Tribulation

I woke up to go to work, walked by the tank on the way out the door, and almost fell over.

The tank was the cloudiest I'd ever seen it. Wondering if it was the removal of the power filter, I immediately installed it. I quickly looked at the skim level and couldn't see anything. Then out the door I went with my fingers crossed.

I texted my wife so she'd be aware of the situation. A few hours later she called to tell me it was still very cloudy.

I hurried up with my necessary duties and left three hours early. I immediately came home and set up for what was going to be a long morning.

I unplugged my heater, filter, skimmer, and power head and began to drain the tank. I drained water continuously until just the top of the anemone was at water level. I drained at least half of the tank.

Before completing the tank drain, I checked my skimmer cup again. Still couldn't see anything in the collection cup. Not even bubbles. I go to lift the cup and realize the reason I don't see any bubbles or skimmage...

The cup is entirely full! I shake my head realizing it was probably full even before I left for work. No skimming has been going on the entire time. I dump it and make a mental note to start checking it every few hours, at least until the cloudiness is fixed.

With the tank drained, my concern was for the anemone. I had no idea if it were dead, alive, or what. I hurriedly made enough salt mix to get the water level back up to the skimmer, then plugged everything back in. I bought myself a little time, so I'm off to do research.

Research was mostly inconclusive. Dead anemones stink like nothing else when they're out of water. I drained the tank enough that some of the anemone was exposed. I didn't notice any "what-the-hell" smell.

Apparently anemone's also "melt" when they're dead. The anemone, other than being contracted, still looks OK. Also, living anemones are sticky, dead ones are slimy. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to touch the anemone, so that test would have to wait.

While researching, I see that anemones can do some really funky things. Sometimes they expel brown, sometimes white, sometimes they turn inside-out. I was hoping my cloudiness was due to a huge white excretion, if it was the anemone that caused this...

A few hours later the tank is full and the waiting begins... More water changes scheduled later.  I knocked the cloudiness down quite a bit, but it's still there. I picked up some carbon and put some in the power filter. Maybe that will help with the cloudiness as well.

The tank after a 50% (or more) water change.  Still pretty cloudy.

The mushrooms have retracted.

Encrusting Anthelia still mostly open.  The Clownfish are attempting to nurture the anemone back to it's normal state.

Star polyps have almost completely retracted.