Blue carpet problem?

[sufunk]

Well, it's been almost 5 hours since i moved the carpet. When i put him in the connector, he was as flat as a pancake and i mean that literally. About 10 minutes after i moved him he started to inflate a little and has been steadily inflating. The best sign for me is that my halides went off over an hour ago and not only has he not completely deflated, he actually is still INFLATING He's almost peeking over the top of the connector right now.

This is the longest he has stayed inflated in about a week and the first time he hasn't completely deflated after the halides went off. I'm not counting my chickens yet by any stretch but i'm taking that as a GOOD sign.

I need to feed my corals tonight and i turn off the tunzes for about 1-2 hours when i feed. If he stays inflated, i'm going to try and feed him something and pray he eats!

 

[Ladipyg]

Try not to give him big chunks...use mysis or something of that size and put it as close to it's mouth as possibe so that it doesn't have to use a lot of energy to move the food into it's mouth, or a lot of energy to digest the food. Silversides are pretty soft and it's easy to grind them into a paste which can then be place on the carpet's mouth also..good luck...

 

[racrumrine]

I don't know why you wouldn't want to feed him.

Most critters need to eat. I would try to feed it a little bit each day. If it doesn't want it, it will reject it.

Except for a Seabae that was beyond hope, I've been able to rehabilitate several anemones such as Condys, LTA's, Carpets, BTA's.

I would feed a small bit of silverside or bay shrimp. In bad situations, I have even placed the food on it's mouth.

Is your carpet sticky? If so, there is still plenty of life in it.

Based on the tentacle pattern, I would say that your carpet has been underfed for awhile.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[bluerug]

Not to hijack or anything, but wow steve your tank is awesome. Can i come over for a swim in it? Sufunk you also have a very nice tank as well.

 

[55semireef]

I havn't brought back any Giganteas as of yet but I have been able to bring back a Haddoni, a couple BTAs and some sebaes. IME, I found that small daily feedings with weekly water changes and with fresh carbon help the anemones best. As for flow, as Ladipyg stated, its best not to overwhelm a sick or stressed anemone with it. It's a lot easier to give more flow to a healthy anemone that is capable of handling it than to a sick anemone that might not have the necessary energy to move away from the flow. I would speculate strong flow would only increase the stress of a sick anemone.

Sufunk, if your Gigantea continues to recover you could gradually increase your flow until your back and strong again. See what others have to say too.

 

[sufunk]

Well, less flow certainly wasn't doing it any good from what i could see. Almost everyone has said that too little flow is at least one of the issues so that is my best option to save it i feel.

It certainly seems happier in the higher flow and IMO was definitely getting worse where it was. It was definitely opening less and less the last 3 days.

For better or worse, at this point, i feel that i have no choice but to try the higher flow and hope for the best.

 

[55semireef]

I wasn't saying you should decrease your flow, I was saying that if the health of your Gigantea returned you could increase it again like you had it before...that's all.

 

[sufunk]

Almost 24 hours after the move and he seems to be doing better. He was fairly open all day and night until i went to bed around 1:30 a.m. The kids woke me up around 3:30 am and he was still open. I checked him around 5:45 am and he was closed up but when i got up around 7:30 he was open again. So, he seems to have stayed open about 20 out of the last 24 hours which is a BIG improvement.

I tried to feed him a piece of silverside but i'm not sure if he ate it. My dog had a seizure a few minutes after i fed the anem so i couldn't watch if he ate. When i got back to look at it about an hour later the piece was gone but don't know if he ate it, it got blown away or my brittle stole it

I haven't checked yet to see if his foot has attached as i don't want to disturb him. It's REALLY hard not to pick up that connector and check though!

 

[timrandlerv10]

do you have anything smaller you could feed him? defrosted mysis or...? if you could blow some of that on him (gently) then you would be able to see if he was sticky at all.

ladipyg was saying she injected it right in their mouths (i think...), so you may want to research that option--i would say just try the localized little food first.

glad to hear he's doing better!

 

[racrumrine]

How sticky are the tentacles? With a healthy carpet, a small piece of silverside should stick like glue and not go anywhere or blow off. If it's not sticky, you'll have to set the piece in it's mouth.

I'm crossing my fingers it's eating. Try to feed it a little bit everyday.

With healthy anemones, I never feed a whole fish. I usually break it into 2 to 4 pieces and place them around the oral disk (depending on the species). My favorite anemone to feed is a Condy. You can put a piece of fish on the very end of one tentacle and it will pull it right in to it's mouth (sort of like an Octopus).

Calfo prefers feeding shrimp over silversides. My problem with mysis shrimp is that they are harder to spot feed and other critters in the tank will steal as many as they can.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[phender]

FWIW: Carpet of all species don't really follow the "if it's still sticky, then its still alive rule". It is not unusual for a decomposing carpet to stick hard enough to your finger that you can lift it partially out of the water before it falls off.
Just because it is sticky doesn't mean it can feed itself.

This is an emergency situation. The mysis or mashed silverside or whatever he chooses to feed, needs to go directly into the mouth, as far in as it will go, without forcing tissue aside.

I do not suggest feeding this way for a healthy anemone, but this anemone needs a lot of extra help.

Good Luck Sufunk.

 

[Ladipyg]

I agree totally phender...sufunk RESIST, RESIST, RESIST the temptation to keep checking on it...right now you've got it situated, your feeding it mashed up food (add a dash of garlic guard) and it's getting flow to carry away waste. Now just give it time to recover...undisturbed.

 

[sufunk]

Whatever the problem was , it is over now. Last night, the kids woke me up about 4am and i turned the moonlights on and it was gaping VERY bad. When i got up it was still doing the same. Got home from work and he was melting, actually had already melted alot

Hopefully, my next try will be more successful than this one. I do want to thank everyone for their help and support though. You guys gave some good advice and suggestions, unfortunately they just didnt work.

 

[55semireef]

Sorry to hear about that Sufunk.

 

[Ladipyg]

Sorry to hear about your loss..It's especially hard when it looks like they may be OK and then takes a turn for the worst...better luck next time.