shrunken BTA

[juice454]

I bought a pair of maroon clowns(doing great) and a BTA on Friday night(8/25)

This was my bta as of 9:30pm on Sunday(8/27)

This morning(8/28) I woke up and the BTA was shrunken to about the 1/4 of the size of the picture above(sorry no pics). The tentacles noticeably deflated, and at times I could see the mouth "inside-out"(nothing coming out).

I read in the anemone faq that Additionally, anemones will go through cycles of expansion and contraction, where they will puff up very large, and then shrink down to almost nothing.. As well as, My anemone looks inverted â€"œ its mouth is inside out. What should I do? This behavior is normally a sign of extreme stress and/or near death for the anemone.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Is this just normal expansion/contraction, or do I have serious reason to be concerned? The change in appearance just happened so abruptly and being inexperienced I don't know what to think...Nothing changed in the system since adding the BTA. Last night I added some iodine, calcium, and trace element supps. Temperature has remained consistent. I ran pH, ammonia, and nitrite/nitrate tests this morning, and those appear fine.

The only explanation I have come up with is that two clowns for what I deem a medium sized anenome might have over-stressed the poor guy. In which case I'll be pretty upset with my LFS for selling me the anenome knowing it would be used to host the two clowns I bought from there.

It should be noted that this is a new system, but I had all water levels checked by my LFS and everything was near perfect, which earned a 7 day guarantee on the clowns and the anenome.

 

[SEAFLOWERS]

The GSM'S will probably "love" it to death; In most cases I would want the nem to be considerably bigger than the fish, FWIW.

 

[nickterp]

Yes its definitely normal for the anemone to open and close up. I usually see mine closed up some in the morning and expanded and happy as the day goes on.

Couple other things of note: the clowns can over stress the anemone. Its a little hard to tell, if it seems like the clowns are too big for the anemone and they are beating it up alot, you should notice the anemone reacting to it almost immediately. As in trying to protect itself by shrinking up, moving around, etc. Just closing up in the morning is fine though if its opening back up.

About the water quality and your tank being a new system.... Don't trust the water tests they LFS is giving you unless you are getting exact numbers from them. Anyways, you should be testing it yourself.

Also, its recommended to wait 6 months for an anemone, NOT just because of your water parameters, but most importantly that you have a stable, mature environment that is ready to support an anemone.

Finally, you should never be mad at your LFS for selling you something or giving you mis-information.... its your responsibility to research what you are buying BEFORE you buy it. Not to be too harsh, but its very common for the LFS to misinform to sell..... so you have to rely on yourself to have the knowledge ahead of time.

From what you describe so far, nothing sounds bad yet. Can you elaborate on your lighting and other tank hardware? Do you have a sump/refugium, etc? The picture of your BTA looks like its just a little bleached, but not that bad. For you lighting in a 40 gallon tank you should have a bare minimum of a 200 something watts of PC lighting.

Check out www.wetwebmedia.com and read the FAQ's on BTA's.

Good luck!

 

[juice454]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8028641#post8028641 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nickterp
Yes its definitely normal for the anemone to open and close up. I usually see mine closed up some in the morning and expanded and happy as the day goes on.

Couple other things of note: the clowns can over stress the anemone. Its a little hard to tell, if it seems like the clowns are too big for the anemone and they are beating it up alot, you should notice the anemone reacting to it almost immediately. As in trying to protect itself by shrinking up, moving around, etc. Just closing up in the morning is fine though if its opening back up.

About the water quality and your tank being a new system.... Don't trust the water tests they LFS is giving you unless you are getting exact numbers from them. Anyways, you should be testing it yourself.

Also, its recommended to wait 6 months for an anemone, NOT just because of your water parameters, but most importantly that you have a stable, mature environment that is ready to support an anemone.

Finally, you should never be mad at your LFS for selling you something or giving you mis-information.... its your responsibility to research what you are buying BEFORE you buy it. Not to be too harsh, but its very common for the LFS to misinform to sell..... so you have to rely on yourself to have the knowledge ahead of time.

From what you describe so far, nothing sounds bad yet. Can you elaborate on your lighting and other tank hardware? Do you have a sump/refugium, etc? The picture of your BTA looks like its just a little bleached, but not that bad. For you lighting in a 40 gallon tank you should have a bare minimum of a 200 something watts of PC lighting.

Check out www.wetwebmedia.com and read the FAQ's on BTA's.

Good luck!

Thanks for the response. I have been testing the water prior to the LFS and this morning, and all levels seem great. I did do quite a bit of research on purchasing the anemone and clowns prior to purchasing, but realize I was taking a risk introducing it into a new tank.

In terms of lighting I am running a Coralife 50/50 50% Natural Daylight 6,000 K Fluorescent Bulb. I'm running SEIO Super Flow Pump for flow, and a Bak-Pak 2 With Rio 600RVGallon. No refugium.

The change just seemed so abrupt, and the BTA has remained stationary. I am hoping this is just a case of me over-analyzing the situation, and I'll get home from work and the BTA will be fully-flexed, alive and well.

 

[nickterp]

I think for the short term the BTA will be fine. I had the same reaction you did when I first got mine... it freaked me out the first time I saw it shrink up... and I was sure it was dying.

If those are normal flourescent bulbs then for long term they won't be enough light for the BTA. Unless they are PC lights? I would definitely look into that, find out what exactly you have and read through these FAQ's on anemone lighting:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemonelightngfaqs.htm

Good luck!

 

[juice454]

Cool, I'm going to look into upgrading the lighting...Thanks for the help!

 

[nickterp]

I think thats a good choice! I got a BTA about a month ago, with my current 260 watts of PC lighting. I researched and found that it should be enough though its near the minimum required.....

After a couple weeks I couldn't help myself, I ordered a 175 watt halide retro setup and started building a new hood to put my existing lights combined with the halide in it.

I saw my anemone was doing fine.... but I always want my livestock to be doing GREAT and thriving.

 

[juice454]

My wife is at home and reporting the BTA is still(8+ hours later) severly shrunken and unhealthy looking. *BIG SIGH* I feel terrible, I hope I can get him back to the LFS in time to save him. He went from visibly healthy and exhuberant to terribly sick in a matter of hours.

 

[jimsha]

Is the clownfish still being rough with the anemone? I actually had to separate the clown from the anemone until the anemone got settled. I too freak out when mine shrunk...mine actually looked like it was dying. Usually it is just stress from moving to a new tank..I think you will be fine. Just monitor him.

 

[juice454]

You guys were right. When I got home lastnight the anemone was absolutely fine. I guess I caught a terrible case of newbie-itis, jumping to conclusions and what-not. Lesson to all! Thanks for the help.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

your vigilance is a good thing... better safe than sorry... :0)