Anemones are Bleaching

[bustayanky]

Ever since the beginning when I started my 130 gallon tank I was running super weak power compacts to light the tank so i think that didnt help, but now that i have moved everything to a smaller 40 gallon tank with a 150 watt Metal Halide bulb it seems as if they still are losing their colors. What should i do??? Thanks in advance also.

 

[reefnetworth]

the shock from the light might be a real good guess. the other is how old is your tank/set-up? anemones are not easily kept in tanks less then 6 months to 1 year old. you need bacterial buildup along with perfect water parameters for at least that period of time. another is the distance from the surface to the MH. and one more is flow, some like moderate to low, others like various flow (wave machine) food is the last one. i feed mine twice a week, 1/4 piece of raw cocktail shrimp. hope this helps. good luck, & REEF-ON!!!

 

[bustayanky]

Another quick question, once bleached can their colors come back or is it pretty much a done deal.

 

[bustayanky]

My tank hasn't been up for that long but my water parameters are great and i used basically everything from the old tank to the small tank except for lighting of course.

 

[redvipe2010]

They can get their color back after they have been bleached. I have not had to go through that, but others have been able to get theirs to recover.

 

[ichthyojason]

I am having the same issue, with my two rbtas (they were one, but split). they have recently bleached out and one went into hiding. I think they reacted badly to my dosing my tank with flatworm exit (though it claimed it would not harm anything). Any suggestions on geting them to recover to their true colors?

 

[TOURKID]

ok.. how long has it been under the metal halide? if its only been a day or two, id go to lowes or whatever and get a window screen roll. (the plastic kind) and egg crate (for lighting in cielings)
cut the eggcrate to fit on top of the tank, and lay 2-4 pieces of screen on top. every 5-7 days remove a screen. this will acclimate the bta to new lighting with less stress put on it.

the bleaching will definatly go away.. if it gets more healthy. im a bad speller, but inside the bta are zoolanthee and when a bta stresses out, it will expell its zoo from its mouth causeing it to bleach. with better lighting, good food, and great water quality, it will slowly get its color back.

if you can find selcon, its a great additive to its food.. just soak its silverslide(or shrimp) in a few drops of selcon before you feed it.

just the move alone could have stressed it out enough for that to happen.

My bta was on deaths door, wouldent eat anymore, bleached out, and wouldent quit moving/swimming/jumping
My lighting was only pc's.. i switched to 250 watt mh, bought a refractometer and fed it everyother day a selcon silverslide... and now the thing is about ten inches wide!!! yeah.. it took over the tank.... lol

 

[dots]

Anenome have slow metabolism and by the time we realize that they are in trouble, they are in a downward spiral.

How bad is he, white striations near the oral disk or totally, whitened tentacles?

You did the right thing getting it into MH, most people are stubborn with the PCs and never realize they don't have enough light. Kudos!! Guilty of it myself by the way.

It is a slow road to recovery for this guy. Assuming the water, and current is agreeable, he should recover with these Halides. What is needed is to feed more than regularly, (once a week to two weeks is regular), up to every couple of days bordering on the force feeding. You don't want him to get so bad as to stop feeding.....The eat slow also, kinda like a spider sucking out the good and spitting out the rest. Feeding will increase the process.

Within time, with regular feeding and the new light should be fine.

Happy anenome do not move, are not white, and have tight closed mouths, not gapping.

 

[only4fudge]

My rose anenomes are only pink at the tips, but its 3/4 white, should it be like that?

I figured it that its still a baby, so giving it some time to gain its colors