Pink Bubble Tip

[zvonmonet]

Hey i got a pink bubble tip about a month ago, it was doing ok, but recently i started to see that it wasn't reall doing well. For the past week or two i've noticed it being closed for about a 1-2 hours a day (during the day). When i introduced it, it found a spot and never moved since. 2 nights ago i noticed it starting to lose the tips espeically at night under moonlights i saw a bit of pink here and there. I think my clowns were bugging him, so i moved the entire rock away from the clowns. I see his mouth being open every now and then i know its a bad sign. I was wondering if there is anything i can do to help him back to normal? and do the missing tenticles grow back?

here are some images - especially on the bottom part is wherethe tenticles missing

 

[Newby-Reefer]

I have one just like that all nice in the store and then when I got him home he did a 180.

I have tried a bunch of stuff (water quality, feeding clowns, no clown) and no luck.

 

[zvonmonet]

they are very pretty and expensive would hate to lose him

 

[this is me]

That's a very bleached RBTA. The majority of the tentacles are missing as well. I would watch it closely especially when it deflates during the day.
Good luck.

 

[Newby-Reefer]

Ya I paid about $120 for mine and he hasnt died but he looks just like that.

Im not really sure how to bring him back. He has been eating constantly for about a month now but I havent seen any improvement. He has gone from 3 or 4" diameter to about nickle size

 

[hypnoj]

I think he's a goner for sure. Good luck with him.. hopefully he'll turn around. try to get him to eat at all costs!

 

[steelhead77]

Ya I paid about $120 for mine and he hasnt died but he looks just like that.

Im not really sure how to bring him back. He has been eating constantly for about a month now but I havent seen any improvement. He has gone from 3 or 4" diameter to about nickle size

Stop feeding it!!! These creatures do NOT need to be fed but once a month, if that. Think about them in the wild, they do not hunt food. If they are lucky maybe a dead fish will float into them, but this doesn't happen very often. They can get everything they need from light and the water column. I think you may be killing it by trying to keep it healthy. Leave it alone for a week or two and see how it does.

 

[bues0022]

I'm actually going to disagree with you steelhead - in part at least. Assuming a healthy BTA, I will completely agree that a BTA does not need any food assuming all other environmental conditions (LIGHT especially) are met. However, when attempting to rehabilitate a bleached or otherwise poor health anemone that is not getting proper light, supplemental feedings are crucial to regaining strength.

Back to the OP and also newby-reefer (FWIW, $120 sounds awefully expensive for a sick RBTA, and if yours look like the OP's, you should start your own thread for help) lighting and water parameters are extremely important to health of these animals.

What are your water parameters (with numbers)?
What are your lights (make, model, wattage, ind. reflectors, age of bulbs...)?
Other tank inhabitants?
Age of tank?

I know you said you got it a month ago, but it would be pretty tough for a nem to go from fully healthy to that in about a month. My guess is that the health wasn't actually top notch when it started - unfortunately. It's not a lost cause, but definitely a long uphill battle.

 

[hypnoj]

Stop feeding it!!! These creatures do NOT need to be fed but once a month, if that. Think about them in the wild, they do not hunt food. If they are lucky maybe a dead fish will float into them, but this doesn't happen very often. They can get everything they need from light and the water column. I think you may be killing it by trying to keep it healthy. Leave it alone for a week or two and see how it does.

I also totally disagree. All it takes is someone to have a big clown hosting an anemone to see how much these things can get fed. My maroon clown feeds my RBTA daily; the thing is huge now. Remember.. the ways things happen in nature does not always mean it's the best way. It's just the way things have evolved. We far exceed what mother nature can do on a daily basis.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Yeah, when an anemone is bleached and/or in the state that the OP's is in -- already consuming itself for energy it is going to need to be fed. BTA (( E. Quadricolors )) will be better served using mysis (( PE is a great brand )), doing small and frequent feedings. Large feedings (( thinking silversides )) have a good chance of causing more harm then good.

 

[coralreefhq]

When the RBTA's are in a bleached state, they're lacking nutrients and consume their own.

It's difficult to restore it back to health as you're looking at a few months before you notice any change.

Did the nem get sucked up in a powerhead or something? Because half of the tentacles are missing, or are short. I'm guessing something did a number on it.

 

[zvonmonet]

perameteres i'd have to do another test...

it didn't get sucked into a powerhead or anything didn't move much when i introduced it found its place and stayed there but the 2 clows bug the hell out if him i think.. thats when i noticed it losing its tenticles.

lights are 8 t5 ho, odessey and its about 5-6 months old i know almost time for a bulb change

tank been up for about 6 months all good, didn't see anything else bug it or pick at it.

in toronto $80-$120 is the price it usually goes for its the size (3-4 inches)

tried feeding it a small piece of a scalop like a pinky finger nail size he ate it and spit it back out, going to try a bit mysis today.

and he did move a bit again today

 

[steelhead77]

OK. Two different people were posting about bad anemones. I was not addressing OP. I was addressing the 2nd poster who said he feeds every day and has seen his nem go from 3-4 inches to nickel size. IMO this could be due to overfeeding. In the wild (not all nems have clowns) these things thrive without any deliberate feeding. All I can attest to is that I have 3, 4, or 5 nems in my tank at any one time and I NEVER actively feed them. They are all at least dinner plate size, if not bigger. You can disagree if you want, but I can only tell you what works for me.

