little help with a bleaching RBTA

[apu701]

ok, so i got this rbta about 2-3 weeks ago, it is my first anemone. although i didnt realize it at that time, it was a little bleached. it has been in someone's sump with low wattage lights, but it has its bubbles. so i put it in my tank, that is about 6 months old, of which i had the tank for about a 1.5 months. it moved into shade for the past 2.5 weeks and all the tenticles have shrinken, silverside was attempted every 2 days, but only ate the first day. then it ate 2nd time but threw it up 5 mins later. im worried that this is never gonna come out to the light to even get a chance to recover. it is not sticky anymore and i tried feeding smaller 1/4" silversides, mysis, and formula 1 pellets but it didnt look like it was taking it.

can i put something inside its mouth forcefully but gently? any other way to get this thing to eat? its not coming out of the shade.. i figured a week was good to get hungry and seek light..
shoudl i leave it alone? just let nature take its course..
should i feed it anything else?

my parameters are
ph 8.2
nitrate 10-25 i did 3 20% water changes to bring it back.
the rest 0.
calcium, 450
alk 2.5
never tested mg, or whatever else..

running a remora with mj 1200, tunze 6045 on a timer that turns off for about 4 hours in the nights and 3 hours in the afternoon.


have a new bulb ushio 14k 150watt hqi, started with 5 hours the first day, moved up 30 mins every 3 days, not at about 8 hours.
its bout 12" above the water level. i plan on moving it down every month about an 1" at a time.


rest of the inhabitant are

clown but this one is not hosting it.
watchman goby,
cleaner shrimp
snails, hermits
soft corals.


ps. i read every article on here related to rbta, bleaching, and other interesting articles. i just would like some direct instructions from the masters.

 

[pasenah]

dont force feed it at all. just put food into its tentacles and see if it eats.
heres a very helpful website. and if you email karen she is very willing to help.
http://www.karensroseanemones.com/

 

[apu701]

i read every page already and that other pdf file. one of them said that they put it in its mouth to help a sick bta but i forgot which one. they cautioned it shouldnt be done unless u knw what ur doing. i could maybe try it also as a last resort. its not sticky at all now.. even if the food is trapped due to the tenticles after it curls up it still hasnt accepted the food. it is moving around my tank and i heard that it can stress itself out moving too much..

its hard to just stare at it so white.. the base is still purple/brown.

 

[apu701]

that link has a page with the bta that is starving. mine looks EXACTLY like that!!! she said she forced feed it mysis.. i was gonna attemp it in 1 week.. if other things dont work...

http://www.karensroseanemones.com/starvinganemone.htm

 

[pasenah]

yeh follow karens advice, she knows more than most

 

[apu701]

i tried another silverside today and it looked like it ate it.. took about 10 mins.
i think it only wants to eat every few days. im gonna try feeding it every day still.. until it recovers..

can i give it small peices 2x a day? is that too much?
maybe try formula 1 granules? any advice on how often to feed a bleached rbta?

 

[CruzinKim]

karen's website is great, lots of great info. if in doubt, you can always contact her for some help.

 

[apu701]

i emailed her 2 days ago, but she hasn't replied. then again i cant really complain about that.. its not like i paid her for it..

my concern is that it is still suffering from light shock since i got it 3 weeks ago.. i have a 150w MH 14k bulb. it was in a sump light..dont know the wattage..but it wasn't that bright.. i can break out my PC 64w light again (stock aquapod), would that be advisable?

update on it is that is moving around alot now.. at night 3am i noticed that it expands again. i even saw it climp my back wall and expand alot? are these good signs? i read moving around can stress them out?

that tunze 6045 gives me a 60x water current. too much?
i turn it off more now. it was never blowing directly on the bta, i have it blowin on my side glass.

any body think maybe i should just leave it alone?

any bta owners experince light shock? i read most say that a week was all it took for them to acclimate to higher light.

thanks for helping.

