GBTA looks great in the morning, shrivels by the afternoon...

[Taqpol]

Hello all, this is my first time in this forum as I just picked up my very first (after a healthy amount of research) GBTA on Saturday. The wird thing is that every morning since I added the nem it has looked beautiful (bright green, good extension, even has the characteristic 'bubbles' on the tips) but around noon and until I wake up the next morning the nem shrivels to almost nothing and leaves its mouth gaping open.

I'm really scared for the survival of my nem as it has been through four days of this. My tank is over six months old and is stable as can be. I have four T5HO with individually contoured reflectors about a foot away from the nem. Here are some quick specs:

38 gallon AGA with 20 gallon sump
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm
Calcium: 380 ppm
Alk: 8 dKh
Temp: 79.8 F
pH: fluctuates between 7.9 and 8.2
Salinity: 1.026 (jumped to 1.028 two days ago due to my ATO being temporarily off line)

Is this a common problem? What can I do to help?

 

[chitownclown]

What kind of lighting was it under at the LFS and what kind of lighting do you have?

 

[ocellaris123]

Is the fluctuation of pH from day night? Anemones can shrivel daily depending on feeding regime to rid themselves of waste, take in new water but they should return to new a few hours later. Do you notice any brown waste being expelled from the mouth. Lighting shock can be another possibility.

 

[Taqpol]

At the LFS it was under a decently powerful (150 or 250 watt) Metal Halide hung fairly close to the water of a shallow cube. I was under the impression that light shock was normally from low light to high light, but in my case the anemone went from stronger light to my (still decent, 4x24 watt T5HO with individual reflectors about a foot above the nem) weaker light.

The pH fluctuation is due to the day night cycle. I have been fighting that for awhile but the cold weather outside isn't conducive to opening a window right now....

My feeding regime is normally flake food in the morning and mysis shrimp soaked in vitamins at night. Besides the mysis, which my nem should be able to eat, I haven't tried to target feed him yet because he is still really new. One time when he shriveled up I did see some brown stringy stuff being ejected from its mouth and was scared that it was ejecting its zooxanthellae. Was that just food? Even if it was, the nem stays shriveled from about noon until sometime after I go to bed...

 

[IFbettas]

Are there clowns with it? If so, are they bothering it? About a week ago I got a gbta for my ocellaris clowns, and they bite at it every now and then causing the nem to shrink up. Especially the first few days it would have great extension at night, but after the lights came on and the clowns would start attacking it it would shrink up into the rocks.

 

[Taqpol]

I do have two occelaris clowns, but they haven't seemed to have moved from their normal spot since I added the GBTA (they decided to host a magnetic glass cleaner.....).

How would I tell if it was the clowns?

 

[wonderingreefer]

If possible try running one tube for a day or so and see if that has any effect. If it has a possative effect try uping the number of tubes.

Fuge will help keep your ph stable if you dont have one already.

 

[Taqpol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14322350#post14322350 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wonderingreefer
If possible try running one tube for a day or so and see if that has any effect. If it has a possative effect try uping the number of tubes.

Fuge will help keep your ph stable if you dont have one already.

By tubes I assume you mean my T5 lights? I'll go ahead and leave just the actinics on for today.

I do have a fuge. In fact, i just recently went from a HOB CPR fuge to overflowing into a 20 gallon fuge under the tank.

 

[wonderingreefer]

Do you run the light on the fuge at night?

 

[Taqpol]

I run it for 14 hours every night, with two of those being a one hour overlap with my daylight cycle at night and in the morning.

 

[wonderingreefer]

It would be intresting if you could record on an hourly basis your PH level then maybe a link would apear between the time your PH changes and the state of the anemone.

Also I wonder how much algae you have in your fuge.

However imo its more likely to be the light.

 

[Taqpol]

I might be able to track those numbers this weekend.

I am just running my actinics for today, same as yesterday. Yesterday I turned the other lights off after the anemone was already shrunken and he didn't return by that night. Again, like always, the nem looked fine this morning. If he is still shrunken I'm going to have to assume its pH/chemistry related or my clowns are picking on it.

The anemone is decent sized, probably 4 inches in diameter when expanded, but my clownfish arent small either. Not full grown, but not small. If it is them would I have to move them to a different tank to let the nem settle in? If so, for how long?

 

[wonderingreefer]

try the daylight tubes only

 

[Taqpol]

Whats the reasoning behind trying daylight tubes? They should produce significantly more PAR than the actinics which would disturb it more if it was truly being light shocked by my lights.

 

[wonderingreefer]

Just thought because you said that they came from a tank with halides it might have been the actinics bothering them if the other tank didn't have them.

 

[wonderingreefer]

another thing to check is the temp if you are using a digital thermometer, I have herd that they can be way off.

It has to be something happening that increases durring the day so could be ph / temp / lights. All I can think of right now

*edit* and ofc fish but maybe you can keep track of that or keep them sep for a couple of days like you say to test.

 

[ocellaris123]

Its been almost a week and your anemone is still deflating for most of the day? If all of your specs/parameters are normal (would be of help to have those numbers) than im not sure what more you can do for the animal except wait and see.

 

[baldomero]

my nems do the same thing except they shrivel up after lights out

 

[Taqpol]

Its still doing it.....

All my specs are posted at the top, tell me if you need something else.

As of now my plan is to remove my to clowns to a QT tank and see what the nem does....

 

[ocellaris123]

Oh didnt see your specs sorry about that. Get those nitrates down. 20ppm is really high, esp if your housing an anemone. That could be the problem here.