To the OP, yes, I agree that some feeding of mysis and phyoplankton with a turkey baster can help the situation. However the tentacles need to be sticky enough to grab hold of the mysis for them to be ingested.

 

[steelhead77]

I also totally disagree. All it takes is someone to have a big clown hosting an anemone to see how much these things can get fed. My maroon clown feeds my RBTA daily; the thing is huge now. Remember.. the ways things happen in nature does not always mean it's the best way. It's just the way things have evolved. We far exceed what mother nature can do on a daily basis.

So your Maroon is feeding it, not you. That's fine. That's the way it should be. However not all nems in the wild have a clown to feed it and they seem to do just fine on their own. You can go to the Oregon coast at low tide and see hundreds of them stuck to rocks. I guarantee there are no clowns (or anything else) feeding them and they do just fine.

 

[zvonmonet]

i fed him some mysis today seemed fine maybe (5-6 total pieces)... added phytoplankton, should i feed him a few pieces again tomorrow? or what

and will his tenticles grow back? and will they be pink again cus it seems he almost lost all his pink tips most of them are white now

 

[zvonmonet]

will post another picture tomorrow

 

[Newby-Reefer]

OK. Two different people were posting about bad anemones. I was not addressing OP. I was addressing the 2nd poster who said he feeds every day and has seen his nem go from 3-4 inches to nickel size. IMO this could be due to overfeeding. In the wild (not all nems have clowns) these things thrive without any deliberate feeding. All I can attest to is that I have 3, 4, or 5 nems in my tank at any one time and I NEVER actively feed them. They are all at least dinner plate size, if not bigger. You can disagree if you want, but I can only tell you what works for me.

To the OP, yes, I agree that some feeding of mysis and phyoplankton with a turkey baster can help the situation. However the tentacles need to be sticky enough to grab hold of the mysis for them to be ingested.

Please tell me where I say I am feeding it every day.

I said its eating consistently for a month now. FYI I have been feeding a mix of PE Mysis, Krill and pieces of raw prawn (alternating) once a week.

Otherwise my clowns "feed" it New Era marine flake, Spectrum pellets, and Prime Reef.

 

[bues0022]

A write-up I did on feeding anemones. I didn't want to retype everything here again:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835320

And I believe there was a write-up in CORAL magazine about feeding anemones. They researchers who have studied this most have looked at cold-water (Oregon-type) anemones where there are no clownfish, and nutrient levels in the water are much higher than in host-type anemones. One of their conclusions is that the results may not be the most accurate to extrapolate to warm-water variates, and more research is necessary.

 

[mobert]

I'm actually going to disagree with you steelhead - in part at least. Assuming a healthy BTA, I will completely agree that a BTA does not need any food assuming all other environmental conditions (LIGHT especially) are met. However, when attempting to rehabilitate a bleached or otherwise poor health anemone that is not getting proper light, supplemental feedings are crucial to regaining strength.

Back to the OP and also newby-reefer (FWIW, $120 sounds awefully expensive for a sick RBTA, and if yours look like the OP's, you should start your own thread for help) lighting and water parameters are extremely important to health of these animals.

What are your water parameters (with numbers)?
What are your lights (make, model, wattage, ind. reflectors, age of bulbs...)?
Other tank inhabitants?
Age of tank?

I know you said you got it a month ago, but it would be pretty tough for a nem to go from fully healthy to that in about a month. My guess is that the health wasn't actually top notch when it started - unfortunately. It's not a lost cause, but definitely a long uphill battle.

I completely agree with the above. I just want to emphasize that in my opinion, tank conditions (water & light parameters) are more important than anything else to bringing this anemone to a healthy condition. I also believe that a pink bubbletip is a bleached bubbletip---it is not a cool rare color morph. It may take six months to a year of ideal conditions for it to color up. I would feed everyday if it does not negatively impact your water quality. The smaller the particle size of the food the easier it is to digest. I would give nothing bigger than a grain of rice. Instead of feeding just mysis with phytoplankton, it would be better to blend a mixture of good quality food, freeze, and give a minute amount every day. Best of luck,
Mona

 

[WDLV]

+1 against feeding being bad. That said I have had plenty of RBTAs that did great without target feeding but they usually positioned themselves so that they would catch food from the water column. They do need to be fed but depending on the system, they may not need to be target fed.