Help me SAVE MY NEM!

[camellia]

Yesterday I sold some corals to a guy who had been wanting them for months. I moved the rock work with my BIG Nem to get to the coral.
During the moving process last week, I've misplaces my Vortech foam covers!

Last night my Nem took its first walk and I found it in the power head. It was sickening. I took it out and cut it in two to prevent more mutilation. It appears both pieces have part of the moth, one is much bigger than the other. Both pieces have some tentacles left but are ripped up very bad.

My cleaner shrimps immediately started attacking it the minute I cut off the power to Vortech. These guys are both helpless in there current condition. I currently have them in a floating breeder box in the tank. There getting gentle flow and I have the lights off today.

The holder they are in has the slits in it including the bottom of it. This is allowing frayed parts of the Nems to fall thru and surely hurting their recovery. I could put some rubble in it but not much or it will sink it.

I did a large water change and my prams all look good.

Anyone have any advise to help these guys recover? This Nem is (was) my favorite tank critter, a beautiful rainbow that was so very happy and even split last month.

Does anyone close to me have 2 covers I can borrow until I get some this week, please?!

Any and all help appreciated, this is breaking my heart
That's in advance
D

 

[jamescook]

All you can really do is add some reef-safe iodine to help with the injury. You could add an air-stone to the basket to help .

 

[camellia]

jamescook;903226 wrote: All you can really do is add some reef-safe iodine to help with the injury. You could add an air-stone to the basket to help .

Can I get these items at a LFS.

Anyone close to me have some I use borrow or buy from you? It's a drive to LFS.!

Thanks

Echotech is sending me a handful of covers but it will be two days.

 

[jamescook]

The air-stone is just air bubbles from an air-pump. The iodine is called iodide I think.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I tore my GBTA several weeks ago. One section didn't even have a mouth so I figured it was a goner. To my surprise, both lived and have thrived. I moved the worst of it to a hospital tank to allow it to heal. Was there for about 3 weeks before I sold it off. Do you have a small hospital tank?

 

[grouper therapy]

Pm lifestudent resident expert on anemone

 

[camellia]

porpoiseaquatics;903243 wrote: I tore my GBTA several weeks ago. One section didn't even have a mouth so I figured it was a goner. To my surprise, both lived and have thrived. I moved the worst of it to a hospital tank to allow it to heal. Was there for about 3 weeks before I sold it off. Do you have a small hospital tank?

I do but I currently put my serpent star in it because of its size and danger to my fish.

What's your opinion of a 1.5" diameter serpent star being dangerous to smaller fish? I could take it out and put it back in DT or if its dangerous ill put it in the sump for now.

This honestly made me sick last night but less than 24 hours later I have high hopes of both pieces surviving.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Put the star in the sump for now.

 

[camellia]

grouper therapy;903280 wrote: Pm lifestudent resident expert on anemone

Will do, thanks Dave.

P.S.

I'm sure you know this is my beautiful rainbow that I'm holding a baby of for you when you get a tank up. I sorry to hear about the accident with your 90, that stinks!!

Edit:

porpoiseaquatics;903315 wrote: Put the star in the sump for now.

Yep, my JBJ 12 is perfect for them. Ill do it nw, thanks.

About the iodine, is it a special kind? How do I treat them, in a small bowel for a few minutes? Can someone tell me the water to iodine ratio?
Thanks

 

[lifestudent]

Sorrry about your anemone!

If the remaining pieces have both a part of their foot and mouth, then they stand a good chance of surviving. [I've been told that even the pieces without these (e.g., tentacles/bubble tips) may survive by being placed in the crevices of live rock within your display tank.]

For the ones in the basket, please be sure to give their their pedal disk (feet) something to take hold of like a few pieces of rubble. Also be sure to give them some current/flow. Too little flow will not allow them to be free of their mucus and waste. More flow is better than too little. Ideal amount would be enough to have them sway slowly back and forth.

Hopefully, in about 8-12 days, you will start to see the oral disk starting to heal. Once it has a full/complete oral disk/mouth, then try to feed it a few small pieces of mysid shrimp or something else meaty and small (but not brine shrimp unless it's newly hatched) each day.

If you see that your anemone is becoming mushy/gooey or "melting", then remove it because it is disintegrating.

Some think that allowing a clownfish to nestle in the anemone helps, but I do not have any info about whether it helps or not.

Hope that this info helps.

 

[lagunareef]

+1 everything Lifestudent said.

Also, leaving it alone and not pestering it will allow it to heal faster. Try not to touch or agitate it, allowing it time to slowly recover. If you are concerned about the slits at the bottom of breeder box, try aquatic/hydroponic baskets. These can be purchased at Home Depot/Lowe's at the aquatic pond section, or if all else fails, a hydroponic store. I know for sure our sponsor The Aviarium has them in stock.

As for iodine, I have never used when I manually split/severed my nems. Allowing it to heal naturally was my route. If you decide to use, the lowest dosage recommended for your tank size would be another route along with a proper iodine test kit.

Put it another way, you now know have 2 nems instead of one, :thumbs:

 

[camellia]

lagunareef;903366 wrote: +1 everything Lifestudent said.

Also, leaving it alone and not pestering it will allow it to heal faster. Try not to touch or agitate it, allowing it time to slowly recover. If you are concerned about the slits at the bottom of breeder box, try aquatic/hydroponic baskets. These can be purchased at Home Depot/Lowe's at the aquatic pond section, or if all else fails, a hydroponic store. I know for sure our sponsor The Aviarium has them in stock.

As for iodine, I have never used when I manually split/severed my nems. Allowing it to heal naturally was my route. If you decide to use, the lowest dosage recommended for your tank size would be another route along with a proper iodine test kit.

Put it another way, you now know have 2 nems instead of one, :thumbs:

Actually this was the mother, it split about a month ago so ill have three, not by choice.

I've got them in my QT tank now, they are looking pretty good, considering!
Both have some tentacles, foot and mouth I think. But there small, so sad.

Thanks

 

[bulkrate]

They'll likely get better. The only aquarium-safe iodine I know of is usually sold as Lugol's (both in Kent and Brightwell brands), but I believe it's also part of the mix in Seachem Reef dip (which may be more available, but I'm unsure of it's anemone-safeness).

Honestly you've already done the most important bits - moving the nem pieces someplace where they won't be harassed and giving them something to anchor to (that you can easily move later). Moderate lighting & flow and feeding with meaty foods once the oral disk heals up will work wonders.

Sorry to hear about the powerhead mishap though... had something similar happen to my Pacific lettuce sea slug last month.

 

[camellia]

I always use the foam over the Vortech but i think they got trashed during my move.

I called Echotech the morning after I found the nem and told them about moving my tank and the Nem talking a walk,etc. I asked to buy 4 and pay to ship overnight. They refused to charge me and sent me 8 + a handful of all the parts to attach to controllers to there new location...
These guys have NEVER let me down and continue to impress me with their excellent customer service!

 

[tbub1221]

I mulched my first neme in my pwr head , I hope yours pull through ok.

 

[camellia]

Thanks, the color started looking bad but I've given them more flow and removed all CRABS!
Fingers crossed.
Thanks