BTA bleached and cheap!

[Menace2Sobriety]

Ok so here's the deal.... My tank is "sorta" new. I say sorta cuz the rock, sand, and water was long established and I just moved everything to a new tank 2 weeks ago. (Bought a used setup but didn't buy the tank).

Anyway.... I went to get a couple new fish and there were some bleached out bubble tips for real cheap. They were sitting in a frag tank under kessils so could be excessive light. Anyway..... LFS explained that they were bleached and bla bla bla (so I knew what I was getting but they were CHEAP).

Now....

It's been in my tank 2 days and is under a ledge getting minimal almost no light. I'm sure it'll either die there or move once it's more comfortable.

Considering it's bleached... Should I be feeding it twice a week? Will that help it color up? Or just let it ride and see what happens?

I'm running 4x T5 HO actinics and a 250w halide @10000k (15000k should be delivered in the mail any day).

I'll post a pic taken shortly after I put him in the tank.

 

[Menace2Sobriety]

Here he is under the actinics

P.S. Don't bother with the "never buy a bleached Nem" lecture. I know this and understand it. I'm monitoring constantly from work via webcam so I can get the wife to pull the rock out he's under if he starts looking rough.

I will also add that where he is sitting under the ledge there is a small hole above it through the rock so about 20% of him is getting light from the halide (which is probably a good thing) hopefully it's not quite enough and he eventually moves cuz if he stays there I may as well not even have him as I can only see him via webcam that's stuffed down in my overflow box in a DIY submarine!
Thx

Menace

 

[Menace2Sobriety]

Next question....

Seeings my Nem has been in hiding for 3 days (I can see him and he seems to still be alive) at what point do I intervene? How long can it survive without light? I don't want to bother it obviously as that'll just push it back into hiding even more... But because he was bleached to begin with I worry that his ability to survive low light may be hindered.
Is there a timeline where as after so many days I should just dump him in my QT tank and see what happens?

 

[tide_fan_nick]

I have brought a couple back from being bleached like yours. It takes a lot of time and patience. I would feed it very small portions a couple times a week if it will accept it. As long as it is still attached and not deteriorating I would leave it alone. I was successful doing it that way but it took 2-3 months to totally regain their zooxanthellae. Good luck!

 

[Menace2Sobriety]

Thanks for the info. I flipped the rock over today so I could see him. Fed tank and 2 mysis ended up sticking to him and he immediately curled up and ate it. So I fed him a small piece of silverside as well and he are that. Hopefully he will now consider his spot a good spot and he'll get lots of light. (About 16" of water between him and a 250w 10000k halide. (Hope that's not too much). I did however wait till the halide turned off to flip the rock and I'll give him small amounts of light every hour or so tomorrow (if he's still in the same spot come morning).