Need Help!!! Nem caught in Vortech.

[Samcro]

it looks like it will survive. i had a bta get shopped into 4 peices and all 4 survived and i had a haddoni get stuck in a mp40 and it looked way worse than when he pulled himself out. he survived the ordeal and it looks like yours will to.
i think the 2 nurse clowns you got will help him bounce back

 

[sonofgaladriel]

it looks like it will survive. i had a bta get shopped into 4 peices and all 4 survived and i had a haddoni get stuck in a mp40 and it looked way worse than when he pulled himself out. he survived the ordeal and it looks like yours will to.
i think the 2 nurse clowns you got will help him bounce back

Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad to hear they can bounce back from this sort of damage.
Did your haddoni have any lasting signs of the injury?

 

[BonsaiNut]

I had a haddoni wrap around a heater once and almost burn itself in half. It was a ball of mush. Healthy in about two months, full recovery without the slightest hint of damage in maybe 6 months. It had to regrow a good portion of its oral disk, including tentacles.

Personally I have found that damage to tentacles and the rim of the oral disk is relatively easily healed. Deep damage to the mouth or to the foot into the interior of the anemone is more of an issue. The key seems to be whether the anemone can fold or compress (hold closed) the damaged area while still being able to breathe and maintain other body functions.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Some new pics as of now, 24 hours after injury.

This is the area of most damage, the section caught in the pump overnight.

Here's a pic of it in its prime in its past tank. Hope it returns to this splendor soon!

 

[BonsaiNut]

Make sure it is getting plenty of flow!!! It looks kinda still down there in the corner. I also notice that it continues to move - which means it is not happy with conditions. Do you have rocks that it can be placed on?

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I thought it was getting plenty of flow. Lots of random movement of the tentacles, debri easily being swept away with current, ect... I will bump up the flow a bit when I'm home to watch over it for a while.
I will put a rock or two near it to see what it prefers to do.
My main concern at this point was just watching it and leaving it undisturbed.
Is there any reef additive that I can add that will help with tissue healing, other than the iodine?
Any recommendation of lighting intensity/duration during this time? It was previously under a 14K 250 DE which is the same bulb over it now.
Thanks again.
Sean

 

[BonsaiNut]

In my opinion the keys to a health gigantea are (1) brilliant light and (2) tons of flow. If you look at that pic of your anemone when it was "healthy" you can SEE how much flow it was getting. If you put your gigantea on a stack of rocks, and have strong flow blowing across the top of the rocks, it can extend or contract itself to get just enough flow. You'll be surprised to see how much flow they choose for themselves. You want the flow going across the top of the anemone - not directly down at it.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

In my opinion the keys to a health gigantea are (1) brilliant light and (2) tons of flow. If you look at that pic of your anemone when it was "healthy" you can SEE how much flow it was getting. If you put your gigantea on a stack of rocks, and have strong flow blowing across the top of the rocks, it can extend or contract itself to get just enough flow. You'll be surprised to see how much flow they choose for themselves. You want the flow going across the top of the anemone - not directly down at it.

Yes, I understand the needs of a healthy gigantea and was providing them before the accident.
However, I am still a bit uncertain that high intense light and super high flow is what a traumatized/injured gigantea needs right now, but I have not stopped it from relocating.
When I found it during the pump entrapment, I placed it in the middle of the tank on the sand bed at the base of the rockscaping. It moved itself from the center of the tank to this particular spot on the glass and has been there for almost 24 hours now. I was not ready to attempt relocating it at this time after all it had been through. I assumed it would move on its own to where it wants to be.
It already has plenty of perch options available to it in order to take advantage of the high random flow and light intensity it chooses.
We'll see what it does over the next several hours.
Thanks again.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Looking better each day. If you didn't know where to look, you would be hard pressed to tell it was injured.
I am beginning to think that this may be one of those 'rainbow' gigs.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

Nem looks better everyday. Thanks again everyone for the input and helping to settle my nerves.

 

[ezhoops]

are you kidding me? I've bought nems with more damage than that LOL. seriously I think it will be fine as long as params are kept up.

I had a RBTA get chopped up much worse, dime size pieces and now I have about 5 of those dime size pieces growing beautifully and much more colorful than the original.

Its amazing how delicate and durable nems are at the same time.