Rock flower anemone dying? when to pull

toddmau5

New member
About tuesday of last week our rock flower anemone somehow got a shell stuck to it. Nut sure where it came from, but a small snail shell ended up glued to the side of the anemone. Tried to very gently tug it off, and it wouldn't budge. Figured. Its gotta happen out in nature, lets see what happens. the anemone went on the run to get away from the shell stuck to the side of it, it finally squeezed itself under the rock between two rocks and in doing so, scrapped off the shell. Of course now its relocated itself to the shade, no biggie, it will go back looking for the light. THis morning it was on the side of the rock, looking full and almost completely happy again. Come home from work to find a pink blob stuck to the side of the rock. I'm thinking its got to be done for so I reach in to see if maybe it will come off the rock, as soon as my finger touches it, it start moving. So there is still some life left in it. My biggest concern is if the poor little thing goes to the big reef in the sky, that I won't get it out fast enough to save our new beloved clowns. Is there any hope for this anemone? give him till the morning?
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It may die anyway, but handling it frequently is more likely to accelerate the process than prevent it.

Even if it dies, as long as you have a decent sized aquarium it shouldn't nuke your tank.
 
Tell us more about this snail. Was it a juice sucking type with a long mosquito like proboscis? Or possibly a meal that was freshly digested by the anemone and the shell was in the process of being discarded?
Is it any happier today? Obviously it was still alive if it reacted when it was poked.
 
I'm willing to bet it's going to be just fine. Like the others have said just don't bother it anymore. If it's foot still looks OK and it still firmly gripping the rock it should recover. Keep us updated.
 
As far as the snail goes, the shell looks like one of the ones from our florida turbos, not sure if it ended up becoming a meal or where exactly it came from. I haven't been bugging it, been leaving it a lone. It moved again, higher up on the rock out into the light, this evening it was opening back up so all looks good for now. Its a 24gal cube so that's why I was worried about it taking out the clowns
 
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