condy in maxi-jet intake

[Strider85]

Hey everyone,
I was recently gifted with a few critters for my 75 gallon, one of them being a white condy anemone. Last night it puffed up after 3 or 4 days of happy hiding in one of my rocks, and proceeded to float around last night (I'm assuming). I found it hugging the intake 'filter' for a maxi-jet 1200. I shut the maxijet off and took the tube off so the little guy could hopefully wiggle out, but a good 1/4 of his body is inside the vent now.... can he wiggle out of that?
I read the sticky about BTAs, said you may have to 'assist' them gently in getting unstuck, but not sure what to do for this little guy. I've put him and the little filter in the refugium for now so he doesn't get stuck again.
For preventing this in the future, I hear there are foam filters for maxi-jets... anybody know if that's an online item only? Never been able to find them in any LFSs.

Thanks for any advice guys!

Chris

[Ann Marie]

Hi Chris,

I'm sorry to hear about your condy getting stuck. I had a condy get stuck in an Koralia NANO! I didn't think that it would fit into the small openings but it did. I turned it off and used wire cutters to enlarge the opening, you may need to do something like that as well. It worked it's way out and though it was chewed up it survived and regrew it's tentacles. I named him Darwin.

Anyway, I bought some filter pads made for pond pumps at Home Depot. They come in black and I cut a slit in them and put them on my intakes. On my Koralia's I now use window screen (fiberglass). I secure it with a rubberband and it is now critter safe.

Do you have enough lighting in your refugium for it to be happy? You may have to baby it for a while but hopefully it will live.

[Phurst]

If it doesn't appear able to work it's own way out, you may have to assist it by gently tugging and/or disassembling the pump.