Shriveled BTA

[Anonymous]

cc,
Your bta isn't bleaching, it is bleached. Not only do they get pale they also shrink in size when that happens. What type of lighting do you have?

 

[CC-Star]

Thanks for the reply, I have PC's

It has been fine for a year+ though...so now it does from bleching out of nowhere (one day fine next day not)..and the Pink Tip Anemone is doing just great and getting bigger (which seems to required more light than the rBTA so that can not be it)...

It happened the day after the Maroon took to it so its seems obvious that it is due to the Maroon Fish taking to it

Will it bounce back from the stress or will it just wither away?
You would think its in their nature to reconize and accept a clown and not get stressed out from it...but I am seeing other wise and not if it just takes time or does some rBTA just can not handle the stress.

Anyone w. experience/have heard of issues surrounding a shriveling BTA due to a clown fish taking it up as a new home any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated. Its hard to watch it not be what it was be4 that silly clown came into the picture. If I would of known that was going to happen not sure I would of added it..even though its so funny watching her wiggle in the tenticles.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I don't remember if I posted this eariler in the thread.. but it is PROBABLY directly related to your clown fish taking to it. The same thing happened to me. I would GUESS that your clown fish is too large for the host... and is just BOTHERING it to death.... the only way to fix the problem is to remove one or the other.. or somehow get the fish to host somthing else...

JMO

B.

 

[CC-Star]

That really suxs....

Reasons:
1. I already have 2 anemones in a 55 gallon, another one would not be wise.
2. My 10 gallon I imagine does not have enough light to keep it going
3. Fish store will not take either back.

Any other BTA's @ the fish store are always so small, my BTA was a huge one be4 the maroon started bouncing around in it. So i cant see any BTA that is available @ the LFS being sufficient...greeeeeeeeat. What a real bummer.

Man I was so excited to see them pairing off now to only see the maroon be the death of the bta. So sad, and highly fustrating...esp knowing that no matter what I get it will never make it *due to my silly clown. Such a koo thing to watch so kinda suxs.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I once convienced my clown to take to a PLATE CORAL by just moving my BTA to another place. Although I tried it again.. and he just swam around untill he found it.

What about an in take fuge for the BTA untill it comes back around? Would be cheap and would keep the clown out of it for a while... Hmm I may do that for mine.. duh.

B

 

[CC-Star]

ehehhe

I wish ...I dont have a fuge @ the moment...thinking about setting one up in the next little bit so I can get a REAL skimmer (AquaC EV/Euroreef), instead of my useless Prizim.

I dunno I moved the rock and she still found it...so i dunno guess just keep feeding it and hopefully it prevails...it was very very large be4 the maroon so I doubt I would ever find one bigger than that.

Is yours still not looking so good since your clowns have taken to it?? And if so how long has that been?

 

[SnowManSnow]

Mine has been looking pretty bad for 4 months or so. I don't know if he will ever recover or not.. but I can try

B

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Mihai,

Did your anemone make it??

I am having a similar experience and I am very concerned for the rBTA.
IT was doing fine for almost a year and big...once we got the maroon it has just dimished in size and more stringy. It does not come out as big at all and just does not seem to be as bright as red. It still eats Krill (every day/or every other), still flushes itself out the odd time.

***NOTHING has changed water quality wise, or lighting etc..it has been fine for a year+, just only now once the maroon came into the picture) I dont see how that can be such a bad thing for it if that hosting is supposed to be something that is second nature to it.

I was happy to see the clown go in there but now I am so sad to see my anemone go downhill. Is it dying??

First Day the Maroon took to the BTA (3 wks ago)

CC, please look at the color of the photos you posted here and then the one from
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... light=rbta where you state that you got it in the fall of '04. There is a huge difference in the color. Hence my "it's bleached" comment. It is bleached wether or not you want to beleive it, your own pictures show that it is.



There is also a discripency in how long you've had it. Personally, I don't care, but, you said here that you've had it 1+yr and in the other you got it after the condy which you got in Nov. Make up your mind :wink:

With all that being said, I have one that "puckers". But it always has, but it's always had a fish with it.

 

[CC-Star]

Your right knowse,

Sorry about that, I keep thinking I got it last year sometime around summerish weather season (it was really warm last nov)..but guess it was condy I was thinking about...

You are right it has gotten more of a bright pink rather than a deep rose colour...that is for sure. Wasnt until you referenced my old pics (in which i should check out my history more often be4 i start quoting dates)... I noticed just how much it has changed.

Size wise it had got way bigger, less bubble tips more stringy..but when that clown came around it shrank in size.

I am not to famaliar w. the bleaching process guess I will have to read up on it... :/ it still eats, and his mouth and foot is alright. It is such an big part of the tank would hate to loss it...mutter mutter. This hobby can be really rewarding but sometimes really fustrating when it feels like you can never do enough or spend enough.

 

[CC-Star]

Does anyone know alot about "bleaching" and how to help the poor thing??

It still eats so that is good so far from what I have read.

As for lighting i keep reading that E.Q (BTA's) can have PCs but mostly all other anemoens need MH's. I even had put my rBTA up near the top twice but it moved to the bottom to get away from it so...if it needed more light it would of moved I would think. (The Pink tipped did=closer to the top).

I dunno any experience or help in this department would be greatly appreciated since I keep reading that there is still a chance to save the bta.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Bleaching is actually the exodus of the photosynthetic zooalgae. It's the same stuff that makes clams so pretty.. and many corals appear to glow. The algae has a simboint relationship with the anemone in that it provides nutrients for the host, while the host provides a place for it to gather light (which it needs to survive). When lighting isnt sufficent (not always having to do with the intensity mind you) the zooalgae die off... causing the host to become "bleached". Bleaching isn't a disease or anything.. but it is simply a sign that somthing is amiss. Bleaching can also be a sign of stress... like I believe it is in your case because of your clown.

