H. Magnifica Sucked Into Powerhead and Killed Fish

[Apoc68]

Yesterday morning I went to checked the tank and found a rather horrific scene.

The anemone was on the sand, deflated, my powder blue tang, red firefish and cleaner wrasse were dead. The blue throat trigger and gem tang both barely alive and the majority of the rest were unable up be found.

I pulled the anemone and put in the invert quarantine so I could assess the situation. The trigger and gem tang were netted and placed in the invert tank as well, as I figured the carnage was mostly over. What it appeared to be is that nematocysts from the anemone tentacles were released into the water column and stung the fishes gills.

The trigger and tang did not improve so I employed the salvage protocol and placed the fish in a bucket, dropped the salt to 22 PPT and let the temperature drop to 70F. I added a couple air stones but did not have any pure O2. I then added some methylene blue to help with any gill damage. I left them there for 30 minutes and then transferred to a new bucket with the same parameters. I covered the bucket to keep the light out and left them.

This morning I found the trigger did not make but the gem tang is still alive but laying on the bottom. My question is where do I go from here? I began to raise the temperature to 72F to see if that would give him a little more energy but it's still on the bottom. All the fish that were missing yesterday appear to have recovered so I'm thinking this little guy should be ok, as long as I slowly raise the temperature and salinity.

Interestingly, the purple tang and flame angel, along with the clowns, showed no apparent signs of stress throughout the whole thing.

 

[Apoc68]

Update:

I went out and exchanged and old CO2 cylinder I had in the garage from my planted tank days for an O2 bottle and after about 2 hours, I checked and he was swimming upright! This gave me some confidence but when I checked again shortly after he was back on his side. Considering the length of time since the incident, I think now he is just very stressed and playing dead.

Temperature is now at 74 and salinity is 24 and I think I will raise the temperature first and then the salinity once he is back to normal.

As for the anemone that caused all this, here's the story.
I purchased it about a month and a half ago, placed it in the invert QT for a week and it seemed healthy so it put it in the DT on a flat rock where it seemed healthy and stayed put. After about 3 weeks I ended up buying a Haddoni and did the same procedure. After a week the Mag started to deflate in the afternoon and began to roam so I pulled it and treated with Cipro for 12 days. He was looking healthy so I put him back in the DT but removed the rock as I was hoping it was just attached to the smooth rock instead. He appeared to be flattening out and stayed put until the lights went out. The next morning is when I found him with his new haircut.

Seems like only tentacles were damaged and it is looking ok, all things considered, in my invert QT. I'll monitor for a few days and probably place him back in the DT, on his flat rock... And maybe in a cage.

Here he is in the invert QT. You'll notice there's not many tentacles with white tips, like there was a couple days ago but luckily, no foot damage.

I'm hoping @OrionN or one of the other experts can chime in if I should treat him again but it has been only 3 days since the last dose of Cipro when I treated the first round.

 

[OrionN]

I am sorry about the fish death in your tank. This is a well known, at least to me, problem. The best you can do is removal of the affected fish and help support them until they are better or dead.
The anemone, it self, likely require no treatment. Often they recover from the even well. It is really important to provide good water, high light and high current for Magnifica, and Place them on top of a rock Island where they are much less likely to wander. If this is the place, and in order to move off of it, It will have to move lower on the island, which mean less light and less current. If the the situation is reasonable, Magnifica will just stay there, even if it not completely exceptional for him..

As it is, I would watch him for a few days. As long as he continue to heal and get better, just try to provide the best condition for him and feed him. He need the food to heal and response to the stress.

Good luck

 

[Apoc68]

@OrionN Thank you for the advice!

When I was first getting the flow dialed in for the Mag, I did notice he did not mine crawling down to find a more suitable spot and from what I observed, having a flat rock superceded it's desire for light or flow.

Here is a photo of a portion of the tank where he lives. The flat rock is back in place and you can see the Neptune WAV and Maxspect Gyre that provide strong, indirect, random flow. You can also see the M. Doreensis in the bottom left that the clown have gone to. I originally thought perhaps there was some allopathy at play but the LTA has never looked better and the H.Mag is missing a bunch of tentacles. From the flat rock to the LTA is about 18"

 

[Apoc68]

After a lot of frustration and nearly throwing in the towel, I found a spot where it has stayed put for 48 hours. I followed conventional wisdom and tried to give it high flow and high light but it would start moving lower in the tank or would detach completely. I tried lowering the light, moving powerheads and everything else I could think of and finally decided to try something different so I moved a somewhat flat rock and put t on the bottom and hasn't moved since.

It's still not looking great and is partially bleached but between a Cipro treatment and going through a powerhead, I don't think it's that bad.

I've looked online but can't find much information on whether or not the tentacles will grow back so I will have to wait and see.