LTA in critical condition

[Apercula]

I got a sick LTA today in the hopes of bringing it back.
It is a bit bleached, and the body is soft enough that its having trouble expelling water/shrinking up when handled-some what flaccid.
Some of the tentacles are full and have a sting and others are limp.
The orange part of the base is adhering to the rockwork/sand in some areas but not all over.
The foot is pretty solid with no signs of tears.
The mouth is not shut tight, but the rim of the mouth is firm and it reacts to being touched.

The first picture is a couple hrs after acclimation, I had put the base under the ledge and pushed some sand around it, then moved a couple smaller rocks in to corral it. I noticed the odd stretching on the left side and while I was trying to inspect it to see why, It expelled a bunch of air bubbles from the base of some of the tentacles on the oral disc. As I (gently) turned it in the water quite a few bubbles came out. When I saw no more bubbles I put it back in the cave. The second picture is from about an hr later and was taken after lights out with a flash.

I expect this anemone will probably die within a couple days but IF I can get past the current critical stage that I will be able to bring it back.
Any suggestions for immediate care or do I just hope at this point?

 

[garygb]

All you can do is provide excellent conditions: temp. 78-82, specific gravity 1.025-1.026, decent water flow, ph 8.2-8.4, 0 nitrates, etc. Best of luck, it looks like there is reason for optimism. If there are no tears in the base, then I think you should have a shot at bringing it back.

 

[Apercula]

Thanks for the optimism, earlier tonight I had my doubts, in the last hr the lta has finally purged the excess water that had it blown up like a balloon and has receded back under the ledge somewhat.
I could pull the rock that is infront of the opening and fill the area with sand, I know LTA like 6in bed, and mines only 2in where the lta is, but I dont know if I should risk annoying it in the condition its in. The tank and I are both at work, so Ive been checking on it every hr or so with a flashlight.

New pic :

Edit>

Here is an earlier pic of the area its in, the torch was moved before I got the LTA. It is tucked under the ledge on left side, with a piece of rock beside it and another in front corralling it in the area, I could remove both pieces of rock and add sand in that area and under ledge to 6 in if it would make the lta happier.

PS forgive the oversize pics, still trying to figure out how to resize to a reasonable forum size.

 

[Apercula]

6am pics, its looking better every time I go check on it

Tank lights are still off, so lit by flash only.

Angled from front to show as much of face as possible:

And side view showing body:

Should I add sand around it, or let it be for now?

 

[garygb]

I would let it be for right now. It is looking better. For years I had an LTA in a PVC pipe that was closed at the bottom. I had fine aragonite in it and it never moved. I've heard others use a tupperware container etc. All you do is get a container that is about 6 inches deep or even a little more and put an inch or two of aragonite in, put the anemone in, and then when the anemone digs in, add more sand around it until the depth is close to 6 inches (obviously if your anemone is really small, you would only put 3 or 4 inches). You can then put chunks of liverock around the PVC or whatever container you've chosen, to conceal the plastic.

For now though, I would just let it settle in. If/when it moves and is unattached, then you can do the container trick.

Keep posting. Hopefully we can be of help.

 

[Apercula]

4:30pm pic.
Anemone has been in the tank 24hrs, foot is solidly attached under the ledge.
I would be highly optimistic at this point except that the mouth is still gaping about an inch open(cant see it past the tentacles but when I gently sweep them back I can tell).
I had a power head that was bouncing off the front glass into its face and pushing it under the ledge, Ive turned that off for the time being.

It hasnt changed much in the last 12 hrs, either positively or negatively, other than footing down, but Im taking that as a positive at the moment because I didnt really expect it to live through the night.

 

[garygb]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. It's a good thing you turned off, or at least repositioned the powerhead. They like moderate flow. It is a very good sign that it is firmly attached.

 

[Apercula]

Just took this pic. The anemone has deflated then reinflated about once an hr over the last 6hrs or so, my optimistic side says its just purging water it doesnt like, the pesimistic side says its got internal damage to the point it cant maintain inflation.
The mouth is still gaping badly as you can finally see in this photo, it does still react to touch. The foot is still firmly attached to the rockwork under the ledge.

In the lower left hand corner of the mouth there is a small stringy ball of mucus, it has been spitting those out of its mouth overnight tonight, maybe 5-6 small lumps like that.

 

[garygb]

I'm sticking with your optimistic side that it is going through the acclimation process. The fact it is firmly attached is promising.

 

[ZCCRX]

It is looking a little better, but like you said the mouth gaping open isn't a good sign. Unfortunately alot of the nems at the LFS are in this condition. Did you get a good deal when you bought this one? Good luck. I hope you can save him.

 

[Apercula]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12042779#post12042779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZCCRX
It is looking a little better, but like you said the mouth gaping open isn't a good sign. Unfortunately alot of the nems at the LFS are in this condition. Did you get a good deal when you bought this one? Good luck. I hope you can save him.

I knew the ladies at the lfs were getting some fish in Thurs so I went up with a specific shopping list.(which I didnt get any of)
I asked about the LTA and she told me $20, which is a great price but as I looked at it I could tell it was in poor condition, couldnt see the mouth at that point.
While I was debating if I should pass on it, or ask her to hold it for me, another customer came in and started asking about it, she really wanted "one of those squiggly things" for her tank.
I made the quick decision that for $20 I could take the risk that it would die and told the lfs lady waiting on me that I would take the anemone.

Edit -- PS. The other customer bought a condy that was too good for her.

Ive watched the lfs ladies unpack before so I know it wasnt them that beat the anemone up so bad, wish I could talk to the wholesalers packers about careful handling of fragile creatures.

 

[Reef Ruler]

Maybe try doing a water change everyday? It seems like alot, but I am certain it will do more than one would think in regards to helping it recover.

 

[Apercula]

Looks like its been a day and half since I got a pic of it, guess I will have to go shoot it again soon.

This morning around 5am I took the flashlight to it for a look and noticed it had let go of the rock and was laying loose on the sand(bad sign). It was also expelling a grey haze into the water and the tank was getting cloudy(really bad sign). I removed the anemone and it tightened itself up into a compact ball as I grabbed it(good sign). I put it in a bucket with an airstone and tank water. 4hrs later I gave it a 100% water change with water from tank. About 1pm I set up a 10g tank half full of tank water and moved the anemone from the bucket into the 10. 5pm I did another 50% water change on the 10g(still alive and reacting to stimulus 12hrs after I initially thought it was dead). I have mixed up a tub of change water and plan to do a couple more 50% changes overnight tonight.

 

[Apercula]

Current Pics. First is through front glass of the 10gal, I put it in a bowl of sand to hopefully make it more comfortable.

Top down to give a better view of whole thing.