New BTA, is this "normal"?

[monicaswizzle]

Received my first ever BTA today. Very fun. It was sold as a 6 inch BTA and is minimum of 4 inches across and probably easily 6 if you measure at the "right" time. In any case, it arrived in good looking condition, acclimated well (as near as I could tell), and I put it into my display on some homemade "live rock" that would be my first choice of it's location. Nothing doing, it started to "prowl the tank", sliding about on it's pedal disc/foot/whatever the base is called. It climbed off the home made stuff (fell over the edge when it tried to climb down the dusters of a feather duster), got blown upside down on the DSB and, after I put it upright, spent some time starting to climb the tank wall and then going back onto the DSB. The feather duster had been knocked onto the DSB as well, and after a bit the BTA turned face down onto the feather duster with the pedal disc pointed towards the top of the tank. I had been assured (different post) that it wouldn't try to eat the Feather duster, but the position didn't seem ideal for either, so I reached in and set the BTA onto some "real" live rock rubble that covers about 1/4 of the DSB. It started to wander about using the foot to "glide" and I left for dinner wondering what I would find when I came back.

Well, I found the BTA in a bottom corner of the tank that is mostly sand with a few small hunks of LR. It was upright and "undulating" some in the alternate currents. While I watched it started to "roll into a ball" by pushing one side of the base of the foot over the other side so that tentacles were all on the outside of the ball and the foot was on the inside. It would roll around some in the current and then flatten out and do a "weird dance" where it would grab a rock with part of the foot and use a combination of current flow and body flexing to sort of rotate the foot around on the rock some and then either "let go" and float and fall back to the bottom or roll back into the ball and roll around on the bottom, seemingly just moved by the current. I am very new, but it didn't "look right" to me. Some of the motion was definitely "willed", but it also looked like it was being pushed around by the current more than I would have expected. So, I turned off most of the powerheads which reduced the flow to moderate to low in the tank. Since than the BTA has been settled (upright) on the rock that was the focus of the "dance". Shows no interest in bits of shrimp. Fairly flaccid with occasional inflating and deflating of body and tentacles. Mouth mostly closed with a bit of minor gaping every few minutes.

Is this "normal"? Should I leave the powerheads off for the night? Is this normal locomotion, or is it weak or sick or stressed activity? Also, it looked to me like the foot was starting to look like two intersecting circles during the time when it was folding into a ball with the foot in the center. Is this normal, or could it be a sign of splitting? I have read that splits start at the mouth and go to the foot, but I don't know if that ALWAYS or Usually. Also don't know if the foot usually looks like two intersecting circles.

Well, plenty of questions, any answers would be appreciated. I did check my water out--pH 8.3, Alk 11, Nitrite 0, Nitrate between 5 and 10. BTA looks healthy to my eye. Anything else I should check or monitor?

Thanks!!

 

[monicaswizzle]

Hmm.. No takers yet, but here is an "update". I just looked again and the BTA was fairly inflated but face DOWN on the DSB about 10 inches from the rock it had rested on since I turned the powerheads off/way down. While I watched it inflated itself and/or flexed itself in such a way that it is now "standing" on its side with the pedal disc in the water column on one side and the mouth in the water column on the other and the "rim" of the intersection between pedal disc and oral disc is supporting the BTA. It is using this rather odd posture to "creep" around the tank amongst the rubble zone of my LR display.

The advantage of this position is that I can get a good look at the pedal disc. It doesn't really look like two intersecting circles. It is roughly circular/oval with what look like four or five irregularly sized "pie wedges" that sort of create a multi-footed structure, sort of like the pads of a dogs paw, but more radial in arrangement. I assume that structure (at least) is fairly normal. Whether or not this bit about rolling around like a ball (earlier) and now like a "wheel" is normal, I would love for someone to tell me.

 

[IslandCrow]

I hate to be the one to tell you, but anemones blowing around in the current is seldom a good sign. It's something they can do to move quickly from one place to another, but that usually means it's very unhappy where it is. My first anemone did this, and it was all downhill from there until it eventually died. That's not to say yours has no chance of survival. My tank was definitely not ready for my first anemone. . .it probably wasn't really ready for my second either, but I've managed to keep this one alive for a little over a year, so I guess I can call that marginal success.

