RFA woes! Hydroid plague & a ripped foot!

[LazyFish]

I got hit with a plague of hydroids in my 29g biocube. They took over a 6year old established system in a very short time. I didn't even notice the evil little monsters until they were already everywhere. They stung the snot out of my nems. The hydroids were killing them. Many shrunk up to the size of coins in a very short time.

I tore down the tank & ripped out the rocks. I chiseled the nems off the rocks so as to not disturb there foot. One unlucky nem was on a rock that exploded when I tried to get him off. The split in the rock went right under his foot & ripped it. The rip almost goes right across the foot at about 1/8 of the depth of the foot.( I feel like a horrible nem mutilating owner :tears: ) It is 3 days post rip. The nem ate (then spit out) some food today & has partially attached (with one side of the torn foot) to a rock. The nem is not fully expanded but is still reactive & the mouth is not gaping.

 

I am hopeful that they hydroid damaged nems will heal up soon. All are eating & acting normally despite being shrunken & shriveled. I do not hear good things about RFA recovering from a torn foot.....any one have an RFA that has recovered from a torn foot? I read somewhere about gluing the foot but I think that would do more harm. I am keeping the water clean lots of light & food with frequent water & filter changes. I even changed out the pump from a rio 1100+ to a weaker 600+ to make the nems more comfortable.

[dandelion]

If you have a spare tank I would put that anemone in a separate tank asap. So if it dies it won't kill your other inhabitants.

[LazyFish]

I wanted put it in a hospital tank to begin with to but unfortunately I cant.... I have no where to put another tank right now...I have no room with all the stuff from the people staying with us after the floods here in louisiana.That and my house is still a mess & has damage from the roof that is still leaking. I am running extra carbon & I'm keeping a close eye on it. If the nem looks like it is decomposing I will remove it & do a large water change. Its not too large & I don't think RFA are as toxic as some other nems so it should be ok. Also the nem is already partially attached. I don't want to stress it further by trying to move it again.

[Proudgeek]

Good luck!

[LazyFish]

ok fingers crossed! The other side of the damaged foot attached to the rock....the mouth is still not gaping. It hasn't eaten yet but is still reactive. Not any more open than yesterday right now....The crabs are not checking it out so I don't think its rotting....this is day 4....

[LazyFish]

I encountered a rattling noise today in my tank then a nasty electric shock when I touched the wet glass on the lid . No idea what happened to the pump so I had to go back to the larger pump. The tank seems ok so far. All the other nems fish & corals seem unaffected after 12 hrs. The only problem I can see is that the injured nem has turned loose of its rock & is now sitting on the sand.... It did eat a little today & its tentacles are still reactive & somewhat sticky. I'm glad it wasn't worse my house is very old & is not grounded like modern homes but instead just has a large copper pole driven into the ground...literally grounded...Surprisingly this is the first time any of my tanks have zapped me.

[ajmckay]

Wow that sucks - hopefully the anemone doesn't die. Also sucks about the tank. Not sure whether grounding is the real issue - probably a failed pump is your issue if unplugging it fixed the problem of getting shocked.

[LazyFish]

The nem is dead....everyone else seems fine. It was the pump I went back to the old one. I ordered a new one too that is a little less powerfull for the nems.