BTA Adjusting?

[cphelps80]

Hi guys, I'm new to keeping anemones but have had a marine tank setup for three years. A week ago I put in a BTA into my 180l tank. The lighting is two T5 ho lamps, one marine white and the other marine blue. In the tank I have various corals, hermits, sea urchin, boxer shrimp, two clowns and a bi coloured dottyback. All my water parameters are virtually or on 0.

I put the anemone in last week after acclimatizing and he found after about three hours where he was happiest and attached and stayed put ever since. My concern is that he is deflated for around seven hours a day with a brownish discharge. When he is open he is about 12 inches in diameter and seems fine. Although he wont eat, i've tried mysis shrimp and raw prawn but he's not intersted. Is this due to adjusting to the new tank? The tank is a year old and everything else is doing fine.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hmmmm....

If the BTA has attached up kind of high in the tank, where it gets good light, it may be OK. But 2 t5 bulbs over a 180g tank is really at the very low end of light.

I have no idea what the brown discharge is. It could be the remains of it's last solid meal?

You say all your parameters are at zero... I hope that's not really the case. What are you testing for? Alkalinity, pH, calcium and magnesium shouldn't be at zero and are all kind of important to the tank and your anemone.

As for not eating, a BTA doesn't need to get solid food very often if it is in good light. I feed mine once a month, sometimes less, and they are all doing well. At only one week, I would guess it is just getting settled in.

Is it that the nem won't hold the food you offer, or that it holds the food and just doesn't eat it?

 

[cphelps80]

I've just testing the water and here are the results:
Nitrates / trites 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphate 0
pH 8.3
kH 11
Calcium 400
Magnesium 1250

The anemone is at the bottom of the tank attached to a piece of rock, it takes three to four hours to inflate / deflate.

 

[cphelps80]

It's a 180 litre Juwel Rio. He did take in the mysis shrimp but deflated after about two hours and expeled them undigested. As it's the first time I've kept an anemone I'm a little concerned.

 

[sjwitt]

It sounds like it's still acclimating to the tank. The discharge is probably just waste expulsion. Can you get a photo, it's easier to help if we can 'see' what's going on. I'd give it a week before trying to feed it again since it's expelling undigested food.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ah, well the t5 lights over a 45-50g tank make much more sense, probably still a bit weak, but should be OK. The rest of your parameters look OK. Alk is as high as I'd want it to get, but still should be OK. I'd keep a close eye on it and see how it does over the next 2 to 3 weeks. I understand your concern and it's a good thing, but be patient and ask or tell us if you see any changes.
Good luck.

 

[cphelps80]

I'll try and get a photo up

 

[cphelps80]

Here is a photo of the brown gunge being ejected. Also of his mouth which seems to be open constantly

 

[sjwitt]

The constantly open mouth isn't a good sign. It could just be trying to acclimate so leave it alone and don't feed it anything.

Mine will 'gape' when they purge waste but then go back to a tightly closed mouth. When I first got my RBTA, it did this and ended up splitting (probably due to the 'stress' of going into a new tank). Hopefully that's what will happen but keep an eye on it and if it starts to 'melt' get it out of the tank.

 

[cphelps80]

Thanks for the fast replies guys, looking after the anemone is becoming a bit of an obsession!

 

[f3honda4me]

Yea that is not good. I'm actually going to say you don't have enough lighting for it.