 

[pasenah]

they can get light shock and take a while to settle. also 60x turnover is a lot but its probably trying to find somewhere not to windy. as its moving around i would make sure there isnt a chance it will get sucked into a pump.
give it some more time imo but keep trying to feed it by squirting mysis shrimp into its tentacles

 

[timrandlerv10]

are you feeding it a whole silverside or are you doing 1/4" or 1/4 of a silverside?

i would go with 1/4 of a silverside.

i would also try something else...balance and stability are your watchwords.

if its coming out at night and inflating and sticking to glass, i would say its too much light. the normal prescription is four sheets of window screen, removing one sheet each week or thereabouts.

oh, and letting nature take its course...you'll be out of business before you pay off your student loans...your patients will leave if you dont give them a prescription

do you have your pump intakes covered with sponge or foam or something?

oh--food--i swear by seafood mix...find a korean store and get their fresh frozen mix--no preservatives. blend it, add some selcon or liquid garlic if you wish, and freeze in 1/4" to 1/2" thicknesses in sandwich bags. lay bags flat, when they are solid, whack them with hammers to break into serving sized pieces. no need to rinse prior to feeding im(h)o.

the mysis squirting works--if you blow it gently on to tentacles...if it sticks, great. if not, well, we'll talk about that next week.

with all this feeding and pooping and not eating, make sure you are really skimming well, maintaining good water changes. maybe a few extra snails or crabs or whatever you use to keep your bottom clean.

i would continue to feed small amounts daily vs a whole side every 2-3 days.

is your alk a little low? i cant remember dkh conversion...but i think 2.5 is like 7, and thats the low end of good. dunno, just throwing it out.

good luck, post pics.

 

[apu701]

thank you for the responses,

yes im only trying to feed about .25". it doesnt wanna accept for the past 2 weeks. i saw its mouth was open yesterday and i put a few small granuales of formula 1 pellets (bc more nutrietional content that mysis). i also put more pellets on its disk.

ok so this cant be good. right now its not really sticking to the rock anymore. half floating and half stuck. i shut off my pumps except the filter and skimmer. it rests back down and curls up into a ball and kinda rolling all over the tank.
i dont see its digestive track coming out (yet?) but i do see stringy things what looks like it thin tentacles. they seem to be sticking on the tentacles themselves. its mouth has been more open lately than last week.

i have been correcting the alkalinity with some buffers. i dont have the alk test, i usually take it to a LFS. I been using sea chem buffer and kent pro dkh, for the past 2 days.
checked all my levels again, the readings are the same as last time with the nitrate at 20. im gonna do a 5 gallon change tonight. im using oceanic salt mix.

ok im gonna start the acclimation over again with 4 screens. it only came out that 2 days ago. and it hasnt done that since, but that was the only time i seen its tentacles filled up.. its all littls nubs as karen calls it..

i have trouble uploading pics.. but honestly, the picture on karen's site that showed a starving anemone looks exaclty like mine.

im running the remora skimmer, and so far its been sketchy at best.. maybe have to sell this one and get something else, but on avg i get about 1 cup full of green water a week..

this tank i feel like its practice for my future hmm..practice. hehe..
im about 0/5 right now if you count fish. they has brookynella(sp?) that killed 4 clowns and a royal gramma that jumped bc it was spooked.

intakes are not covered. i dont even know how to cover the tunze nanostream. i only have 1 powerhead and the back chamber has the surface overflow.

 

[sarahkucera]

It sounds like you need to learn how to better manage your tank before you attempt a nem.
Part of why it is recommended to wait until your tank is established for 6 months is so that you have the hang of how your tank is running and have all of the equipment tweaked in order to provide a stable environment for a nem. So even though you have a tank that about 6 months old, you've only just gotten your hands wet.

This one is sounding like a goner, just nubs and now detaching.

 

[apu701]

i think your right... i had saltwater for 13 years achually. my 70g FOWLR is running smoothly. this is my first venture into reef. i though i was ready but i guess not. im definitly feeling these thoughts even before you said it. i feel like i make every mistake even though i KNOW im making them.. its weird..

i am gonna try to save this guy... its seemed to have come to a stop in a little cave but facing the light. i have put up screens, and try to feed it..

i think i shouldn't have bought the tank used..maybe some mistakes werent mine(i dont know)... just couldnt help bc im still a student and the price was more than nice.. i can probly still come out even if i sell now..BUT im not

ok so now im just venting.. but i think im just gonna feed it every day.. if he doesnt want the silversides then im just gonna drop a small pellet or 2 in its mouth.

thanks everyone for helping..

 

[sarahkucera]

Buying a used tank can be a good and economical way to go about setting up a reef, don't feel bad about that.
It just takes a little bit of time to get used to equipment, especially equipment that you didn't initially set up.

If the nem starts to look jelly-like or like it's disintegrating, get it out before it bombs your tank.