Bleached RBTA - Need help

[Beng]

I bought a RBTA in March, it was dark red in color.
LFS had it under VHO lighting. Here are pictures of
RBTA in my tank 2 days after purchase.

Unfortunately the LFS that I bought it from neglected to
inform me that it splitted a few weeks prior and thus
I ended up with a anemone that pretty much has only one half/side.
I didn't realize this fact because it was big and it had folded
the torn side in so it seem normal. After a week of being in my
tank, it started to puke out its Zooxanthellae, I can see dark
clots of Zooxanthellae being ejected from its mouth. After 2
months, it was a whitish pink anemone:

During these 2 months it took alot of patience and effort but once
or twice a week it did eat the pieces of shrimp that I gave it.
It's tentacles were not sticky and the shrimp pieces would fall off but
if I hold it in its mouth it did completely swallow it.

Now after 4 months of being in my tank, the torn side where it split
has healed and small tentacles have grown on the disk and from what I
can tell, it seems to have regain a small amount of color back but it still
looks very much bleach.

What can I do to help this RBTA regain its dark red color?
Since May (5/1/06) I've been feeding it everyday with either a half piece of medium
size table shrimp or a thumb size piece of squid but haven't notice
any color changes.

Here are the specs for my tank just in case:
AGA 55 gallon
29 gallon sump + (2) 10 gallons all plumb together
Single 175W MH (10K Hamilton bulb) - 9hr photo period
Euro-reef CS5-2 Skimmer

Salinity - 1.025
Temp. - 82->83 (it's Summer)
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
Cal. - 360


Many Thanks,

Beng

 

[lux_06]

i know its not helpful but i think it looks pretty cool hot pink!!!

 

[finding nemo]

Beng, sorry to hear about your anemone.
Have you tried feeding it silversides?
I find them to be the best food for them.
Also, when was the last time you changed your bulbs?
From the first picture to the last your tank got real dark?
Have you been keeping up with your water changes?
Your temperature is a bit high to me. Some people keep there tanks in the 80's, I keep mine around 78 to 80 and find my anemones prefer it that cool.
What kind of water movement do you have in the tank in the way of powerheads?
How old is your tank ? Do you have live sand and live rock?

 

[Beng]

Thanks Finding Nemo for your reply.

I've try a couple of small pieces of silver sides but it always spits it out. This anemone loves table shrimp for some reason.

Bulb is a 10K Hamilton MH bulb...Photo period is 9hrs/day. Bulb has been in-use for about 5 months. Anemone is about 9-10 inches directly under MH lighting, it was a spot anemone choose.
I've always thought that it's bleaching because it can't handle my MH lighting. Everyday when my MH comes on, it always shrivel up for 3-4 hours before it will expand like the last picture. When it was in the LFS under VHO lighting, it was expanding like crazy.

The first 2 pictures are in a darker corner of the tank and picture was taken with flash. Last picture was taken in brightest part of tank (center of tank) where anemone is currently staying without any flash.

10 gallons of water change every month (Instant Ocean).
Flow is via a Mag 9.5 in a close loop spray bar. One spray bar on top of water surface and one near bottom of tank. In a 55 gallon, I actually have too much flow, I have to throttle down the Mag 9.5 to keep it from blowning everything around the tank.

Tank has been up and running for 2 years before I got anemone. I have about 120 lbs of live rock with a 2-3 inch sand bed. My water has been pretty prestine, I don't have any hair algea or red slim problems at all.

I'm a bit bum out because I paid a arm and leg for this anemone, wish it was worth the money I paid for it.

Many thanks for all the inputs guys/gals.

Beng

 

[finding nemo]

Everything looks ok on your specs above.
Have you tried not running the MH for a few days and just VHO lights?
Sad to say but we see this a lot with MH and anemones.
They do not nore do they necessarily like the MH lighting, it is just to bright.
But there are people that have BTA's under them and they are fine.
I think it does depend on what they were raised under or where they were collected that dictates what they like.
Turn off the MH , they don't need it and run VHO if you have them and see what he does.
My bet is he will regain he zooxanthellae in a few weeks, start eating and be just fine if you do that.
Take a look at this article on my web site
http://www.karensroseanemones.com/articlezooxanthellae.htm

 

[scaz]

I remeber hearing that BTA's can actually leak Zooxanthellae so if you got another one even for a short period they might share Zooxanthellae. just a thought.

 

[WDLV]

I think temp could be the issue.

Additionally if you look at the bottom right edge of the last picture you posted, it looks like it either is just regaining its zoanthellae, or that's the last little bit left in it. I'd try to get the temp back down to 78-79.
You could aid in this process by cutting the halide photoperiod back to 6-7 hours.
I was running them for 8-10 hours a day and when the weather started warming up I started having some browning and bleaching issues. The tank temp was running 80-83.
Now I run them from 4:30PM to 11:00PM and the temp ranges from 78-81. The corals are starting to grow again and are getting their colors back. My H.mag died around the same time that the temps were at their peak.
I hope that helps.