RBTA - strange look, possibly health issue?

[bwyoung]

I have had RBTAs for 2.5 yrs and had 4 splits. I sold one recently and now have three left. The main "mother" a few weeks back started to move across the tank, hanging upside down in the dark. I assumed another split was coming. It attached itself to the back of the tank and stretched itself out between some rocks and the back glass looking stringy. For the last 10 days or so, it has remained there almost looking upside down with bunches of tentacles on a few sides.

Any thoughts on what it is doing, is it sick, etc.? Is the white part in the pictures, its foot? Of course, I can barely get tongs back there due to the corals to feed it so trying to move or get it is nearly impossible.

My tank has been constant as far as conditions - 1.025 salinity, 9 dKH, 1300 MG, 450 Ca, 79F, no lighting changes. I will perform another water change this afternoon.

Thank you for the advice!

June 16 - moving but looking fine in the tank center. It has always been attached to the front lower right rock.

June 26 - looking upside down in the back of the tank

 

[bwyoung]

UPDATE - I just noticed it puffing up.

 

[diablo30xp]

possible split maybe?

 

[bwyoung]

Splitting is what I initially thought, but the other splits have been pretty quick once they started and did not look like this one.

Any other thoughts from anyone?

 

[bues0022]

The white part you are seeing seems to me to look like the bottom of the foot. The real question is why is it being so strange though, right? Though the tank "seems" stable based that it has been setup and running a long time, have you changed ANYTHING lately? Salt? Todd had some very adverse reactions from his nems to a recent salt change. What have you been feeding?

 

[Amphiprion]

When an anemone detaches, there's a problem with something. Changes in flow regimes, light, chemistry, etc. can induce this. If you are able to rule out the above, I might suspect that it was beginning to be shaded too much or just wasn't doing well in the same spot anymore--which could be for a number of reasons. It is still healthy looking and it appears to be ready to right itself now in its new spot. That is one reason why I suspect the above.

 

[MarinaP]

Could be that your SPS load gained critical mass for an anemone to be happy in that environment.

 

[bues0022]

I suppose it is possible for the SPS to finally be large enough to disrupt the flow enough where it's not happy anymore. Good idea.

 

[MissNano]

Hmm i was always told when they flip upside down that it is a bad sign.... But im a newbie

 

[MarinaP]

I suppose it is possible for the SPS to finally be large enough to disrupt the flow enough where it's not happy anymore.

I was thinking more along chemical warfare lines.

 

[bues0022]

hmm, I didn't know that the chemical warefare between SPS was as big of a problem than with, say, leathers or some LPS. I also didn'r realize that those chemicals really affected things in the tank other than that type of organism. I could be completely wrong in these assumptions though....

 

[MarinaP]

When you mix animals with stinging cells in a glass jar, you cannot rule out the possibility of a warfare. I think SPS in this tank are affecting anemone negatively.

 

[NoBigDeal]

When you mix animals with stinging cells in a glass jar, you cannot rule out the possibility of a warfare. I think SPS in this tank are affecting anemone negatively.

A red flag went up when I first saw the RBTA surrounded by that much SPS so therefore, I second this notion. Of course, there could be various reasons why his RBTA decided to relocate but my best educated guess would be chemical warfare. E. Quadricolor's tend to be pretty hardy when it comes to flow and lighting. I doubt the increased growth of the SPS had that big of an impact on the anemones foothold. Brian, do you have another tank with sufficient conditions you could put your RBTA in? Testing it out in another tank might be your best option with trying to detect the current issue. :beer:

 

[bwyoung]

First off, thank you for the replies!

I never thought that the SPS could harm it, rather it seemed the other way around. Some coral bases around it were receded. It stayed put for 2 yrs on the lower right rock. In that time it never moved a bit. The corals have gone from small frags to the size you see now. I have two other RBTAs buried in the upper left and upper right of the tank and they have been there for 6+ months. (you can just see their redness in the FT shot.)

I feed krill, shrimp and silversides, but after reading reports about silverside issues, I think I am done with them. I'll take up the suggestions to go to a regular fish shop and get human-quality food. Maybe some shrimp and squid pieces...(?)

I wish I could try to get it out, but it it completely buried. I may try a power head to see if I can persuade it somewhat. I have my sump but it is full of SPS frags too. I will up the water change schedule some too.

It may be time for a new larger tank in the basement!

I will keep you posted on its progress... Thanks again.

 

[MarinaP]

I wish I could try to get it out, but it it completely buried

It is upside down, so it's not attached. I would use a powerhead to blow it out, if it is doable at all. Have a net ready to collect the pieces as the anemone might be falling apart. Good luck.

P.S. Your SPS are absolutely beautiful :thumbsup:

 

[bwyoung]

It is upside down, so it's not attached. I would use a powerhead to blow it out, if it is doable at all. Have a net ready to collect the pieces as the anemone might be falling apart. Good luck.

P.S. Your SPS are absolutely beautiful :thumbsup:

Thanks! I did blow a power head at it and found out it is attached to a portion of the rock back there (about right below the clown in the puffed up pictures).

Unfortunately, the only way to blow at it is front to rear which is the opposite way I want him to move. The inlet strainer to my big closed-loop pump is about 12" above him right now on the back wall. I need to blow straight down which is hard since the corals above have made a sealed shelf.

He looks more right side up now, so we'll see in the morning.

 

[MarinaP]

That's good news. At least he is attached.

What is the current thinking among advanced SPS folks about the ability of the stonies to sting nearby corals to protect the territory, etc?

Maybe you can educate us "amenone nuts" here. We rarely get visitors from the SPS world There are frequent posters here who mix anemones with SPS in some fashion in their tanks, just not on such scale as your system in terms of SPS load

We have observed damages that anemones can inflict on SPS in close proximity. What about SPS to SPS damages?

 

[bwyoung]

After poking at it some and blowing a power head at it last night, it looks more "normal" this morning. It has attached in a few places - on the rock and the glass and is right-side up.

I am debating feeding it as it has not eaten now in a couple weeks or leave it a bit hungry and trying to blow at it to get it to move out of the cave.

FYI...This is where it normally has lived for the last 2 years. This picture was from July 2008.

 

[Pallan]

i just got to say i would be in agreement it is most definatly the SPS you should get rid of them all immediatly for the health of this animal... I suppose since your in such dire need i could possibly take the SPS from you and relieve you of the problem .... Ok now seriously i do not have anything meaningfull to add to this i just want to say WOW great JOB great growth in your corals... I cant believe what 3 years of growth has done... Hopefully the anenome comes back out and does well for you.. the rest of the tank is incedible... Wish i had a answer for you

 

[bwyoung]

i just got to say i would be in agreement it is most definatly the SPS you should get rid of them all immediatly for the health of this animal... I suppose since your in such dire need i could possibly take the SPS from you and relieve you of the problem .... Ok now seriously i do not have anything meaningfull to add to this i just want to say WOW great JOB great growth in your corals... I cant believe what 3 years of growth has done... Hopefully the anenome comes back out and does well for you.. the rest of the tank is incedible... Wish i had a answer for you

Thanks for the compliment and for the offer to take these pesky SPSs off my hands! The coral has taken off - and it has only been 2 years of growth now.

The anemone does look better tonight! So it seems forcing it to right itself last night has helped so far. Perhaps my large water change did too. I just fed it by bombing a few krill to it and it took them (they are the white areas in the middle of it).

I'll keep you all updated as to what it does.