Chewed-up condy

[Ripside]

I bought a chewed-up condy today - basically for nothing - from my normal LFS stop. I asked about it, and they told me it was in bad shape, but could survive with some TLC.

I brought it home, acclimated it, and have convinced it to attach to a rock. The damage pretty much looks like about half of its tentacles have been ripped off (or eaten). The remaining ones are intact, and nice and full, colorful tips, etc. The tentacles that are left are sticky, and some mysis stuck to them quite well. I'm not sure it ate any those, I'll try again tomorrow.

I've got it under decent lighting, with distance between it and my other softies. Water params are good - 0/0/0, CA 480ppm, pH 8.2 and 80F.

I'm going to try to nurse this poor guy back to health - any tips for anemone's who've suffered major tentacle loss?

 

[Znut Reefer]

Good MH lighting and a very small piece of raw shrimp 3 times a week. What lighting do you have it under now?

 

[Ripside]

About 320W of PC lights. As soon as it attaches to the rock I set it on, I'll move it up close to the top.

 

[Ripside]

Update -

The condy's wound has closed up, and he's growing new tentacles!

I've also gotten him to eat a couple nice pieces of squid - he gobbled them up so fast, once they're close to his mouth, that I almost missed it.

Here's some pictures. The first is from when I first got him, the 2nd from a week later, and the bottom is today. He's in a wierd position, mounted himself under a rock, extending his tentacles out during the day, but you can see the little tentacles growing! He's been in the same spot for over a week now, which also
makes me happy.

 

[Ripside]

Another update - the new tentacles are now almost as big as his old ones - and the second row (the outside row) has kicked in and started to grow.

He's taken up a spot behind a big rock, where he's hard to see, but he's still getting direct lighting from my new MH seutp. He's been there over a week now, so he must be happy.

He's a pig - he'll eat a piece of squid almost 1/2" x 1/4" in size, in less than a minute. I've been trying to feed him every few days, since he was so injured, and it seems to be paying off.

I just wish he'd come out so I could get a good look at all of him.

 

[JeffersonReef]

Dude... you are gonna regret the day you got that condy. They are gnarly. Moves around the tank constantly. It may be staying put for now while it nurses it self back to health... but odds are once it feels better, it will be all over the place.... getting caught in overflows, powerheads, stinging other corals, etc.

Then again... maybe ull be ok. Keep us posted! Nice job nursing it, though!

 

[Ripside]

Maybe I will, I hope not. I've read mixed reviews on them. If it becomes a problem, I'll try to return it to the LFS. It was virtually free, as it was half-dead when I bought it. It felt like a "project".

Now that I have MH's, I'm hoping my BTA will really start to thrive, and get a few of them from splitting.

 

[kryppy]

I had one just like yours that was thriving under NO lighting, until my grouper ate it whole.

 

[Ripside]

I am a little more intimidated considering how fast this guy has recovered from having 2/3'rs of his tentacle ripped off. They must be hardy buggers.