EMERGENCY please help

[ramtmac]

woke up and my bta was sucked into my filter. he is still alive, and the foot isn't damaged, and the mouth isn't sucked up. about 1/3 of him is badly sucked up and stuck in the intake. i don't know if he will be able to get out himself.
he has weasled alot of himself out today but i dont know if the last part he wil be able to do. his tentacles are inflated but the part inside the filter is also inflated so he can't pull out. what can i do? its been 9 hours since i saw him this morning.

1st and 2nd picture is how he was this morning right after turning off filter
3rd picture is how he is right now after turning off filter and detaching it. and about 3 hours of him trying.

will he die? i'm so so sad

 

[Chuu]

this is why you cover all intakes / powerheads.. use plastic canvis like 10mesh.

But BTA's are quite hardy, they tear themselves apart to clone. If it cant get itself out you can try help it but be very careful.

 

[ramtmac]

i bought the stuff today. is 7 mesh ok? thats all they had a michaels
i didn't think about him moving when i added another k3 yesterday. i learned my lesson.

to help him out should i pull? or stick my finger inside and try to massage him through?

 

[teetimefun]

Turn off your lights and leave them off the anemone should deflate and give him a chance to work himself out if it is inflated inside the powerhead then the damage was probably not severe and pulling him out might make it worse

 

[Doe5ia14]

I can't really tell by the pictures but I would cut the filter slots above or below where it got caught. Then just let it pull itself out of there on its own.

 

[IPowderBlueTang]

I would leave him on the sandbed and let him release from the strainer on its own, so there is less damage to the tenticles. If you try pulling on the Bta it might tear it apart.
My Lfs had a Bta get stuck in a powerhead intake and it shrunk to a size of a dollar piece and half the tenticle are missing. Still alive but looks half dead, it was 4 inches before ths accident.

 

[rkelman]

I agree just leave it on the sandbed and don't touch.

 

[Twistedteq]

+1 to just letting it be with the lights off on the sand bed. I had a similar situation where my RBTA decided to go for a walk after being in the same spot for about two years. It got itself sucked in by a koralia and was pretty damaged although the foot was still intact. I left it alone overnight and found it sulking under a rock the next morning. Most of the tentacles were gone and the mouth was damaged but since it was well attached to a rock i left it alone. It ended up splitting shortly thereafter and it took about a month but both RBTA's pulled through. They are very hardy nems IMO, just keep a close eye on it.

 

[ramtmac]

he got out last night !!!! thanks for all the help

 

[rkelman]

Cool. Good luck with it.