I'm realizing this BTA is probably too big for my tank, or any anemone might be too big for my 5g nano... so now that we got that out of the way:
I put the BTA in my tank and it fouond a spot within a few hours. It seemed fine and so did the tank. It had brushed some yellow polyps during its travel and but the cluster seemed no worse for wear. Then the BTA's foot was in the shade and it started to pull most of itself down into the shade (under a shelf-like rock). OK, normal, no problem. Then the BTA started contracting and expanding maybe 1cm in, then out, then in and out, various clusters of tentacles at a time. And suddenly my zoas and hammer started freaking out. The zoas, and buttons, all their little tentacles became scraggly, strings of slime and bubbles. And the hammer just began to disintegrate, pieces floating off, turning to much. The BTA *never* touched these.
It was as though the BTA was sending out a ton of chemicals into my little 5g tank. Can this happen? I though it was a matter of touch, or at least being close by. Can it pump out chemicals like this? I really don't think it was dying; I've hear anemones can do this when they're about to croak.
So, upon noticing all this stress in the thank, and watching my clowns nip after pieces of floating hammer (!), I removed the BTA and changed 1.5g of water. Within 1/2 hour there was marked improvement. All bad signs have stopped getting worse, at least. Coincidence?
Any comments would be appreciated ... except for those pedantic ones that I don't need since I've already learned this lesson the hard way.
Anyone in the San Francisco area want a nice, deep color green BTA?
[update]
Had an idea... the only corals the BTA touched on the way to finding its resting spot was a color of yellow polyps that it severely irritated. Could the polyps have release toxins which quickly irritated my entire little tank?
[/update]
I put the BTA in my tank and it fouond a spot within a few hours. It seemed fine and so did the tank. It had brushed some yellow polyps during its travel and but the cluster seemed no worse for wear. Then the BTA's foot was in the shade and it started to pull most of itself down into the shade (under a shelf-like rock). OK, normal, no problem. Then the BTA started contracting and expanding maybe 1cm in, then out, then in and out, various clusters of tentacles at a time. And suddenly my zoas and hammer started freaking out. The zoas, and buttons, all their little tentacles became scraggly, strings of slime and bubbles. And the hammer just began to disintegrate, pieces floating off, turning to much. The BTA *never* touched these.
It was as though the BTA was sending out a ton of chemicals into my little 5g tank. Can this happen? I though it was a matter of touch, or at least being close by. Can it pump out chemicals like this? I really don't think it was dying; I've hear anemones can do this when they're about to croak.
So, upon noticing all this stress in the thank, and watching my clowns nip after pieces of floating hammer (!), I removed the BTA and changed 1.5g of water. Within 1/2 hour there was marked improvement. All bad signs have stopped getting worse, at least. Coincidence?
Any comments would be appreciated ... except for those pedantic ones that I don't need since I've already learned this lesson the hard way.
Anyone in the San Francisco area want a nice, deep color green BTA?
[update]
Had an idea... the only corals the BTA touched on the way to finding its resting spot was a color of yellow polyps that it severely irritated. Could the polyps have release toxins which quickly irritated my entire little tank?
[/update]
Last edited:
