GBTA bleached and not eating

[talon4x4]

My GBTA is bleached and will not eat anthing. I've tried krill, silversides, shrimp, scallops, etc. It won't grab anything. It hasn't moved from the rock I first put it on (he has moved around the rock but never off of it), so I'm pretty sure its comfortable with the flow and lighting in that area. I also have a bunch of different coral in the tank but nothing is even close to the rock the anemone lives on.

My params:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 15-20 (put some purigen in my phos reactor to help bring it down)
phosphate - not quite 0 but close
Ca - 380 (dosing with BIonic to bring it up to an acceptable level for the coral)
Alk - 9.6 dkH
pH - 8.2
Salinity - 1.025
temp - 77-79
Lighting - 2x175 12k MH and 2x96W dual-actinic
tank size - 55gal

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It used to be a beautiful green with pink tips and I'm hoping to bring it back to that!!

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

How often do you do water changes? I ask, because you haven't mentioned that.

 

[talon4x4]

Oops. I do 20% every other week. I have an RO/DI (resin is brand new and I have a TDS meter which is reading 0ppm) and I use Instant Ocean salt.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Ok that sounds good ..Have you checked your mag levels?
You may have to help the anemone out by putting the food on its mouth and not its tentacles..just don't force feed. Just put the food on its mouth and wait for it to pull the food in. Make sure the food is very small if you give it whole pieces in this condition its not going to eat it. Also make sure the food is fresh.
You could start doing weekly 10% water changes for a little while to get the nitrates down.

What other inverts do you have? Do you have any cleaner shrimp?

Do you have a sump, skimmer or refugium?

 

[talon4x4]

I don't have a mag test kit, so no I didn't check that.

Everything but the krill and silversides have been fresh, but I didn't try putting it right near its mouth, I'll give that a try.

I'll try doing 10% weekly changes as well.

For inverts I have a blood red shrimp, anemone crab, blue-legged hermits, boxer crab, porcelain crab and snails.

No sump or refugium I do have a skimmer. A Coralife Super Skimmer 125 needlewheel.

 

[garygb]

You mention "a bunch of different corals." I wonder if allelopathy (chemical shed) from other cnidaria in the tank could be the problem. The skimmer would help with this as would running activated carbon constantly and changing it out regularly. I remember reading Anthony Calfo's recommendation of small amounts of carbon changed out weekly. Although none of the corals are touching your anemone, it is possible that a chemical war is going on all the same.

Some corals, especially soft corals, are especially toxic, e.g. leathers.

 

[talon4x4]

I forgot to mention that I do run carbon and change it out about once a month.

I guess there could be a chemical warfare, but would it only effect the anemone?!? Everything else in the tank is doing great.

 

[walmart]

How long have you had the anemone? How long has your tank been setup?

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12302184#post12302184 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by talon4x4
I forgot to mention that I do run carbon and change it out about once a month.

I guess there could be a chemical warfare, but would it only effect the anemone?!? Everything else in the tank is doing great.

Yes, it can only affect the anemone.. My hammer coral and frogspawn were fighting. They seemed ok other then the spitting brown stuff. It was affecting my long tentacle anemone to the point where it was closing up and going under the sand durring the day. I took the frogspawn out..did a water change..then the anemone stopped closing up. I learned from then on that I need to be careful of what corals I put in the tank with my anemone.

Did putting the food on the mouth get the anemone to eat? If it did work then feed it small pieces of food once every three days.

 

[talon4x4]

I've had the anemone about 1 month, the tank is a little over 1yr old.

I do have hammer and frogspawn coral. Hmmm, I really hope there not the cause.

It did take a small piece of shrimp, so hopefully that is a good sign.