anemones and LPS shrinking up

[jelwyoming]

I have a 115g tall mixed reef. In efforts to grow my SPS in the tank better, I have been keeping a close watch on my water quality/chemistry. I have had a pair of BTA's in the tank for a couple of years with a mated pair of clarkii's in them. As I have raised the alkalinity up from only 1.5meq to 4.0, and the CA from 300ppm or so, to 425ppm, my anemones and some of my LPS have been shrinking away. One of them has gone from about a 6" open guy, to what looks like 2 1.5" pair. The larger 12" is only about 6" now. This is over a long 3 month period. I also am skimming the heck out of the water to keep the nitrates at zero. I was thinking that maybe I was starving them, so I have tried spot feeding them with really no more success. What is going on? I don't want to loose these. They were much healthier when the water was dirty!

 

[jelwyoming]

bump

 

[jelwyoming]

Well, the smaller one has just shrunk up and vanished. The larger one still looks healthy but much smaller. I am feeding it silver sides several times a week as well as pellet food that the clowns bring to it almost daily. When it was larger, it was tinted green as it should've been with the fleshy parts more brownish. With the cleaner water, it is green tipped with whiter flesh. Is it not getting enough food or light? I had it near the top of my tank with 1000w of MH/PC, but it moved down under the shelter of a flat rock about 1/3 the way down. I can't figure why they are shrinking. This one is two years old. The only difference being the better water quality. Any ideas?

 

[jelwyoming]

Shrinking BTAs

Shrinking BTAs

Any BTA experts out there?

 

[phender]

I don't consider myself a BTA expert but their are a couple things going on.
Anemones/corals don't like change, even if it is good change.

Your increased water quality has also increased the light transmission.

At the risk of stating the obvious, your anemones don't like the increased light and the change in water chemistry.

You can try to shade your tank a little by layering screen over the tank and gradually taking pieces off, or raise your lights way up and gradually lower them back down. I'm not sure you can do much about the water, changing it again would only add more stress.

 

[jelwyoming]

anemone shrinking

anemone shrinking

Thanks for your reply Phender.
The anemone actually moved on it's own out from under a shelf rock a little to get more light. He actually looks pretty healthy, just much smaller or less inflated than it used to. He used to be pretty brown. When the water quality became better, he turned more green and white, which I am assuming is a better color health wise. He is eating fine too. The clown actually carries New Life wafers to him daily.

 

[phender]

Re: anemone shrinking

Re: anemone shrinking

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10728536#post10728536 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jelwyoming
Thanks for your reply Phender.
........ He used to be pretty brown. When the water quality became better, he turned more green and white, which I am assuming is a better color health wise. He is eating fine too. The clown actually carries New Life wafers to him daily.

Going from brown to green and white tells me that the anemone has likely bleached in response to whatever stress is going on in your tank. As long as it is still eating it will probably gain back its zooxanthellae in a month or so.

I don't know what the weather has been like in Wyoming recently, but an increase in water temperature is also a common cause of BTAs bleaching.

 

[jelwyoming]

bleaching

bleaching

That is interesting. Even though I have a 1/3hp chiller on my tank, with 1000w of MH/PC, I have a hard time keeping the temperature down. I had a power loss that killed the chiller for part of the day and the tank temp went to 84. It killed some of my monti's, the acros seem to love it but that was also about the time the anemone went white. I thought that it was more of it's healthy color... much like when I first bought it.

 

[jelwyoming]

still shrinking away - BTA experts?

still shrinking away - BTA experts?

Even though he is still eating, it looks like it is getting smaller each day. It originally was 12" when fully open, now it's lucky to reach 6". What is happening? I will try to get a photo of it soon to put in my gallery.
I don't want to leave my clowns homeless.
One other thought. This shrinking coincided with the clarkii's that I put in. I originally had a pair of ocellaris in him, but a power failure took them out. The female clarkii feeds it regularly actually bringing pellets to it. In addition, I feed it a silverside or two a week. I think that it is getting enough food; what's left?
JEL

 

[phender]

The clarkis may be a little rougher than the ocellaris, which could account for some of the shrinking. However, since the anemone is now bleached(lacking zooxanthellae) it has lost one of its primary sources of energy. You need to make up for that by feeding a little more. I would increase the target feeding of silversides, shrimp or any other meaty seafood to 3 times per week. Once it gets its color back and regains its size, you can drop it back down to once a week.

 

[jelwyoming]

Thanks Phil. I will do that.
Another thing that I've noticed is that it seems to process the food a bit slower...not hungry for about 32 hours after a feeding. Is there something that might be more nutritious than the silversides that would aid in light of the feeding frequency? The clown brings it New Life algae wafers all the time, which dampens it's appetite, but doesn't necessarily give it what it needs.

 

[phender]

I have gone away from silversides personally, but I know a lot of people I respect swear by them. I am starting to rely more on mysis squirted into the tentacles, pieces of regular shrimp and frozen Formula 1 (which I feed to my fish and usually put the last bit into the anemone).

 

[jelwyoming]

I have done the same a few times, the only trouble that I have had with that is that there seems to be some sort of binder in the frozen Formula I that drives my skimmer crazy. I do think that the varity would help. I will try that. I usually get a few of the shrimp for my lionfish anyway!

 

[timrandlerv10]

why did you go away from silversides?

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10768385#post10768385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by timrandlerv10
why did you go away from silversides?

I have had several anemones start to go bad after eating silversides. Two of the anemones I lost after having them for several years. I might be a coincidence, or it might be a bad brand, but I have heard the same story from a couple other long time anemone keepers on this list and its not worth the chance for me anymore. There are lots of other things I can feed my anemones that I trust.

 

[jelwyoming]

I am having to try something different also. This guy is getting smaller every day. I hope that I can turn this around soon.

 

[jelwyoming]

Phil, I have begun feeding it much more heavily; something like a cocktail shrimp or formual 1 cube every day or as soon as it will take it. It color seems to be returning already.

 

[phender]

Once the color starts coming back, it should be clear sailing.

One of the other teachers at school has a tank with 5 BTAs. We had temps over 100 degrees for a couple weeks and the air conditioning went out. All the anemones bleached, plus a few hairy mushrooms. This is the second time this has happened in the last 5 years and the same thing you describe happens. The anemones get smaller, but gradually start getting their color back. Once they do, they gradually get bigger and in the case of this tank they start to split.

 

[jelwyoming]

I hope so. I am loosing one of my large clams from the same episode.
Lesson learned though. I put two different UPS's on the recirc and flow pumps to keep circulation going. With the chiller mounted outside a good portion of the year, and the pumps running, it should'nt heat up quite as quickly.....I hope!