Red carpet rescue

[airinhere]

Today I am lucky enough to be in posession of a bright red carpet anemone. It had everted its stomach and had been steadily declining for the last two days at the LFS where I work. Tonight I have it at home and am looking to see if anyone has any experience with medications that are effective for treating for tears in an anemones disk. It is right beside the mouth and I believe that is the reason it began stressing out in the first place. Water quality here and at the store is regularly checked, and he had been thriving for the last few weeks.
here: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates=0, ph=8.3 alk=13 sal=1.023. (Although I worry about the effects of his slime on my water parameters)
There: dont honestly know, 500 gal SPS holding tank maintained by dedicated reefers.

Info on medicating and treating for injuries has eluded me thus far. Hoping to save this awesome animal.

My red carpet rescue after getting him home.
http://home.comcast.net/~airinhere/IMAG0006.JPG

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

 

[delphinus]

Oi ... looks pretty bad.

I don't know if it's too late .. it might be .. but I would be very concerned with O2 in the tank. The mouth hanging open could be an attempt to maximize gas exchange. (Well, it could also be that it's basically already dead .. but let's try to focus on optimism for now.)
If it's the former case, then I would surmise that anything that can aid with gas exchange should likely help. So I would consider an airstone near the anemone, or perhaps even an venturi on a powerhead injecting air into the tank. Make the tank white with bubbles. At this point, it's an emergency measure to try to save the anemone.

But .. realistically ... I'd say it's a pretty long shot.

Best of luck!!!!!

 

[airinhere]

Thanks for the input. I am skeptically optimistic about its chances. added a 18w uv sterilizer to my tank and just hooked the airline to the small pump running it. Bubbles galore.
Gonna be hard going to work in the morning since everyone knows I took this home and I do work at a LFS with a huge reef department. (3000 gal easily).
Again, thanks. your profile shows you have lots of experience with carpets and anything else you can think of that might help is appreciated.

 

[delphinus]

Unfortunately I have zero experience with meds, sorry, I wish I could offer something there.

I once had a green haddoni which outgrew my system after a few years. After bouncing around several local tanks for a year or two, a fellow reefer from a town about 3 or 4 hours away bought it (and the whole tank it was in, a 230g). He trailered the whole kit and kaboodle home and probably had a nightmare of a few days getting that tank back up and running. He showed me a picture of the carpet and it looked like that, actually possibly worse, almost complete inverted. I was heartbroken because I thought it was a goner and I had kept it for 3 years and only in a moment of weakness decided to sell it rather than upgrade my tank (a decision I still second-guess myself about). But ... it did recover. Mind you this is a carpet that's now been in captivity nearly 8 years (I bought it in '99) so has demonstrated a fairly strong will to live and a certain hardiness that may not be there in a newly collected specimen. But I guess it goes to show that even if you think there's no hope, sometimes there is.

I am rooting for you.

 

[MarinaP]

I would separate the clowns from the anemone. Watch them starting to eat the insides (or shredding poor animal to pieces from the inside) any moment now

 

[rkelman]

I agree keep the clowns away. I'd watch for shrimp ect trying to steal pieces of him as well. good luck.

 

[55semireef]

Looks doomed to me.

 

[airinhere]

Well, doomed he was. Sadly I had to admit defeat this morning. The tear on his disk was keeping him from being able to keep his innards from spilling out. Once he pulled his mouth closed the guts would just poke out the tear and then he began to regurgitate his stomach. The effort was too much for him. Although my chasing the clowns around the tank probably didnt help. But I did manage to get them without removing every rock in my tank. (Used a little plastic critter keeper with some mysis in it).
Again thanks for the aid, I just wish there was somewhere to reference anemone illnesses and treatments.

 

[55semireef]

Sorry about your loss. I commend your efforts.

 

[delphinus]

Bummer... at least you gave it a shot.

 

[Pattylucylaura]

This is more of a question than anything and it may be a dumb one at that but if you could have sealed the wound would it maybe given the nem a better chance at survival or would it have just delayed the inevtable.

 

[55semireef]

Would have happened anyways.