Anemone Massacre

[lovemyreef]

We woke up this morning to find that our BTA appears to have exploded. Our water is cloudy and there are bits of him EVERYWHERE. We're thinking that he got up by the power head, but I'm not sure how he would have exploded since there is not much space to put the tenticles. We even changed our maxi jet to the power head to avoid something like this as we had a smaller anemone get into that and commit suicide just a week ago. The current BTA was about 4-5in in diameter.

So - I have some questions....
Will this harm my tank and inhabitants in any way?
Should I be trying to fish out the pieces? - they are quite small and number in the hundreds.
What (if anything) should we/can we do to help our tank.

Soooooooooo frustrated - Swearing off anemones for now.
Thanks for help!

 

[Sincity]

From everything I have read you are supposed to clean it out immediately. When they get caught in a power head and die they release all their toxins into the water I've been fortunate enough that my BTA stays put and well away from the power heads

 

[Hinds04]

To answer your questions yes, yes, massive water changes asap

 

[lovemyreef]

Thanks guys.... I hope things survive until we get home from work. Any recommendation on how much of a water change we should do?

 

[crister13]

I would do a 25% for around 3 days. GL!!!!!

 

[Gboy66]

I would do a 25% for around 3 days. GL!!!!!

I would definitly do more. Id go for 50-75 since those toxins can quickly nuke your tank.

 

[mr_X]

I don't think anemones release toxins per say. It's more like they are a large mass of decaying matter, and that's what hurts the tank. I've also never heard of anything like this happening. When anemones move they are unhappy. Something is not agreeing with them in your tank.
I also don't think it was the power head that made it break apart.
What are your current water parameters?

 

[Tmyboy]

I don't think anemones release toxins per say. It's more like they are a large mass of decaying matter, and that's what hurts the tank. I've also never heard of anything like this happening. When anemones move they are unhappy. Something is not agreeing with them in your tank.
I also don't think it was the power head that made it break apart.
What are your current water parameters?

I was actually thinking the same thing.....even if it got a tentacle in the power head, I don't think it would be able pull it in and blend it up like that.

Then again......why else would it be in hundreds of pieces?? Any resident Anemome experts here??

Friend of mine swears this happened to him, but with a sea urchin. Made his water all milky and says the urchin toxin nuked his tank.

Good luck and please keep us informed!

 

[lovemyreef]

As of last night they were at , amonia 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates were also 0-5, ph was at 8.3.. I did do a water change on Sunday only 5 gallons though. I almost forgot salinaty was at 1.023. I will be cleaning out what I can after work ,and I also started more water for another change this morning.

 

[mr_X]

I've had anemones hit power heads years ago. They don't break up, they just shrivel and get all tangled in it. I remember a LTA that was in a power head over night. I just unplugged it and in a day it freed itself.

 

[lovemyreef]

It's quite the power head though it is rated at 295 gallons an hour and when converted to a circulation pump it is 1300 gph also the blade looks like a boat prop the first one looked the same way only the foot was left

 

[lovemyreef]

Ok, so everything is still alive.... At least for now. The tank is quite cloudy and the smell is terrible. Getting ready to do the first water change.
See the pink in the picture? This is what most of the tank looks like.

 

[Gboy66]

Ok, so everything is still alive.... At least for now. The tank is quite cloudy and the smell is terrible. Getting ready to do the first water change.
See the pink in the picture? This is what most of the tank looks like.

Ok good luck! Theres no pic..

 

[Tmyboy]

Hope all turns out well!

Post that pic, will ya.

 

[lovemyreef]

Ok good luck! Theres no pic..

Haha... I was uploading the pic from my phone and didn't realize it didn't make it. I'll have to try again.

 

[lovemyreef]

Here is the pic of chopped anemone. We are working to fish out as much of it as possible.

 

[crister13]

That's charming lol. Gl!!!!!

 

[mr_X]

I don't see any pieces of anemone. What did the anemone look like prior?
I see what appears to be cyano.

 

[lovemyreef]

It had green tenticles, pink tips and pink foot. All of the pink slime is was was left this morning when we woke up. I assume it has to be what was left after it was shredded, it certainly wasn't in the tank last night. ... BTW, what is cyano?

 

[mr_X]

cyanobacteria. It shows itself as a pink mat most of the time in closed systems.