Do anemone’s ever recover?

[esther]

If you find an anemone in bad shape... i.e. - barely any length on tentacles, gaping mouth, clinging to rock, etc.... Are they salvageable? Can you rehabilitate it?

 

[ndrwater]

Possibly, but unlikely in the scenario you described.

 

[New&no clue]

Yes! However, from what I’ve read it can take a lot of work and even more patience

 

[Raytina]

Yes they can. I have one that had no tenicles for over a year and he is doing fine his are about 3 inches long now

 

[Raytina]

If you find an anemone in bad shape... i.e. - barely any length on tentacles, gaping mouth, clinging to rock, etc.... Are they salvageable? Can you rehabilitate it?

If it has grip to rock I say definitely yes as I said mine had no tenicles for over a year. I finally started feeding it silversides about a 1/3 of one. He is just fine a growing rapidly now

 

[esther]

Yes! However, from what I’ve read it can take a lot of work and even more patience

Curious to know what works. I’d love to rehabilitate whenever possible if I come across an animal.

 

[Fatjim]

Iv read that if you have the same species that is larger and can afford to loose some tenticals you can snip off some of the larger nems tenticals and feed it to the weaker nem to replenish lost zoozethele

 

[lilgrounchuck]

My bta was completely bleached and had little nubby tentacles when I got it. It was holding on the rock and it’s mouth wasn’t open though. I picked it up because I felt bad for it (it was under a regular old aquarium light at the store). I figured at least it would have a shot in my tank. After about two months of good lighting and regular feeding it had totally bounced back.

 

[esther]

Iv read that if you have the same species that is larger and can afford to loose some tenticals you can snip off some of the larger nems tenticals and feed it to the weaker nem to replenish lost zoozethele

That can’t possibly be true.

 

[Fatjim]

I dont know if there's any truth to it as I looked for an update but couldn't find anything

 

[D-Nak]

I dont know if there's any truth to it as I looked for an update but couldn't find anything

When there's no follow up, it typically means that it didn't work, or there was no evidence that it did work. This particular individual used to post a lot, but I haven't seen much activity in a long time.

 

[D-Nak]

All anemones are different -- both individuals and species. The severity of the injury or condition (bleaching, malnourishment, etc.) determines if anemone can be saved or not. Some examples...

BTAs are very hardy can are oftentimes saved, even if their mesenterial filaments are exposed.

Gigantea are notoriously hard to acclimate, but once conditioned, they are very hardy.

Magnifica are also hard to acclimate, typically easier than gigantea, but are more sensitive to water conditions. They tend to walk when water conditions are not ideal, so they are often prone to injuries from powerheads.

 

[Fatjim]

I feel like the science could be there I feel his execution was horrible however. I wouldn't recommend trying it if you have limited nems but id love to see somone else giving it a shot

 

[Fatjim]

It sucks becouse I feel the only research being done with most of these issues are being tested at the hobby level

 

[chizerbunoi]

If you only have the one anemone and no others in the tank, then I would give it a try to rescue it. But I wouldn’t add it with other anemones due to risk of infection to the other ones. Infection spreads fast.

As for purchasing a bleached anemone it does take a long time to come back if it ever does come back. If the store received it and it bleached in treatment or while at store then the changes to come back are higher. As long as you see some brown zooxanthellae, it will come back. But very slowly. I read lots of transplant stories but they were uneventful or linked to just waiting over time eventually.

It would be better to just buy a healthy nem unless you really want to collect that rare mag or carpet.

 

[speedieber]

Yes you can...I had one caught in mp40 powerhead for about a day... I placed in a safe place and did a lot of hand feedings...

 

[Halo_003]

If it has grip to rock I say definitely yes as I said mine had no tenicles for over a year. I finally started feeding it silversides about a 1/3 of one. He is just fine a growing rapidly now

I have one like that right now, it has a good grip on the rock and accepts food, but it’s only about the size of a quarter and has virtually no tentacles. Assuming it recovers, would you expect the tentacles to grow back in the original color?

 

[Raytina]

I have one like that right now, it has a good grip on the rock and accepts food, but it’s only about the size of a quarter and has virtually no tentacles. Assuming it recovers, would you expect the tentacles to grow back in the original color?

Yes it will. Mine was like that for almost a year. My water was very bad I finally cleaned it up and I always did try and keep it alive. I feed silversides and since I have been doing so he in 3 months now looks like normal. He is about the half dollar size when he was no tenicles

 

[Raytina]

This is him now wish I would have taken a picture before because I really thought he was a goner for a long time. It was when I turned things around and got water and fed him daily that he recovered. I had to hold the silversides on him until he was able to eat it beca my tangs would grab from him if I didn’t and that could take a good 15 or more minutes.

 

[Raytina]

Curious to know what works. I’d love to rehabilitate whenever possible if I come across an animal.

Did you see my reply I mentioned how I did it and put a picture of him now wish I would have before just so everyone could see that I wasn’t kidding he had no tenicles at all was weird looking