BTA not looking so hot..

[Chronicj7]

I went out of town for 8 days and had a close friend take care of my tank. I left specific instructions on everything he needed to do and he seemed to follow them closely. The day before I got back he mentioned the day lights hadn't come on. One of my VHO bulbs burnt out and my tank went on 3 days without the day lights due to my trip and LFS being closed on sunday. I got the lights on again in the a.m. Monday, fed and cleaned everything in the tank like I do every week. I noticed my BTA looking really small and the tips were somewhat white. I fed him and he took the silverside. Later that night he pumped up and looked fine then the next day he looks like he's been expelling waste. Its never taken him two days to do this though. I don't see anything else coming out and his mouth is somewhat open. Is he dying? Anything I can do to save him if he is? My clowns will not be happy if he goes and neither will I. Please help!!!!!!:sad1:

 

[velvetelvis]

Haven't kept a BTA successfully, so I don't have any advice--sorry. Bumping this for you...good luck!

 

[bues0022]

3 days without lights shouldn't kill an otherwise healthy BTA. When you fed the silverslide, was it whole or chopped up? It's much easier for a nem to digest smaller pieces of food rather than one very large chunk.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Agreed. I quit feeding my RBTA silversides and feed in thawed mysis now. Three days without lights will not bother an otherwise healthy BTA. What are your water params? Tank specs? Lighting? How long have you had this anemone?

 

[Chronicj7]

I did feed a rather large silverside to him before my trip. Water params are all in order and I keep up weekly water changes. 55g tank. 16 foot VHO's. I have had the BTA for nearly 8 months. He has grown rapidly and seemed happy before I left. I may just drop the silversides or chop them up first. I've also been reading up a lot on them that you don't even need to spot feed them.

 

[cabowabo]

I have had the best success feeding mine small pieces of raw frozen shrimp(thawed first). The silversides should be fine and even more nutritious but cut them into smaller pieces. I was giving mine to large pieces of shrimp and they would take it down , then spit it up whole unable to digest. In my experience spot feeding BTA's is a must. When I don't they get thin, look like crap, and start wondering around in search of food. Good luck.

 

[Chronicj7]

I was also curious if you 'need' moonlights on them. I noticed that one of my blue coralife lights has gotten dimmer and it was right above my anemone. He started moving around yesterday and I wonder if its because of the moonlight or he is just wandering around?