Bad RBTA outcome

[Randrew215]

I'm seriously bummed. I purchased a beautiful RBTA from an excellent reefer on here last week. It acclimated well and attached to the rock I put it on. It climbed down the rock after the first day and stayed put at the bottom for a day before it slowly moved back upwards over the course of several days. It was accepting food, had opened nicely, and looked great. Throughout this time, I kept the covers on my powerheads (MP40s) knowing that the anemone could well detach before it finally settled in. At some point today the anemone detached, floated to the powerhead, and got sucked through the mesh. It's dead and there are little pieces of tentacle about my tank.
What could I have done to prevent this?? I thought the covers would have provided some protection but apparently not. I did kill the flow for the first couple of hours following introduction until the foot was firmly attached. I feel super terrible for killing this excellent specimen. What do others do about their powerheads when introducing BTAs?

 

[Randrew215]

A couple of days ago, climbing back up the rock

 

[MBC2012]

you can only cover them and try to place the nem as far away as possible. if you haven't done it a good size water change should be done. sorry for your loss

 

[blanden.adam]

I cover the powerheads with pantyhose -- I don't trust the foam covers. But letting them attach first and covering the powerheads is really all you can do. Sorry about your loss man .

 

[ReeferSteve78]

Wow Andrew that just sucks sorry for your loss wish I had another for you but if I can throw you a frag of whatever I have please let me no..I usually put them in a country crock bowl and wait a few weeks before I let it out..always worked for me but may not work for others

 

[Randrew215]

Thanks guys.
Adam and Steve, great ideas on the pantyhose and separate container, respectively. I'll wait a few months and I'm sure try again with a more conservative approach. I'd been wanting one since I got into the hobby 4 years ago and I'm content to wait longer.
The tank surprisingly doesn't look perturbed at all, but I'll do a water and carbon change anyways just to be on the safe side.
It's always embarrassing to share failures, but I hope it will be helpful to someone else.

 

[tmz]

Sorry for your loss. Save some of the pieces if you can, particularly of the disc. . I had one of my clones that was being held for sale at SWP several years ago pass through a return pump and disappear in the rock in the sump Two weeks later several small rbtas appeared on top of teh rock in the sump. I took them home and layed them on top of the caheto in my caheto fuge . They all grew just fine.