Bleached LTA - Anyone Know Future Color?

[crhanse007]

I bought a newer completely tank system with livestock from a very inexperienced reefer. I didn't know it, but the LTA that she thought had died months ago was found in her rock work as we were tearing down the tank for the move to our home. She never even told me that she had an anemone previously, so this was a complete shock.

I've been doing my best to rehab the poor thing, as it is really bleached. She's settled and has been eating well and is in a good spot with flow and plenty of light. I have LED lighting, and she's beginning to color up under this. I'm hoping for a purple LTA, but I'm not sure if this original color purple color is dyed or just the bleached color from her former glory. I doubt anyone would actually dye a purple LTA, as they are much more valuable in their natural color.

Has anyone bought an anemone with this coloration? I've only had her a week, but you can start to see the regrowth of the zooxanthellae. If you've had one this color bleached, what did you find once the animal came back to its former color? I know I can wait, but I'm just curious if I can find out faster from those of you who have done this previously.

Thanks so much!

 

[joshky]

My guess would be purple, maybe even purple with pink tips. You could ask the previous owner what color it was when they got it?

 

[billnPS]

NIIICE score, no matter what color it is!! Looks to be somewhat purple w/ brown tips. How much, & what are you feeding it? You might want to hold off on giving it much food for a few weeks; just let it acclimate to being in good lighting for awhile until it gets more zooxanthellae.

 

[crhanse007]

Joshky, I think it was that color when she got it. I don't know if it's dyed or not. She didn't have a very reputable LFS. The guy told her saltwater tanks were no maintenance and sold her the entire set up brand new.... then sold her a nem (for a new system), way too much livestock for her skimmer, and a bunch of coral. That's why she sold the entire set up to us... too much work and she was crashing her tank, and had lost a lot of fish and coral.

BillnPS, I'm feeding every other day, but VERY small amounts... like one tiny defrosted krill shrimp. The LTA is 4 inches across, so the food is very small relative to the body size. So far, the nem really latches onto the food. I've read both schools of thought about feeding / not feeding. The nem seemed to only perk up once I started feeding it, as there were barely any zooxanthellae at the beginning. I know it had been in the rock wall for over 8 weeks with no food or light, so I wanted to get some nutrients back in. I fed two krill at first, and it regurgitated one of them back up. So, I pulled back to one krill every other day and it seems to be keeping that down and happily chowing down. I may pull back to once every three days now that I'm starting to see the zooanthellae coming back in.

Thanks so much guys! I hope it's a purple one! I LOVE those! Have you ever rehabbed one that was this color? How do I tell if it's a dye job?

 

[billnPS]

1 krill per feeding every few days is good. I've read horror stories of feeding a bleached nem 1/2 shrimp, etc., so was concerned about portion size. I've rehabbed nems even more bleached than yours, so it can be done. I wouldn't worry about it being dyed in the past. Since all color has bleached out, it'll come back w/ it's original coloring as it gets healthier.

 

[crhanse007]

Yeah, I totally get that. Thanks for the encouragement. I hope I can rehab the little guy. I wasn't planning on getting a nem, but it was a nice surprise bonus to my tank purchase. I just can't wait to see what color it turns out to be!

 

[billnPS]

How long have u had tank set up? BTW, I LOVE the St. Pete area...

 

[crhanse007]

Thanks. We actually moved from there after living there 7 years, to the Caribbean for two years (had to sell the 90-gallon reef tank for that move), and now are back in Arkansas.

We bought this tank set up off Craigslist with all livestock and live rock just a week ago. We saved most of the water in the move though to minimize stress on the livestock, put in new sand to reduce the chance of the entire tank crashing, and are slowly fixing the water perimeters. We upgraded the protein skimmer to better handle the bioload, and are doing a lot of water changes to get the nitrates down and the water quality back up with RO/DI water. The water was also horribly low on calcium - which explains why her corals were dying. So, we are slowly bringing that up, along with the magnesium. We moved over a week ago, and thankfully didn't loose any fish, corals, or the nem.

I realize this setup isn't ideal for a nem, as they hate changes and need an established tank with pristine water; but this guy seems to be improving despite the challenges. I would never have bought one for a new tank, but it was an unexpected addition.

We've learned that we can't do huge water changes though, as it gets up and moves. So, we've gone back to more frequent 10% changes, and we've luckily not seen it move for over 4 days now. I'm hoping it stays put now.

 

[msmith619]

I bought a very bleached LTA from Petco once. It rehabed nicely with good water quality and LED lighting. It grew so fast with daily feelings of Krill or small pieces of frozen food the other fish didn't eat. It quickly became 10 to 12 inches across and very sticky. It would even occasionally catch the fish and eat it.

 

[crhanse007]

That's great that you were able to rehab it. What color did you end up with?

The eating fish part wasn't what I wanted to hear though... It's one of the main reasons that I've never kept nems before. I thought LTAs were less notorious for that, but I guess it still happens. I may have to go to a species-only tank with just clown fish if the nem gets too big.

 

[addictedreefer]

That's great that you were able to rehab it. What color did you end up with?

The eating fish part wasn't what I wanted to hear though... It's one of the main reasons that I've never kept nems before. I thought LTAs were less notorious for that, but I guess it still happens. I may have to go to a species-only tank with just clown fish if the nem gets too big.

LTAs are very unlikely to eat healthy fish. I would not be concerned.

 

[msmith619]

I bought a very bleached LTA from Petco once. It rehabed nicely with good water quality and LED lighting. It grew so fast with daily feelings of Krill or small pieces of frozen food the other fish didn't eat. It quickly became 10 to 12 inches across and very sticky. It would even occasionally catch the fish and eat it.

 

[crhanse007]

Thanks so much addictedreefer! I had read that they were way better than carpets or even cody nems to keep with fish. So far everyone is getting along! But, the LTA is pretty small still. I guess I will keep it in there until it proves untrustworthy. My six-line wrasse brushes the tentacles sometimes and doesn't even appear to react. The rest of the fish are smart enough to stay away. If anyone goes first, it will probably be him.:twitch:

 

[crhanse007]

So, quick update. It's starting to turn a reddish brown color. I can't believe the change in just four weeks. I think this nem is going to make it!