anyone's carpet ever tried to eat/ eaten an urchin and lived?

[Tango451]

Has anyone had their carpet (preferably a haddoni) eat a spiny sea urchin or try to, be punctured by it, and the carpet live to be ok?

I am trying to do more research about puncture wounds to carpets and how well they can recover/ if they recover.

I am becoming more and more convinced my haddoni has air trapped inside his mouth as it has been an inverted "bubble" for the past 5+ months.

I am considering using an insulin needle but am worried if the bubble of air (if it is air) tries to come all out at once, it will rip the insulin needle hole to be much larger - I am assuming an urchin would puncture it pretty badly - hence my question. (unless I had a hallow needle that was long enough to reach the air/ the bottom of the tank, but I rather puncture it as simply as possible so I have the most control and just use an insulin needle so it will be punctured under water - unless there is a better method)

Thank you so much again to everyone who has helped with advice over the past two posts I have made about my red carpet and if any other ideas on the cause or what I should would be greatly appreciated.

 

[m0nkie]

I read a few threads about carpet anemones forming an air bubble near the mouth. #1 thing is to NOT puncture it. I think the recommendation was to watch water parameter. make sure it gets the best water it can. Eventually it will deflate.

 

[Tango451]

I don't think I'm going to/ I am too scared too since it might kill him (just have been highly considering it, but I know it is very likely it could/will more harm than good). It's just he's been like that for almost a year if not one year and water quality is good. dKh is constant 9-10; pH 8.0-8.2; temp 78 day/ 77 and 76 at night; calcium is at 460; salinity is 1.024-1.026 (usually 1.025); the majority of time nitrates/ nitrites were at 0, now slight nitrates (~10ppm) and nitrites (<0.25) - This happened when I cleaned out the whole sump; and phosphates just spiked up since I cleaned out the sump (stirred it up probably) and they are at 2.25 I think (I am running a phosphate reactor since it jumped) - but the carpet was like this before the phosphates

 

[Toddrtrex]

Pretty much any one that I have had ate an urchin with out issue -- but they were all the "pincushion" type.

I wouldn't be too quick to poke a hole in an otherwise healthy S. haddoni.

Have you tried touching it until it fully retracts into the sandbed? Would think it forcing all the water out would cause the air bubble to escape.

 

[Tango451]

I have taken a Turkey Baster and used the plastic part of it to gently press the "bubble" back into his mouth and held it down to try and push air or water out- it looked like a ballon like thing with displaced air/ water and then came back. I have not tried making him retract all the way - that is a good idea. What do you think would be the best way to get him to retract into the sand bed?

 

[Toddrtrex]

In my cases, all I have had to do is touch it --- could try doing that, with a glove on.

 

[Tango451]

Got a glove on and touched him on the sides a lot, the clowns attacked me and that's pretty much all that happened. He didn't close up even sightly - just put it's sides into a more curved formation and after touching it for about a minute, he just opened right back up a little bit to be back to normal

 

[Tango451]

Maybe mine is just an anomaly anemone - inverted bubble mouth and touching it doesn't bother it

(I tried it on the smaller one too, and it worked - retracted right up)