Anemone Death...Need some help?

[Joshnlaura]

We bought an anemone and two clowns about 4 days ago and everything has been going great until this morning. The anemone got lodged in my overflow and got ripped into about 3 pcs. I have a couple of questions....

1. How do you get the little dudes to stay in one place? When we first put him in there he became dislodged from the rock frag we bought him on and started swirling around the tank. I turned the koralia off and slowed the overflow pump. He finally found somewhat of a home on the left side of my tank but continuosly crawled about on a couple of rocks. After it appeared that he was comfortable on that side of the tank I opened the overflow back up and turned on the koralia again. He obviously let go of the rock again and got sucked into the overflow.

2. After finding him in three pcs in the overflow screen I pulled everything out and starting cleaning off the remains. While doing this I noticed that 2 of the 3 pcs were still moving and still had a very tight hold from there foot. I placed the 2 pcs in the sump in hopes they will still live. Is this possible or do I need to remove them from the tank before contaminating everything?

As this was our first try with an anemone there may be questions I have failed to ask simply becuase I didnt know to ask them. Any help and suggestions would be beneficial.

Thanks....

 

[CockyBrock]

Well first of all...what type of anemone is it? From what you've said, it would be a bubble tip. If that's the case, then you need to get them out of the sump and into a good source of light. What lighting are you running? T5s? Metal Halides?

Also, if two pieces are still firmly attached to a rock, then get them out of the sump pronto and back into your main tank. Bubble tips split all the time and survive. In fact, I've ripped rose bubbles in half by accident and both pieces survive no problem. Knock on wood, I've never lost one to a powerhead or overflow!

So if it were me, I'd get both those pieces out of my sump and into good light and medium flow. I'd do a 20% water change maybe...2 times this week and once next week and monitor your params....and they should be fine....provided you have adequate lighting for them.

Of all the anemones out there, bubble tips are the hardiest!! Good luck!