Anyway, we really need to know more about your tank. My first guess is that it's not mature enough or some of your water parameters are not ideal. How long has your tank been up and running? What are your PH, water temp, Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate levels? What type of lighting are you using?

Those are the questions, and here are the "correct" answers:

1. Most people agree a tank should be established at least 6 months (many say 1 year) before introducing an anemone.
2. PH should be between 8.0-8.4 (probably some debate on the low end), water temps should be between 76-84 (probably a lot of debate there), Ammonia and nitrites should be undetectable, and nitrates and phosphates should be close to 0 as well.
3. Lighting should be metal halide or higher end T-5s with individual reflectors.

If your answers are very different from these, you probably want to think seriously about either bringing the anemone back to the store or finding it a more appropriate home. If you have insufficient lighting, you can generally keep the anemone on life support with regular feedings (assuming you can get it to eat). If it's a water quality issue, I don't think feeding will help much. Water changes may be a temporary fix, though. Anemones are tough, so keep us updated. I'm still an amateur, so hopefully some of the smarter people will speak up. I'm just drawing on lessons learned from my past mistakes.

 

[monicaswizzle]

IslandCrow--Thanks for the comments and questions. Here are at least some answers:
1) Tank has been up and running for 18 months or longer.
2) pH, nitrites, nitrates and temp are all as specified. I don't test for Ammonia because I read an article in the RC mag that made a case for Ammonia actually not being relevant. Last I tested for it it was zero. I would test now, but my Ammonia test is on loan to a kid who is cycling a FW tank. Phosphate I have never tested for and don't have a kit. I know that can be an algae issue, and I do have more hair algae than I would like. Is it also known to be a BTA issue?
3) Lighting is MH 450W for a 90 gallon tank. However, I have not had the MH on since I added the Anemone since I usually leave the light off until the next morning when I add new livestock.

The "good" news is that at least for now the BTA has settled down and seems to be fairly firmly attached to an arch that I made as part of my home made LR project. The arch leads up to the area I originally hoped to settle the BTA on, so maybe it will move back that way. I am not sure why it is there, but I did turn all but two pump/powerheads off in the tank and its current location is getting pretty good flow from my 850 gph Koralia, so maybe it wants more flow and it seems pretty capable of hanging on, which is good. (I turned most of the flow off when it started rolling about because I thought maybe it was weak or otherwise unable to hang on--I still think that I will wait until morning before I turn the rest of the flow back on. I don't like the idea of it rolling about all night if it decides to let go again.)

Thanks. I will definately check in the morning to see if anyone has additional comments/experience/ideas.

 

[msn711]

I recently got a new RBTA, not my first BTA, but my first red one. Anyway, I've found that it's good to turn off the pumps at first to give the anemone time to attach. And after about 15 minutes, it should be ok to turn the pumps back on. So maybe it just didn't have the chance to attach until you turned the pumps off???

Is it under the arch, or reaching out to the light? Mine hid in a cave for the first 2 days, but is not out. Unfortunately, it settled in the back of the tank and can only be seen from the left side. Good luck with yours. Keep a close eye on it, but I would give it a few days to settle in before really getting worried.

 

[monicaswizzle]

Thanks. It has currently "settled down" some. For about two or three hours it has stayed in the darkest corner of the tank with its foot or feet (it seems to be splitting) resting one on the glass and one on the DSB. I have all the powerheads back on and the MH on the regular timer (off mid-day, on before and after that). I assume that it may take a few days if this is a typical settling in and maybe a few more if has the added complication of a split going on during these days.

 

[IslandCrow]

Glad to hear it's settled down, and it sounds like your tank should be up to the challenge of a BTA. I'm guessing your ammonia is fine with your tank being a year and a half old. Phosphate is something you may want to test for, but I couldn't say for sure whether or not that has a really significant impact on anemones. I had to ask, because many (myself included) are led to believe that anemones are easy and there's no problem introducing them to a new tank. Anyway, my guess would just be the stress of the move. I don't think anyone can ever really guess where an anemone will decide to make its home, so the best you can ever hope for is that it doesn't move once it finds a home.