BTA ripped in half.....

[celano]

Last night before bed I took a quick look in the tank and noticed a rock had fallen down into the sand. Well I grabbed the flashlight and took a look and noticed that about 1/4 of my RBTA was still up on the rock and the rest of it was attached to the piece that fell. It was literally ripped in two.....
Does anyone know what I should do?? I'm at a loss here cuz I've never had this kind of thing happen before.
Thanks

 

[dzeadow]

are you sure it didn't just split? It'll probably be fine if you keep your water params in check.. sounds like it was splitting and the rock work didn't hold up.

 

[celano]

No I dont think it split. It had its foot attached to two rocks, one rock fell and took 3/4 of the nem with it, the other 1/4 stayed up on the other rock.
So you think it will be OK as long as I keep my param's in check? Should I run my lights as normal or keep them off so as not to add any stress?? Should I try and feed it? Or just leave it alone for now??

 

[dzeadow]

I'd just leave it. I've heard of people actually slicing their anenomes to get them to split, so if it tore in half, and everything's cool in the tank, it should just heal itself, and you'll have to anenomes... I'd wait to hear from someone else that's more experienced than me. I'd leave it be for the time being though, it'll need some time to heal itself before it'll eat.

 

[SEAFLOWERS]

Leave it be, if your water params are in check it will be fine. I happen to be one fo those people who propagate BTAS, they are tough little creatures.

 

[DeadlyMuffin]

Keep an eye on the pieces and make sure they don't float away, they could easily get pulled into an intake or overflow.

If one of the halves does start to float, a good way to stop it is to put an overturned glass in the tank, and place it over a rock. I was able to save an anemone that went through an overflow and kept trying to float away using this method, it eventually attached itself to the rock under the glass and made a complete recovery.

 

[celano]

Just a quick update for anyone interested.
I believe I am witnessing one of the coolest things I've seen in our tank to date. Both pieces seem to be making a full recovery at an alarming rate. I am truly amazed at how both pieces have managed to heal the wound in such a short time. Especially since I noticed the mouth had been damaged in the rock slide.
Its my belief that both will make a full recovery.....quit simply amazing.
Its like the equivalent of getting a 1/4 of my body ripped off and being able to heal myself......insane.

I wanna thank everyone for your help. Without your guys' assurances and input god knows what I would have tried.
Thank you,
Barrett

 

[kimsie]

Great!!! I'm so glad you didn't try to super glue him back together! LOL

Anyway - I hope all goes well and you now have 2!

 

[celano]

LOL its funny you mention super glue cuz believe it or not I had it ready to go just incase. This nem just happens to be my wifes favorite animal in the tank(we bought it just for her) and I was ready to do whatever it took to save it.

 

[timrandlerv10]

if the mouth's are healed and tightly closed, you can start feeding. if not, just run some charcoal to help clean the water and keep the lights going!

congrats and whew!

tim