need some help with LTA

[Drumbee23]

ok i needs some help with my lta here are my tank params/equip

Tank:20H
Light:nova extreme 4 bulb T5HO
Filter:Rena XP1
Other Equip: Seaclone skimmer feeding fuge made from aquaclear 110, Koralia nano, and other no name powerhead.

ph: 8.1
SG: about 25
amm/trite/trate: o
phosphate: .25
cal: 400ish

i dose brightwell a and b, reef bio fuel everyday. i do weekly 4 gal waterchanges, i use reef cyrstals salt.

Ok so a little while ago i bought a LTA, it was bright green with white tips. well over the past month or so it seemed to have declined in health. it seemed pretty healthy when i got it, vibrent color, sticky, mouth closed, its foot was attached to the glass. ok so i acclimated it to the tank for bout 45 min and put it in a little hole in the rock/sand i had made. it sunk in fine and was all good, i acclimated it too the light using the screen method.

the clowns went in it in about a week or so, and after that its been alittle funny. i am not shure if its foot ever attached as i couldnt see when i put it in but i had assumed it did. well then one day i came home and it was basically laying on the sand bed in the coner of the tank. i then dug out the sand in the coner and it kinda went down in there, but then it almost got killed by the powerhead so i moved it back to its original location. this was about 2 weeks ago. so heres whats happening now, its foot still hasnt attached to anything, it comes out of the hole and its foot ends up facing the front glass. now i have been feeding it about once a week with either mysis or prime reef frozen food, it has been taking it up till last week it didnt eat it right away and the cleaner shrimp took some of the food out of its tenticles.

ok so theres whats going on with it, i dont know what to do, it has lost some color and some stickyness, i was thinkling it might be the fish that stressed it out. im really worried cause i love this thing and my fish are inseprable from it

here is some pics

when i first got it

today you can see how it lost alot of the green in it, its foot is just resting in a kind of cave

thnx

 

[syrinx]

Obviously we can`t see the foot. It is common for my LTA anemones to bury under or around a rock in the sand and then stick the disc out. I think if your sand bed is 2 or 3 inches- as it looks- that it is trying to keep its colum protected by some rock. Can you look from beneath the tank to see if the foot is down? or can you visually see the foot unattached? Whatever the case it doesn`t look bad. There isnt much you can do other than try to clean off to glass and then bury the foot. I would just let nature take its course unless it starts looking distressed.

 

[davocean]

It looks fine in pics to me.
It's a lil close to glass, and shrooms, both of those could bug it a lil, but I wouldn't try to move it, it will on it's own if really bugged.
Pretty much all I've seen become more of a beige/tan w/ a hint of color accent.
I'm not sure what's up w/ all these super bright colored LTA's I've been seeing.
I have to wonder if many are dyed.

 

[Drumbee23]

ok well the picture i took today was about 2 hrs after i had just tucked it in the hole, about once or twice a week it is completely out of the hole and just laying there, sometimes it goes back down in the hole with the help of the clowns, sometimes i will give it a little nudge to help it back there. i know i shouldnt but if i dont then it will get picked up my water movement in the tank and get sucked in the powerhead. i will see if i have a pic of when it was just laying on the sand bed and not tucked in the hole.

another thing i have noticed was wen i got it, its foot was bright redish/orange now it is a duller orange. also today wen i was putting a frag in the sand bed i noticed that under the first half of inch of sand it is like rock solid after that, like the sand is stuck together like a big rock, could this be part of it?

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

It looks healthy,It might be trying to dig down in the sand and cannot,so it maybe letting go to find a spot where it can anchor down.

 

[davocean]

Ok, I did have that happen to me some time back.
I added rowaphos, too much, and it made params all out of whack, and I think it was low alk that caused my sand to clump like that.
It did seem to bother my LTA.
When I noticed, it was around time for swap, so it got a new sand bed, and was fine after that.
Not sure what to do in your case.
Maybe try to break up clumps w/out disturbing bed too much, maybe add a lil sand in that area.

