BTA sick?

[DerekG4]

Just yesterday we bought a small green bubble tip anemone and I don't know what to expect if it's healthy. Yesterday when we saw it, it looked nice, bubbly, healthy, and was attached on the side of the tank, when we put it in, accidentally forgot to turn of the powerhead so it rolled a little bit (Doesn't look hurt) on the sand, then it stopped rolling, looking for a spot and it ended up being under a rock with some shade and stayed there since today, later on it opened decently and looked fine, deflating a little then re-inflating and it attached its foot (Although its foot isn't inside the sand, rather its just on top. Today it in the morning it was fine, couple hours later it closed up and I thought it looked normal, currently it's really shriveled up and it's foot is still placed although it's not as extended as it was yesterday (Or could just look like that since the base of it isn't tall like yesterday), is this normal to expect? What should I do? I heard when it's dying the water smells pretty nasty, but I don't smell anything bad, just normal sea water

My tank is 30 gallons, about 8-10 months old, has 32, 3 watt LEDS (White, Blue, and UV), has a powerhead of about 850+ I believe, there's a lot of surface movement (Powerhead, overhang box that takes in water to the sump, and the returning pump) got the water tested at the same place, said everything was okay, she said the only thing we had to put in the tank was a tiny bit of calcium and the tank had a very tiny amount of nitrates that could easily be fixed with a small water change. We then saw the BTA and looked just fine, we asked if it's good for our tank, she said it should be fine as long as those things were fixed and if it's well-acclimated, we bought it, she gently got it with her thumb, picked it up and put it in the small plastic bag, and that's what happened.

I seen people on some websites saying not to do anything to the anemone at all (With the exception of something hurting it) and then some people say it's okay to feed it at the next day.

EDIT: The anemone has it's mouth swollen but closed (Not tightly, but it's closed, and has very very tiny part of the mouth that opens every couple seconds) it's also white and transparent, and it opened up a little more but it's still shriveled up.

 

[DerekG4]

Alrighty, It's not shriveled up anymore and it's nice and puffy but it's mouth is still swollen (Not as much as before) and seems to have a pebble or a small chunk of coraline in the middle of it's swollen mouth. (Sorry I replied, didn't let me edit my post)

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Pictures speak 1000 words

 

[DerekG4]

By the way he seems to be doing fine now. His mouth is barely swollen, it's like 3 mm in diameter and that pebble is finally out of his mouth. I guess I just overreacted when I saw him deflated with a swollen mouth.

 

[m0nkie]

imo some BTA does that in a new environment. They will look good during the day and dead at night, expelling all its water, mouse swollen and shriveled up.. it may repeat this for several days. I wouldn't recommend feeding right away. It only adds stress. They also poop, which makes them look dead, but they should recover after a few hours

imo. leave it alone unless it's hiding in a complete dark spot for an extended amount of time.

just keep your water parameters stable. Alk swings really **** off anemones.

 

[DerekG4]

Is the spot it's currently hiding in okay? It seems to be getting a little bit of light and I thought it'll walk away out of there soon after he's used to the tank.

 

[m0nkie]

I think it looks fine. looks fully attached to the rock behind.

 

[DerekG4]

I think it looks fine. looks fully attached to the rock behind.

From the side of the tank, 1/3 of the foot is stuck on the glass, the other 2/3 is right on top of the surface of the sand

 

[m0nkie]

if it were mine, and it's not attaching to rock, I would let it be for a day.. if it remains unattached, I'd would move it to a rock. a healthy one should attach very fast and prefer some flow. Mine likes random flow so they swing around. you can try place it on top of the lowest rock. find a spot where it won't move into complete shade or unreachable spots. If it's fully attached to glass, let it be and see where it moves. turn off all powerheads near that glass.

I've lost small BTAs when they move to dark spots and I left them be. I thought they would just move, but it eventually died after a few weeks. For all my new BTAs, I place them on a rock on top of sand, near my rockscape. Then they move around to a crevice they prefer. Mine always move to a spot that has random medium flow, direct lighting, and foot hidden in a crevice

even tho the store said your water is fine, I still recommend getting some test kits and do weekly test. mine split due to an alk drop and the clone moved all over the tank. killed a lot of corals.

folks here suggest that you take pictures of your anemone daily. of its best and worst. this way you can see the direction it's going toward. and if you continue to post pictures, people can help spot something you don't see. imo, your last picture looks fine. you can help him find a better spot though

 

[DerekG4]

How should I remove him? I can't say the spot he's in is tight, but I'm definitely not going to be able to slip my finger in comfortably to remove him.

He seems to have moved about a 1/4 of an inch forward and has a bit of sand on his front.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Try pointing a power head directly at his foot and see if he doesn't move.

 

[DerekG4]

Only problem I see with that is the power head is blocked by the rock on top that the nem is under but even if I were to place it in front of him (Can't place it in back, its covered in rocks, but there is a small hole he'd be able to go in and stay) wouldn't he just move further back in the dark? The power head I have is pretty strong too at close range, wouldn't it damage it?

 

[150Ron]

He should move on his own. It does prefer to attach to rock not the sand however. Leave him for a bit and let him settle in. Messing with him now will cause too much stress.

 

[DerekG4]

Alrighty, I guess I'll just leave him alone 'till Thursday (That'll mark the 1st week) and see if anything changes. I do see him deflate a tiny bit (Nothing like last time that he looked it was about to die) but I guess that's normal. If he doesn't move after the 1st week, should I remove him and place him somewhere else or just wait more?

 

[DerekG4]

Now he's deflated again with his mouth swollen (Only this time his mouth is open, unlike yesterday) like yesterday only this time he's been like this for about 3 and a half hours (Yesterday he was only like that for about an hour and a half) is it still normal for him to do it this long?

Sorry for the crappy quality, looked better on the phone.

 

[NYCBOB]

just let it be. moving it will only stress it further. give it a few days.

 

[DerekG4]

Alrighty, I'll give him a week. But will he deflate like that always? He's been deflated with a swollen mouth pretty much the whole day.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Stop sitting there watching it with the clock. LOL If your water is good and stable and all parameters are fine and nothing is spiking you need to give it some time.

The nem will start moving to find where it wants to be.

 

[DerekG4]

Sorry lol, the 2 main things that worry me is either when it starts moving (I'd have to move most of the coral until it's finally happy with the spot it chose) or if it dies (Quickly remove it before the ammonia spike kills everything) that's why I'm worried

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Understand completely! But sitting there watching it for hours on end won't accomplish anything but your stress level to rise.

From the looks of your picture it doesn't have much flow or lighting in the spot it is in. On one hand I think can you do anything to improve both without rearranging much in your tank? But on the other hand, the more I think about it might still be best as has been suggested of doing nothing but observing. I feel for you, I really do. Best to leave it to good water quality and God!