Is this doomed?

[4enzix]

hey all. Through a series of unfortunate events, I needed to downsize and inherited a little red BTA. I am now running a 15-gallon waterbox.

• the return pump is a sicce 0.5
• I have a koralia powerhead running for added flow.
• I'm running an AI Prime 16
• I recently picked up a eshopps nano skimmer but am having a hard time calibrating that at the moment.
• I'm doing weekly water changes and am more than willing to do hand feeding as much as necessary.
• I don’t have any water stats at the moment beyond that I’m keeping the tank at 1.024 salinity and 78 degrees.

The first few days after I put the BTA in it was quite stunning. Since then it moved deeper into a hole in the rock and only ever comes out to about 1/3 its full size. The clowns haven’t ever touched it.



I am a tad heavy on the bioload for the tank but am trying to be fastidious to make up for that. There are only mushroom corals taking up other rock space.

I’ve had the anemone for two months now. I haven’t seen anything in the way of it looking like it’s dying beyond the behaviour. I’ve been moving his rock around occasionally to see that he gets some light and to maybe coax him out of the deep hole.

it’s not the best pic and he was a bit extra upset at me so sorry about that. I appreciate any help I can get. I also added the image from when it was first added to the tank.

 

[Anemone]

First off, don't move rocks to let the BTA get light. It is perfectly able to move on it's own - moving its home around is stressful.

What lighting was the anemone under before you inherited it? What light acclimation did you do?

You'll really need water numbers - specifically Nitrate numbers. IME, BTAs can tolerate higher DOCs, but even they have limits.

Finally, all corals have means of "clearing the neighborhood" for their own growth. This chemical warfare (from the mushrooms) may well be having a negative effect on your anemone (normally an anemone would win this battle, but if it is already weakened or stressed...).

Good luck,
Kevin

 

[raythepilot]

I've been keeping these forever and they are remarkably easy to maintain.
It is clear that you have a problem with water quality. When I see something like this, I do a 50% water change a syphon up any debris in the tank.
BTW a 15-gal tank is perfect for keeping BTA since you can easily do water changes.
I change 25% a week and never check any parameters except salinity. Make sure that your make up water is within +/- 0.2 deg C and the salinity is as close as you can make it to 35.0ppt

 

[laverda]

I find alkalinity levels are important for BTAs. I would l d check this and all your tank parameters. Alk, Ca,, magnesium, nitrate, phosphate and salinity. As already mentioned lighting is very important as well.