Jestersix

GBTA partly bleached :(

Hey guys,

I got a beautiful GBTA from Natterjack a month ago. At the time, it was brown with green tips. About a week ago, I noticed that part of its tentacles are bleaching. Only the tentacles closest to the light have bleached, which makes me think the light is too strong for it. That said, it has not moved from its spot since I introduced it to the tank.

I have attached a (really bad) photo below. You can see how white the arms are. I have been feeding it 3-4 pieces of 1/3" silversides every other day. The Clarkii's that are hosting the anemone do a very good job feeding it. Given the feeding regimen, do you guys think the GBTA will pull through?

Thanks in advance,
Mike
 
I would continue to feed it, as the extra energy from food will help the BTA focus more energy into recovering.
I normally see bleaching as a pretty last ditch effort for a BTA to save itself (there are exceptions) -if there was too much light, I would think it would just tuck itself into a hole, and come out when it is ready. In the picture it looks like it is hiding in the corner somewhat shaded from the light. How many clowns (Clarkii's?) is the BTA hosting? And how big is the clownfish? It is possible that the clownfish being hosted are unknowingly giving the anemone a beating, or a hard time, not allowing it to acclimate nicely?
And maybe this is the first thing I should have mentioned - how is the water quality? SG, temperature, et cetera? What kind of lights are over the tank?
 
Mike, what lights do you have it under? The one you got was originally near the bottom of my tank, under 250w MH, and fully extended, it was usually about halfway up - so probably 20-20" total from the lights. I'm honestly not sure what causes BTAs to bleach, but maybe it's a lighting change?
 
Hi Anthony. There are two clownfish, but only the female is hosting it. The female is about 3.5" long, tail to snout. The GBTA is about 8" across fully extended. Do you think it's too large for the GBTA? The picture was taken about 30 minutes into the daylight shutoff, so the GBTA was going to bed I believe.

TBH, I'm not sure about water quality as I have never tested before. I usually keep an eye on the pulsating Xenia to gauge how the tank is doing. At the time, the Xenia is pumping away. Temp is 82-83 degrees. SG is 1.024-1.025. Lights are 432W T-5, mixed bag of purples, blues, yellows, and one white bulb. Until last night, when I installed the hanging fixture, the lights were about 6" from the water surface, so about 20" from the GBTA.

Hi Bonnie. The GBTA is near the bottom of this tank as well, and rarely ever extends itself much. It's also about 20" from the light, but as I stated above, the light wattage I'm using is quite a bit more than what it was probably used to. I also had to move the Xenia to the sand, as it was not doing well with the light change either.

Thanks for the thoughts you two, I appreciate it. I'll keep feeding it and hopefully it'll bounce back.

Mike
 
Hi all,

I got a quick moment to snap off a shot of the GBTA while it is fully extended. Please see the photo and let me know how you think it's doing. I apologize for the blurry photo.

I know it's bleached, but aside from that, I have no idea why some tentacles look like their bulging while others are thread-like.

Please let me know if you think it can recover and what I can do to aid it along.

Thanks all!
Mike
 
:eek: I had no idea it was that deep in
The only thing I can think to recommend is to continue to feed it, and test your water.
Also ... how does the foot of the anemone look?
 
Have you tried moving it up closer to the lights, Mike? How are the all the parameters in the tank? The BTA this one is a clone from is pretty hardy - I'm honestly not sure what would cause it to bleach. :(
 
IMO I wouldn't move it closer to the lights; if the anemone wanted more light, it could easily adjust it's position to get more light. Anemones generally move to where they feel happiest, granted yours does not look so good at the moment. Moving the anemone to another spot it might not like may just cause it to wander around even more.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for chiming in. The foot appears healthy, though I can't see it well enough to be sure. It hasn't moved since the second day I got it from Bonnie. Sorry you have to see it like this, Bonnie :(.

I finally bought a test kit and just finished testing the parameters:

Temp: 82-83 F
pH: ~8.0
kH: 5
NH: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0

I think the pH and the kH might be a bit low. What do you guys think? Could this contribute to my critters' woes?

Thanks all,
Mike
 
Your kH is really low. I bet if you tested calcium and magnesium, they will both be low as well. This can definitely cause the problems you are experiencing.
 
Unless you are testing for Ca and Mg I would not raise it. You need to know what your numbers are before you start messing with your Ca and Mg. You could cause more harm then good. kH should be between 8-12 dkH. Just making sure your kH was not in meq/l right? If it is, it actually is high.

To raise kH and Ca I would use some kind of two part mix, either DIY or something like B-ionic. For Mg a cheap way would be to use epsom salt for now. For future use I would recommend buying two part and magnesium supplements from bulkreefsupply.com.
 
I've also heard that feeding large food to anemones causes a net loss in energy. It takes more energy for the anemone to process the food than it gets, caloric-wise. I heard that feeding plain old fish food (ocean nutrition) is better than large silversides. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am mistaken.
 
Thanks both of you.

I'll order the supplements today. I'm just so uncertain why my kh is so low. Could it be all the calciforous macros are sucking up the ca?

As for the anemone feedings, I always cut pieces into 1/4" chunks; too big for the clowns, so the feed it to the bta.

Thanks again
Mike
 
If you have a lot of Halimeda macro algae (or any other calcifying algae) in your tank, then that could be the reason your kH is being depleted at a high rate. Also, what kind of salt are you using? Have you tried testing a fresh bucket of mixed salt water to see what the kH is?
 
Hi Anthony,

I'm using Oceanic, which iani mentioned has low kH. I'll do some more test Saturday morning and see how they turn out. I must admit, I have not done water changes for the past month because I am battling a diatom bloom. I was hoping that the diatoms would die off, but it appears the lack of water changes has other consequences too.

There are also lots of caulerpa skeletons that I assumed would breakdown and recycle into Ca. That's another major reason why I chose not to dose any supplements. But now that I think about it, the caulerpa skeletons really aren't breaking down very quickly!

Anyhoo, I'm going to try and pick up some C-Balance from Zambavi this weekend. I'll order Ca and Mg test kits as well.
 
IIRC, Caulerpa does not calcify (not significantly anyways) -if I am out of line, someone correct me :)
Oceanic salt tends to have higher Ca++, and lower kH; I think this is more of a general consensus regarding their salt, however I can't speak for your bucket in particular. Have you tried test for Ca++ in your tank? Also, it may be worth mixing a fresh water of salt water, and test the Ca++ and the kH -knowing those values will be handy ;)
Also, if you have a ton of Halimeda, and have not done a water change in a while (to help replenish), and you do not dose anything in the way of Ca++ or alkalinity supplements, it is possible that the Halimeda just sucked your Ca++ and kH up like a sponge. I had halimeda in my last reef tank, and it sucked the stuff up like there was no tomorrow! It got to the point where it was a pest! >:(
C-Balance and E.S.V. B-Ionic will work; I use the latter myself. Be sure to get your Ca++ and kH to the desired levels, and then begin dosing two part accordingly.
 
Thanks again Anthony. I forgot to get the Ca and Mg last night, but I'll probably get it tonight. I'll test a fresh mix too, and see how it looks.

Mike
 
I'm not sure how critical it is to keep cal at certain level for anemone. I kept mine in a 100G and cal was always around 300. I couldn't grow any sps. I never test for Mag. I used IO and a lot of times I didn't do wc for months. LPS and SPS weren't happy but the RBTA grew crazy. I think when the anemone bleach like that it will take months for it to recover. Feed your anemone flake and mysis shrimp. I think they are better than silverside..
 
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