S. Haddoni question

[JohnnyW]

Here is a link to a previous post about some problems that I have been experiencing with my S. Haddoni: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1129124

So, this brings me to a new question... What does a hole in an anemone's foot normally look like? Is there anything that may come out of a small hole or tear? Are there any tell-tale signs to look for of a hole? If there is a tiny hole, what should I be looking for? Basically, how could I identify a very small hole that is hard to see, yet it is not big enough to see when the column and food are fully inflated/stretched out?

Any help with these questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[triggerfish1976]

I remember seeing a frilly white flesh that reminded me of lettuce Nudi's coming out of the tear on mine. It was actually pretty obvious.

 

[JohnnyW]

Thanks for the quick reply on that.
Did your anemone recover from it? Is there anything special that you did to help it? Does anyone else possibly have any idea of what could be done to treat or help the anemone to get better and heal itself?
I wasn't able to get a good look at the bottom of the foot before, but a little while ago I was finally able to and I wasn't sure if it was stuck on there or coming out of it, so I didn't mess with it at all. What you are describing almost sounds exactly like what I am seeing. I looks like little white squiggly hairs or something stuck to the very bottom middle of the foot. When I think about it, I am 99% sure that it was there when we purchased it, but I had no clue as to what it was and probably figured it was just something that it was stuck to since the anemone was looking very healthy and full at the time of purchase. I am pretty upset though that it may have had a small tear and I didn't notice it before we purchased it. The hole honestly couldn't be any more than a pinhole size because there is no visible hole whatsoever and there is very little of the squiggly stuff coming out.

 

[triggerfish1976]

Here is a thread that documented the ordeal.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1116217

 

[JohnnyW]

Yours didn't make it then I take it. Sorry to hear that. The tear(s) that you described were much larger than the possible pinhole sized one that may be on the foot of mine. I have never heard of that Cipro stuff that was mentioned. Will have to look into it, and we don't have Meijer stores here anyways.
It appears to only be one to three small frilly/squiggly strings coming out of the foot of mine also, so it doesn't seem like it would be classed as a major tear, but from everything I have learned, a tear in the foot is big time bad ju-ju no matter how big I guess.
I hope that it decides to get strong and heal itself. I had to move it into another tank to give it a break because I am sure that my Clarkii was causing little stress that wasn't helping it out.

 

[JohnnyW]

How long should I wait before I give up on this Haddoni? It was looking so healthy when we bought it. I wish I woulda known what the little squiggly things were on the foot when I was getting it.

 

[Toddrtrex]

While this is from an LTA, and not a Haddoni, here is a clear picture of a damaged foot.

 

[JohnnyW]

Todd, thanks for the pic. Did that one survive? There is nowhere near that much on the bottom of mine. The stuff that is on/coming out of the bottom on mine really looks like little white hairs. They are stuck to the bottom pretty good but I can't really see a really visible hole anywhere on the foot. I don't know what is up. Wish I could get a really good picture to show what I am seeing. Will try tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I've had it for just over a week now -- it was shipped like that. So far it is still alive, but to be honest I don't expect it to make it -- though I haven't given up all hope yet.

Yea, a picture would really help. IME, they (meaning most anemones) can recover from tentacle damage, but when the foot is damaged..... I don't want to tell you to pull it without seeing a picture of it (though, don't try to move it just to get a picture -- that will add to its stress) I would keep a very close eye on it -- with it being in a smaller tank it foul it pretty quickly if it died.

 

[JohnnyW]

I had to move it out of the tank that it was in and into one of the others because the female Clarkii is quite tenacious with any hosts and never gave it any breaks. The tank that it was put into has almost exactly the same water parameters and same temp, so I acclimated it into there and placed it where I can keep an eye on it.
Are there any for sure signs to tell if it is on its last leg?

 

[jer77]

Hey JohnnyW,
Man, I thought we may have solved the problem with your haddoni, but its often hard to tell if its foot is torn. A clear pic would definately help, but don't try anything to drastic to otherwise hurt it. If its constantly shrivled or shrunken it may not be doing to well. The problem with torn feet is that they commonly get infected and treatment for anemone infections is not easy. You can tell in serious cases if the area around the tare changes colors and looks necrotic. It will also have sloughing tissue as it progresses. It will mostly start to smell too. You don't have any of these issues yet it sounds like so you should be in decent shape as of now. You'll have to pay good attention to bristleworms and such from picking and bothering the wound if it is one. You may want to separate it by placing it in its own container with new sand. I have done this with a few haddoni's and they seem to respond well and anchor their pedal disc into the substrate over a few days. Try and get a clear pic of the cut and then we'll see what we can do about it tomorrow.

 

[JohnnyW]

We tried to get a few pics, and my wife is going to play around with the image software to try and clear it up and zoom in on it. There is no visible tear at all. Just a little bit of that sqiggly type stuff and maybe a little tissue of sorts sticking on the foot. The entire foot is the same color, the column is about the same way, and the oral disc is still rather sticky.
I have plenty of extra argonite sand in a bag (not live stuff). Should I be worried about a mini-cycle if I try to do this? What kind of container should I use to try and still keep flow on him?

 

[JohnnyW]

Ok, it's still not looking too great. I can get pictures of it easily, but I can't get the darn pictures to come out clear enough to see every little thing, especially not as clear as the pic posted above.

Any tricks to this, or am I going to have to just keep trying. Hopefully I will get this figured out. In the meantime, I have placed it into a small container with some argonite sand and some rubble to help it to anchor.

 

[JohnnyW]

Well, my wife came back in the house earlier and after taking a second glance at the tank the haddoni is in, she gave me a bit of a scornful look. The container I used to put sand and rubble along with the haddoni in was one of her martini glasses that she has collected. LOL. It is glass and I made sure to clean it out real good before using it, but it keeps the nem away from any possible predators while I am hoping that it is trying to heal.
It has anchored itself there slightly, but not all the way quite yet. Would it keep the damaged part of its foot from anchoring to help it heal possibly?

Will try to get some pics tomorrow.

 

[JohnnyW]

Well, today was its last day I think. The oral disc appears to be disintegrating into a whitish slime and more and more of the squiggly tissue is showing. I took a bunch of pictures of it. It has curled itself into a sort of ball, not attaching to anything. It still has some sticky portions on the oral disc, but my Bicolor Blenny has been nipping at the slime that is coming off the haddoni.
Heres the pics:

 

[JohnnyW]