Help! bleached bubble tip anemone

[Aurori]

This is my first tank and at this point i need some help please.
I have had this rose bubble tip anemone for about 3weeks now and it has gone almost completely white. The anemone has a little bit of colour at the start but then goes white immidiatly after. Thing is it doesnt move or hide and I have now started to feed it 2 times a day with mysid shrimp and i believe it eats what i give it.
My tank is a 55 gallon and has been running now for 4 months. I have tested the water with an API test and the leves for everything seem fine. The temperature in my tank generally sits at 76-78F. My salt level sits at around 1.025 and doesnt change by more then 0.001. the lighting i use is 2 LED pads, Aquabeam 1000 Marine White, which has about 14k colour temperature and the other is an AquaBeam 1500 xg Ultima, Ocean Blue. Colour temp is 20k. I run both on the same timer with day mode on for 10hrs night for 14hrs.
I am not sure what am i doing wrong that caused my BTA to bleech. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix and save this guy please help me out.

On another note, all my other zoa's and corals seem to be fine except one collony of blue zoas i have are over extending but only one head in a 12 head collony is doing this. Sort of looks like the middle of the head is trying to push upwards and explode, pushing it's skirt underneeth itself. this zoa is on the oposite side of the tank from the BTA and fairly close to the top .

Again thank you anyone for your advice and help. I hope to save this anemone.

 

[bmasculine]

IME BTA need quite a bit of light not sure where your placement is. I do t think bleaching is what's happening it's probably starving. Do you have a clown?

 

[Aurori]

I have 2 clowns they stay close to it but i have yet to see them interact with the BTA. when i first got it i places it on a higher part of the tank but it moved to about the lower middle part of my system and has just stayed there but im very sure it gets a lot of light. If it is just starving would my actions of feeding twice a day should help?

 

[bmasculine]

If it's actually eating the food it would help. I had one start to do the same thing and I was trying to feed it but watching it close it wasn't eating the food. I took it out of the tank and put in a smaller tank bought a clown and put him in there as well, they were the only things in there. I did that to get the clown to host the BTA faster and that helped it out a lot. The reason I say it's not bleaching is because if it was getting that much light it would move itself.

 

[shesacharmer]

Sometimes overfeeding can cause another problem. If it's unable to digest all that food it could throw up its stomach trying to disgorge it. Can you post a picture of the anemone and one of your tank?

 

[bmasculine]

Sometimes overfeeding can cause another problem. If it's unable to digest all that food it could throw up its stomach trying to disgorge it. Can you post a picture of the anemone and one of your tank?

This is true as well I've seen a few of mine do that from time to time when they got hold of a large piece of krill. But they never looked like they were bleaching.

 

[Aurori]

It appears to eat some of the stuff i give it. This is my first anemone so i hope what i think looks like eating is eating. I hope this pictures help. i only have a camera phone. Also thank you once again for the help everyone!

 

[Silvergryphon]

Feed it only once a week, no more than a pea sized portion. It'll use up more energy trying to digest the food than it will get from it.

 

[Aurori]

He moved up on the live rock and now is half open, do you think getting a bulb for my MH would help the situation? I thought i had enough light but maybe im wrong. Also he looks more white! if worst comes to worst when should i know to give up on the little guy? (which i really dont wish to do). Also if i do get a MH what one do you suggest? I heard that 14k Pheonix was nice or should i go for a lower Kelvin?

 

[Silvergryphon]

How old is the bulb?

 

[Aurori]

I just have LEDs goign right now one that is 14k and 20k i have a lamp for a metal halide but it has no bulb in it yet.

 

[Silvergryphon]

Sounds like you don't have enough lighting.

 

[Aurori]

if i dont have enough lighting what should i get? would the phoenix 14k metal halide do the trick or would you recomend a 10k?

 

[shesacharmer]

Either MH would work.

 

[rale2001]

so it was red with you purchased him and turned white after a while owning it?

 

[Aurori]

yes after owning it for a fwe weeks it turned white but it was red when i purchansed it

 

[Silvergryphon]

The color between 10k, 14k and 20k are pretty much up to you and how blue you want the tank to look.

 

[Eric Boerner]

The 2, 24 watt LED's aren't enough to support an RBTA's light needs. The halide will help a bunch, but now that it's so far bleeched, you'll really need to be careful bringing in stronger lights like that halide. Start the halide on time to come on for 1 hour, then increase it by 30 minutes each day until you get it up to 6-7 hours. Max halide time should be 8 hours.

Also, RBTA's are highly affected by water chemistry. They are not fans of high alkalinity, nor of pristine water. They thrive in a high nutrient system. If you have a combo of perfectly clean water (new tank), high dKH, and poor lighting, an RBTA will rapidly bleech like that in a few weeks. I'd double check your water parameters again, and post them if you can. We might be able to get that sorted out for you too.

 

[Aurori]

that it's so far bleeched, you'll really need to be careful bringing in stronger lights like that halide. Start the halide on time to come on for 1 hour, then increase it by 30 minutes each day until you get it up to 6-7 hours. Max halide time should be 8 hours.

Also, RBTA's are highly affected by water chemistry. They are not fans of high alkalinity, nor of pristine water. They thrive in a high nutrient system. If you have a combo of perfectly clean water (new tank), high dKH, and poor lighting, an RBTA will rapidly bleech like that in a few weeks. I'd double check your water parameters again, and post them if you can. We might be able to get that sorted out for you too.

I'll do exactly what you say with the MH timing. I just went out and got one. My LFS had the 14k pheonix ones. I hope doing the timing in late afternoon wont effect it. this way i can be home to control the time amounts like you suggest. Thank you for your advice! i would have just plugged it in and let it run all day.
I hope this works but if it doesnt when should i know to take the BTA out? I hear if they die in a tank they can crash a whole system.

 

[Eric Boerner]

If you had a mangle event (it craws into a pump and gets diced up), then it would lead to some pretty bad water quality. RBTA's will continue to shrink and shrivel when they bleach out to the point where you'll never see them again. Not ideal for the anemone, but nothing to worry too much about. If you see it shrink in on itself, almost like it's eating itself, then you'll know its out the door. But don't knee-jerk and remove it. Give it time, it may not completely melt. I've had friends who've bleached their RBTA's to the point where they disappeared, only to see them alive and pink again in 6 months.

When the halide time starts to increase, it may start walking around the tank or may disappear under your rockwork. Don't freak out, it's just trying to get comfortable with the new light.