How to fix "bleaching". MOST of the time a bleached coral or anemone can be brought back.. it just takes time. The zooalgae has to "repopulate" the host. Once this happnes your anemone will receive better nutrition and recover faster. Your anemone should get better if you can #1make sure it is getting enough light (and yes BTA's can live under adequate PC's) #2move it somewhere where it can recover without being pestered by other denizens of your aquarium.

Keep in mind it isn't dead till it's dead... if your anemone is just bleached and shriveled.. it's a sign somthin' needs to be fixed, but there is still hope!

SAVE THE ANEMONE! :wink:

Good luck.
B.

 

[leftovers]

You still havent said what kind of light its under...but it appears to be PC/VHO . You need to add MH lamps period. You anemone has been surviving because you have been regularly feeding it.

The addition of MH lighting will cause that anemone to recover rather quickly.

The "bleaching" is due to several things. Lack of appropriate light, food, and now the final stressor the clown fish. The fish took it over the edge and it appears to be shrinking in size.

So, one more time the addition of MH lighting will cause it to recover and to do so rather quickly. Even a simple de pendent 150w would be more than enough to cause it to quickly recover and expand. You might even be able to use a 70W spot pendent and see great results because its already fairly high inthe tank.

 

[SnowManSnow]

It is possible that it is simply a lighting issue. But my BTA is going through the same thing because of a tomato clown, and it is under 250W of MH lighting.

B.

 

[Anonymous]

Snow is yours fading in color, shrinking or puckering up? You can see in the pictures below, that the only one I have that looks puckered is the one that was bleached, but it has always been that way. Btw, it's also on the move, I changed the amount of flow in the tank and it moved from the front of the rocks to the side, which placed it under the breeder box. And it's still not happy.

CC, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time or anything, I just happened to find that thread while searching for some pictures of healthy btas for you For some unknown reason, rbta and gbta seems to need the additional light of mh. Also bta's will appear to be moving away from the light, but in reality, their moving to where the water flow more suits their needs regardless of the lights.

I keep telling this story, so pardon me for doing so again.

I had a rbta in a 20L with 130w pc lighting. I also had a gbta in a 29g with 130w pc lighting. Both bleached and shrank. I moved both into a new 29 w/130w pc and 250w de mh, on Feb 7. The gbta didn't survive the move but the rose one did. Within a couple of days, I started noticing some brown dots on it. Before the end of Feb, the rbta was getting back to it's beautiful natural color.

New story. A friend with pc lighting gave me a bta that was nothing more than a foot with a mouth on top. No color and no tentacles. We put it in a fish breeder under the 250w mh. It's been there since around the end of March. It's still in the breeder, just getting those brown dots and has enough small tentecles to eat (did that for the first time yesterday ) With some luck, it will go into my build off tank tomorrow or this weekend.

I'm not going to admit to how many bta's I've lost, other than the aforementioned gbta and a 1/4 clone of my neon bta. 8O :wink:

 

[CC-Star]

Thats to bad,
MH's are not in the budget/plans till we get out new tank in a yr and a half.

Guess the only thing I can do for the poor thing is to move it up near the top :/

I guess it was always getting more pale, but with the addition of the clownfish it just added stress/made it shrink as well.

Hmmmm...

 

[Anonymous]

CC, I don't think what your noticing is shrinkage so much as the "puckering" that my bleached one does. Sorta like it knoted up? You can get cheap mh retros from champion and hello lights. You could always get one large enough now for the new tank later. This one isn't a retro, but is a good price.
http://www.hellolights.com/15hqicoaqpep.html or this one
http://www.hellolights.com/ocli25hqiame.html which is the one I've got.

I think this one is way kewl
http://www.hellolights.com/aqadhatamo.html

 

[RobertoVespucci]

Am I incorrect in the assumption that /some/ more light in the broad visible band would be better than nothing?

You can get 300-500w halogen or PC cluster bulb for $30-50. Sure, it'll be yellow nasty, but it's light and it's cheap.

 

[RobertoVespucci]

Oh, and when you can get the MH you now have a security light for your home.

 

[Anonymous]

Roberto, I'm by no means a lighting expert so I can't say one way or the other. I just know what happened in my case. The rbta in my pictures above that is in the same shot as the 1/4 clone neon, came out of a 2.5 gal with 4x9w pc's. I kept it there for about six months. It never lost any color, but it did travel alot. Mostly hung out near the top of the tank.

 

[CC-Star]

Tonight I just moved the rock (in which the anemone was in) closer to the top...we'll see how that goes.

I know I also only have the lights on for about 9 1/2 hours a day ....but any more the algae goes nuts (brown).

I dunno gonna get some silversides and change up some of his diet to not just only krill and mysis. That combined w. moving it up in the tank hopefully will help a tad :/ knowse thanks for the tips on the lighting (esp like that last one, that way I can still use my PC's)..hmmm I will look into that maybe in the summer right now was are just about to spend major mola on a "better be" good skimmer. So want something that works better than this prizim skimmer.

The salinity was down today, not sure if the big huge power outage we had last night for 4 hours had a factor but that probably did not help, but only stress the anemone even more w. no current, no lights, temp cooler (76-78)....mutter mutter...was I ever freaking out..i was more upset about the poor fishes/anemones etc than not having my tv/internet. Ok now I am ranting but talk about things not working in your favour hehe.