Healthy or Not

[stevetcg]

This is my BTA. Had him about a month and he has generally looked like this the whole time. He refuses to feed frozen/thawed foods and stuff that his clown offers, but he expels waste every 3 or 4 days like he is doing ok. Mouth is always closed and he is almost always expanded like you see in the picture.

My question... does he look healthy? He is kind of brownish with a faint green tinge to the tips.

 

[Quickcord]

How big is your tank and what lighting do you have on it? It looks very bleached and I do not think it should be in the sand, BTAs prefer the rocks Are you sure its a BTA? What does the "waste" look like? It might be expelling its zooxanthellae. sp?

Quickcord

 

[stevetcg]

Its actually only resting on the sand. The foot is attached to the underside of a rock overhang.

My tank is a 20 long (12.5 tall) and my lighting is 2x65w PC, (1 12k and 1 actinic). The waste is stringy brown and gray stuff.

 

[Guy340]

My guess, since I'm no expert. Your lights aren't adequate.

 

[stevetcg]

Picture of his foot attached:

 

[Toddrtrex]

It is partially bleached, and looks like it is (( or was )) starting to consume its tentacles for energy -- they are too short and stubby.

What are your water parameters, with numbers.

What all is in the tank?

How long has it been set up?

 

[stevetcg]

His tenticle size/shape does not look appreciably different than it did when I got him 5 weeks ago.

THe tank itself has been up for 4 months. The rock and samples of the sand and the biowheel were imported from a tank that has been running for a year.

NH4+ = 0
NO2- = 0
NO3- = 0
PH = 8.1
SG = 1.023 (am bringing this up slowly)
Temp: 78

Tank contents: BTA, 1 3/4 in GSM Juvi (hosting), pep shrimp, 10 turbo snails, 5 emerald crabs, 1 big hunk of chaeto (hob refugium)

Lighting: actinics 7am - 8pm, daylights, 8am-5pm. Daylights supplemented by natural sunlight from 12-4, weather permitting.

 

[t4zalews]

I think you need to bump up your lights...and feed it small amounts of mysis...make sure the clowns dont steal the food from it as it will take a longer time for this anemone to eat

 

[stevetcg]

I think you need to bump up your lights...and feed it small amounts of mysis...make sure the clowns dont steal the food from it as it will take a longer time for this anemone to eat

It wont eat mysis or any other external food.

Replacing my light fixture isnt an option right now. Can I change out the actinic for like a 6500k bulb for more usable light?

 

[stevetcg]

Working under the assumption that he has/is expelling his zooxanthella, I tried looking up techniques for bringing back bleached nems. After about a minute of holding and thrashing a small piece of squid to his innermost tentacles, he finally decided it was food and ate it.

Now... every day? Twice a day? How much should I feed him?

 

[Guy340]

Keep an eye on the nem, it may just puke up whatever you tried to feed it.

 

[stevetcg]

Keep an eye on the nem, it may just puke up whatever you tried to feed it.

I have my eye on him... luckily he is in the bottom corner of a tank that is literally 3 inches from my work station.

What do I do if he hurls... feed him again? Wait and feed him in an hour? Tomorrow?

 

[garygb]

You mention your light combination, but you fail to mention whether you have t-5s, individual reflectors, etc. Yes to you question about 6500K, that should provide a higher PAR than the actinics (which are useless photosynthecally speaking). Feeding the anemone a pea size piece of fresh seafood every other day should be adequate for a bleached BTA. YouE params are good, except for the sg which you are raising. If your bulbs are older than 10-12 months that could be a problem. Natural sunlight directly to the anemone is definitely a plus.

 

[BonsaiNut]

A lot of good advice in this thread. Your anemone is partially bleached. It is not getting enough light. It is starving to death and will die if you do not improve the lighting. Light is the primary source of food and energy for these anemones. Don't bother with supplemental feeding if you are going to try to keep it in a dark tank - it will die regardless. Sounds harsh but it's the truth. BTA's do not need a lot of light to live; you must have a very dark tank. Get some brighter light and your live rock will perk up as well.

 

[stevetcg]

You mention your light combination, but you fail to mention whether you have t-5s, individual reflectors, etc. Yes to you question about 6500K, that should provide a higher PAR than the actinics (which are useless photosynthecally speaking). Feeding the anemone a pea size piece of fresh seafood every other day should be adequate for a bleached BTA. YouE params are good, except for the sg which you are raising. If your bulbs are older than 10-12 months that could be a problem. Natural sunlight directly to the anemone is definitely a plus.

Lights are Power Compacts, individual reflectors.

Bulbs are ~60 days old.

If it helps, I can increase the amount of natural light it gets most days.

 

[stevetcg]

A lot of good advice in this thread. Your anemone is partially bleached. It is not getting enough light. It is starving to death and will die if you do not improve the lighting. Light is the primary source of food and energy for these anemones. Don't bother with supplemental feeding if you are going to try to keep it in a dark tank - it will die regardless. Sounds harsh but it's the truth. BTA's do not need a lot of light to live; you must have a very dark tank. Get some brighter light and your live rock will perk up as well.

This is my biggest point of confusion. "Dark" and "Bright". 130 watts of Power Compacts over a 12" deep tank is pretty bright... granted not as bright as a 400w MH, but that would cook the tank. From everything I have read I have enough light... so is there some definitive formula that determines what is "dark" and "bright"?

 

[garygb]

In a 12 inch deep tank, you should be fine. I would replace the actinics w daylights, myself. Yes, the more natural light the better, assuming you don't have any temp. spike and that algae doesn't become a major problem. Sunlight is appreciated by everything. I have mushrooms that hate to be directly under MH, but appear to love whatever sunshine streams into the tank. The sun is hands down the best source of light, IMO. I would advise you to feed regularly as the anemone will likely regain the zooxanthellae more quickly as the bi-product of digestion is what the zooxanthellae depend on for nutrition. Also, the anemone itself can use the additional nutrition that it's not getting currently because of the zooxanthellae deficiency.

 

[stevetcg]

6 weeks later. Ive been feeding him every other day, usually a small pea sized piece of raw shrimp or squid. He still doesnt really feed on his own - must hold the food at his mouth to get him to eat.

3/31/10