and will periodically close up and look very dead, but it isn't. A good sign is if it still attaches itself to anything. If it dies it can pollute the tank so if it is dying it should be removed. But, most likely it will live. I also added extra carbon to the tank to help keep it clean.

[Shifferbrain]

Thanks for the input. He's quite a ways out now, but he is nearly ripped in half. I think I'm going to put a sponge over the filter intake like the fish stores do. I don't want to run into this problem again.

[Techno-Vicki]

something else you might consider; when anemones are in distress, they will put out toxins. Add a major carbon injection and a good water change might make your other livestock feel a bit better.

[AQTCJAK]

I agree carbon & a water change will help with toxins in this case

[Shifferbrain]

I was planning on a water change today anyway! The half of him that was hanging ripped off. I'm going to take the filter intake off and clean out what's left of him. Do you guys(and gals) think I should leave what fell off in the tank over night to see if he's alive?

As always, Thanks for the help!

[AQTCJAK]

I would say no. He could cause more issues

[Shifferbrain]

I didn't want it to come to that, but oh well.

[AQTCJAK]

Anenomes that are dead are so toxic they can cause an entire tank to die off

[kinghokus420]

i had my bta get sucked into a seio 820 a few months ago. it sucked 75% of the nem into it. i manually removed as much of it from the ph as possible. i also had a bunch of green confetti scattered throughout my tank. after it was removed i just let it be. after a few days it barely came out from under its rock. since then it has fully recovered and split once. they are resilient critters and it should come back. just keep your water good.


this is what it looked like after removal.


this was a couple weeks ago

[Shifferbrain]

Thanks, I'll give him a few days and see what happens.

[Techno-Vicki]

He looks like he may still make it. When you think about what happens when they split, who knows. But keep those water changes going.

[bluespotjawfish]

Any updates?

Mine is still alive, just barely starting to come back out in an area to grab some light.