 

[Drumbee23]

yeh im thinking thats what it is, i am planning a swap soon but i dont have the lighting on that tank to switch it in otherwise i would. the other tank is cycled and everything its just no light or skimmer yet. have been useing phosgaurd religiously for the past couple of months, may be the reason. i was thinking of putting it in its own container on the bottom of the tank and either let it barebottom or put some sand in it, thoughts?

any ideas will help, thnx

 

[garygb]

I had an LTA for years that lived in a large PVC pipe, the pipe was approximately 6 inches in diameter and 6 or 7 inches long. I had it sealed on the bottom to a saucer using aquarium silicon. I put a few inches of aragonite and placed the anemone in it. Once the anemone dug in and attached to the bottom, I filled the remainder to the top with sand.

 

[davocean]

Too much of any of those phosban/rowaphos can throw your chemistry out of whack.
I wouldn't use it unless you have a reactor w/ a tiny/proper amount.
You could try to dig a small area and put new sand there maybe, but be careful not to stir up too much if DSB and over a year old.

 

[clownaround2]

It looks very happy. I would let it find it's own spot. I have a LTA for about 8 years. Never moved around. Upgraded to a bigger tank about 7 months ago and the LTA keeps on moving around. It stays put for a couple of weeks and there it goes again. So far moved 6 or 7 times. Sometimes to the same spot. That's why I think, let it find it's own spot, because if you move it, it will not stay put. They know what they like. Just make sure the powerhead is far way. Too many get injured and don't survive.

 

[Drumbee23]

ok i moved the clowns to the 58, which was there future home. they just wouldnt leave it alone. i think they are part of the reason that its in this condition, along with my sand being hard. so what i did with the nem was took a plastic container and put some sand in it, i put it in the sand bed and put the nem into it and im gonna let it be in there for now, it seems to help keep the nem in the same spot and not go for a swim throughout my tank stinging my coral. it seems to be a little bit happier and more inflated. over the past couple of weeks i have noticed it seems to emit this mucus type slime every couple of days and i see it around the base of the nem, any idea what it could be, is it bad?

im hoping i will see an increase in health in the next few weeks. i will try to feed it some mysis on wed, i have heard of adding selcon to the food to help a nem regain its health, is this true/benficial.

im also considering adding a starry blenny to the tank for certin reasons, is there any chance of it bothering the nem or getting hurt by the nem. im pretty shure it shouldnt but i just wana see what some of you have to say. thnx

 

[StillerNat]

can you dig down to the bottom glass near some rock? it might be having a tough time getting to the glass or rock to find a nice hard surface to attach to. it does look healthy cept for it loosing some color. that might be due to it can't find a spot to anchor down and be happy.

it took my rbta almost 10 months to finally stay put more than a few days. i had to remove all my zoas and other corals cause they were getting burned when the nem went walking.

 

[Slickcg33]

ok i moved the clowns to the 58, which was there future home. they just wouldnt leave it alone. i think they are part of the reason that its in this condition, along with my sand being hard. so what i did with the nem was took a plastic container and put some sand in it, i put it in the sand bed and put the nem into it and im gonna let it be in there for now, it seems to help keep the nem in the same spot and not go for a swim throughout my tank stinging my coral. it seems to be a little bit happier and more inflated. over the past couple of weeks i have noticed it seems to emit this mucus type slime every couple of days and i see it around the base of the nem, any idea what it could be, is it bad?

im hoping i will see an increase in health in the next few weeks. i will try to feed it some mysis on wed, i have heard of adding selcon to the food to help a nem regain its health, is this true/benficial.

im also considering adding a starry blenny to the tank for certin reasons, is there any chance of it bothering the nem or getting hurt by the nem. im pretty shure it shouldnt but i just wana see what some of you have to say. thnx

Im Going through similar things, my thread is here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1797706
might be a good read for you

 

[davocean]

Some things can easily fool us on these guys going by our common logic.
I see the loss of bright green going to tanish/beige as a healthy thing, as that is more true color, and have highlights of the green or purple.
Also, many see getting bigger as better, but IME that means stretching out in an effort to reach more light.
When I improved my light way back, both my nems actually got smaller, but at the same time looked much healthier, brighter highlight colors.
Hard to explain, but you kinda get a feel for them after a while.
I think absence of clowns till yours settles/gets bigger may be a good call.
Lawnmower blennys are my fav for small algae control, see no prob w/ that.
Starry's I've heard more bully stories, though both can, starry's seem more so.