Anemone stuck on Tunze intake

[Navyblue]

I can't pull it out from outside, when I forced it, a piece of tentacle fly out, so i stopped. As far as I can tell, very little of it is actually inside the pump.

I tried running the pump in reverse mode hoping to push it out, no luck.

Now the pump is off. Do I take the pump out and force it out? Or do I let it sort itself out?

 

[ReefAnon]

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt - and the anemone. It's happened 2 or 3 times over the 10 years or so I've had mine as over that time it's split and the new ones have wandered round the tank till they can cosy up to a tunze.

The good news is I've always saved the anemone. Here's what I've learnt to do:

1] take the whole pump out and put it and the anemone in a bowl.
2] separate the two halves of the pump. Sometimes the anemone will be stuck in both halves but you still need to open the pump.
3] get some blunt tweezers or some other blunt implement that will fit between the veins of the pump covers.
4] hold the anemone out of the water and let it contract and use it's own weight to start pulling itself out of the pump veins. This won't get it out completely (unless you're lucky) but makes a start. Put it back in the bowl and repeat a few times till some progress is made.
5] now take the anemone out of the bowl using the tweezers to wide the gaps in the plastic a little and hold the anemone over the bowl again letting it's own weight pull some of the tissue through. This is laborious but will get more of it out.
6] for the remaing parts where 4 and 5 won't do it widen the gaps between the veins of the pump shell and gently pull the tissue through with your fingers (you might want to wear gloves). This will take a while.
7] if there's still some stuck that you just can't pull through you will have to cut the joining tissue but usually if you persist enough with the previous steps it's not necessary.

Depending on how mangled it is this has taken me several hours but usually about 40 mins - just to give you an idea of what to expect.

When done put the anemone back in the tank as near as possible to where it came from and leave all pumps off for a while - it should start to stick to the rock. Once it does, put pumps back on and keep an eye on it in case it releases.

 

[pszemol]

I would recomend do nothing to speed up the anemone release!
Keep the pump turned off and let the anemone relax and release itself.

I have kept anemones for last 8 years and had couple unfortunate accidents like this.
Lerned over time to not help - any help will further rip the anemone tissue apart and make things worse.

Now anemone is stressed and tense - let it relax muscles and release itself without your help, please!

 

[bradam]

I've been there and got this t-shirt as well...

In my experience if you just leave the pump off and leave the nem alone it will eventually work its own way out and go about its merry way.

Do you normally keep that pump that close to the sandbed? I've got mine all nearer to the top since I used to keep one lower till a wandering nem decided it needed a haircut.

 

[ReefAnon]

Yeah it might come out on it's own and obviously that's the best option if it's possible in this case - it might be but it depends on how caught up and mangled it is. I was addressing the case where it's partly chewed up and caught in the impellor and no amount of waiting is going to release it. If you haven't seen it that bad before then you might assume binning it was the only option which would be a shame.

 

[Navyblue]

After turning the pump for a while, it made quite a bit of progress and was only stuck on 2 places. I was also able to use gravity to release one of them. Then I let it sit again. It seems that it moved in deeper instead of out. I tried using the ice cube in a bag trick to no avail.

I moved it to another smaller and shallower tank that has minimal flow, so that it is easier on me and the anemone. I let it sit on a rock. I position a small light on the opposite side of the Tunze cover, hoping it would move towards the light. I think it is making progress but it is extremely slow.

Fortunately, it has not reached the propeller yet, although it is bruised and cut by the mere suction. My Tunze is positioned about midway of a 2' high tank, I am moving it up and may be device some sort of screen around it.

 

[ReefAnon]

Well done - that actually doesn't look too bad. If you can, try leaving it a bit longer. It will be looking for a solid surface so maybe move the pump so it it's touching the rock and the anemone might find it and decide it's better than the pump.

 

[OrionN]

Put your Magnifica on top of a rock arrangement on a flat piece of rock right under you light (I think you mention you got 250W 20K MH), and away from the aquarium wall where they cannot tough the wall. Magnifica need very high light and very good circulation. In our tank, they always will climb up (the rock or aquarium wall) to look for more light and circulation. They will often end up walking to overflow or PH to look for more flow.

I would change the 20K bulb to 10K or 6500 (more PAR)

They like smooth horizontal rock to attach to and reach out to current and light. They will wander on top of this rock but will not walk down the rock structure because this will result in lower light and current. They will walk around a bit but will always come back to top of the rock.

It would be a shame if you let this anemone kill itself walking to the PH again.

 

[Navyblue]

The anemone managed to free itself. There are bits of tissues left behind on the pump, but fortunately there are no major tear that I can see.

I actually positioned it on top of my highest piece of rock. On that spot I used to have a few SPS frags, which managed to have good polyp extension, so flow and light should be somewhat decent. Knowing that its a magnifica, I moved the SPS frags from my "prime" estate and let the anemone have it.

When the light is on, it tend to shrivel up. And when the light is off, it seems more relaxed. It also seemed to shy away from my current. It floated away once, but I managed to spot it and put it back. This was the second time it floated, this time I wasn't at home. I suppose it really didn't like that spot.

When it was at the store, it was lit by a single strip of fluorescent (not sure T8 or T5), so I guess it needs a while before it can get used to a 250W MH. Now I have it at the lower half of the tank, with a lower flow, it seem to be still too weak to hold on. For tonight, I would turn off the Tunze and see what happens.

I begin to question the suitability of my tank for it, I think I can get someone to buy it quite easily, but not necessary a better home. It is a pity though, I don't think I have seen such a nice specimen around here.

 

[Seanthefish]

When it happened to me I let the anemone free itself after I turned off the pump... Good luck with the recovery

 

[Navyblue]

Thank you.