is my RBTA bleaching?

[daveonbass]

After surviving the incident with the Closed Loop intake strainer...My RBTA was eventually placed in a hospital tank where it dramaticly improved. I have now moved it BACK to the main Display tank and thankfully it attached to a very deep nook in a fist sized rock on the sandbed of my tank (read: as low and far from the light as possible). I also went ahead and placed a flat rock above the one it's attached to in order to give ti a little more shade. (apparently T5's are WAY to much for this nem).

It's finally eating again after a week of being in the new spot. But it's still not gaining a lot of color. So I just wanted to show some pics and see if anyone here though it was a gonner or not. After surviving the Closed Loop...I can't believe that now it's going to stay stressed due to my T5 lights. (ATI PM)

By the way it's eating mysis...so far no one in town sells Silversides...(would it eat fresh tuna, raw?). So for now it's gonna be the mysis till I can get to dallas. I'm just glad that after almost a month...it's eating again. Poor thing is probably starved. So I'm also wondering if by eating more if it will color up any better?

thanks.

 

[NirvanaFan]

It is bleached, but super bad. Mixing up the food that you feed it would probably be a good idea. I get raw seafood (shrimp, clam, tuna, squid, scallop, and whatever else I can find) at the grocery store. Chop it into very small pieces, no bigger than half a pencil eraser, and then use a turkey baster to squirt some at the anemone every other day. It will take a while (month or so maybe) but it will color back up.

 

[logankolby]

It looks fine in those pictures. Needs some more color, give it time. try feeding every 2 to 3 days small portions. get some raw shrimp or clams or oysters, chopped up. I do like silversides the best. take your time. don't try to force it to move. it will on it's own.

 

[daveonbass]

I don't want it to move. And thankfully it doesn't want to either. The lights are too strong for it I guess. I never thought that T5's would bleach everything I try to put in the tank...but lo and behold. The nem doesn't take food that often now...only like every three days is it ever "sticky".

And come to think of it...what actually defines the term "sticky?" Is it supposed to stick to my fingers...or just be able to grab food, or what? When it does eat...It will grab some food I blow onto it. But for the most part it just lets the food float through and by it. So is it just giving up on me...

I guess my lights are deadly...

 

[patriots81]

i doubt that you have too much T5s. how many watts is it?

 

[daveonbass]

it's 236 watts, BUT that's T5, not MH.

everyone knows that Watts don't matter when it comes to light...even more so when we are talking about T5's. the same amount of light penetrating power in a MH of "x" watts, is significantly less in a T5 bulb. Watts=nothing.

The PAR is through the roof though, and not just in a single spot that tapers off the further you are from the center of a MH. With T5's it's fairly consistant PAR through the length of the bulb...And mine span that length of the tank. It's an ATI Powemodule 6 bulb. And there are 4 Blue Plus bulbs in there...and they have almost the highest PAR for a T5 bulb that you can get.

I'm worried that I'm going to have to cut the light back (time wise)and at the same time "raise" the fixture above the already 10" that it is over the water. ALL my livestock...ALL...has gone through a bleaching phase in there. I have had to move all of it to a hospital tank that has a single 150wMH over it...and they recover. Then I move them to the main tank again and keep them shaded (literally under a rock). Then after a month or more I can finally start to get then in direct light.

That's why for now I have stopped buying any LPS...they just can't handle it yet. I need to get more SPS and let them grow to produce more shade areas...and then I may get a few sand dwelling LPS again.

word to the wise...if you are going with the ATI PM...get light demanding corals...or the rest will be fried.

 

[daveonbass]

Ok here's an update...

I finally gave it something other than Mysis. I gave it fresh tuna. I cut a little piece and it seemed to "go to town" on it...and ate the whole piece. (though it took three tries)

I still want to try silversides...but my local store that DOES carry them is run by an idiot...and he let them thaw before putting the shipment in the freezer...so the little silversides look rotten already in the bag, and he's STILL trying to sell them to people. (tisk tisk)

Anyways...the nem ate the tuna and I'm glad to say it didn't spit it out or anything. And later that night I was amazed at how much better it looked. I assumed it was due to finally getting a good wholesome meal in it's gut. BUT the next two days have been strange...the nem is now really tiny and doesn't want to extend much like it did after the first night. It was beautiful after eating. But now it's all tiny and shriveled. It doesn't look like it's dieing, but it just looks like it's not "wanting" to come out. Is there a reason for this?

Is this normal behavior...or is there something new wrong with my nem...?

 

[NirvanaFan]

The will poop a day or so after they eat. Usually it only takes them an hour or so, but maybe yours is having trouble. How big was the piece of tuna you gave it?

 

[daveonbass]

it was a thin piece that was about .5"x.25"x.25".

so is it just digesting right now? and then will it expand again? Should I be feeding it before it excreets the waste, or wait till after it pushes the waste out?

 

[dc]

I think we all go through stress at first when they expell waste. You finally get used to it. I've always fed mine when they were fully expanded. The tentacles are sticky so if they don't grab the food I remove it. I feed prime reef to mine.

 

[daveonbass]

well today it was big and happy again. So I went to feed it a smaller piece of tuna this time, and it grabbed it up right away and swallowed it.

I was so relieved to see that it was better and happily eating already.