Weird BTA

[Ramie]

OK so I have come to the conclusion I have a weird Anenome. :willis: I know they walk around the tank and find a comfortable spot, but have never seen one walk as much as this one.
As you can read from my other posts on my Torch Coral she was quite unexpected. <yea I think its a she, from all the walking she's doing> She's still in the 8gal, but has not stung anything else in my tank. The Torch, Zoanthids, Lavender Mushrooms, not a thing. She walked all over the place. Not a lot of room to walk around in and 8g, but from the last shot you can see how tall she gets. She just struts her stuff all over the tank. :apimp: She at one point looked like she was playing dead, she just spread out all over the half clam shell I have in the tank. She is enormous, much bigger then when she came out of the bag. I almost thought I lost her, till the clowns jumped in and woke her up, and back to walking around she went.

Well I think she finally settled down, and found a spot in my tank. The last photo, which I find unusual. I haven't ever seen one directly in front of a power head before. She got annoyed by it when I first stuck it in, so I took it out and let her find a spot. Then stuck it back in, and it would annoy her again, so i would take it back out. This went on for 2 days, till last night. I just finally left it in the tank. I watched over her to make sure she didn't get too close to it and get sucked in. <I lost some beautiful Nudi Branches that way> :cry1: But after walking all over my tank, that's where she chose to stay. I think the Maroon pair helped a bit. I am in a rush to finish the bigger tank now. Waiting on warmer weather to finally stain it. But so far so good. She seems happy as a clam.



Anyway here is my 3 day venture with this darling Anenome. Didn't think I would get so attached, but she sure is a beauty.

Ramie

 

[burning2nd]

what the pictures depict are pirtty normal for a nem, When she becomes more at home.. the stinging could start... havneing a nem in a 8g could be tricky... exercise extremely large eyes.



not saveing it cant be done.... just have an escape plan or aqua peoples could die

 

[Ramie]

I did a water change @ 3 days and a filter media change also, been checking parameters every day, all is normal. I was worried about having them all in an 8 gal. Needless to say I knew they wouldn't last long in a small 8g, so I convinced the Hubby to buy me a bigger emergency tank. The 65 is taking too long to finish, almost ready to give up on it and part it out.

I really liked my snails & shrimp collection in the 8g. Nothing special, but they were cool to watch at feeding time. Climbing all over each other for food. It sounds mean, but was so very fun to watch. :chair:

I came across a 30 gal Oceanic Biocube on Craigslist that has been set up for 3 years. Tank, stand, skimmer, sand, Live rock, snails crabs, etc. He said there are some sorts of plants on the live rock. I'm not sure what. I couldn't tell in the buckets. I will wait till water clears and see. Probably just some of those brown anenome things that grow on everything, or hair line algea.

I had him put all the rock, sand, Percula Clownfish, Pajama Cardinal, water, snails, crabs, etc. in buckets to salvage everything I could to make it easier on the tank. I put everything back in after I scrubbed the tank down with Koralia's flowing. Was just a tad bit of algea on the sides. A bit too much for my viewing pleasure. I used sponge scrubbers, and a scotch brite scrubber on my inside glass. I think the red algea is good, but was too much built up on the front and sides. I always keep them inside saltwater buckets that I use for Sunday maintenance.

I wish I would have thought to take before and after shots. And to think I bought a $700 new camera just for my tank shots. :smack:

I put 22 gallons back in the tank that was the main water to begin with, and then did a 8 gallon fresh saltwater from the LFS. Checked everything to make sure all was safe. Letting the tank clear tonight. I also put in some Mexican caulurpa in a container stuck to the side with suction cups, to help a little. My cheat refugium sort of I guess. I stuck the Percula and the Pajama Cardinal in the other 29 for now. Had to stick a sacrificial crab and snail in the new 30g. Emergency or I would have never sacrificed. :waa:

That darn Anenome is so happy in that 8gal, almost makes me want to keep her in there, but I know it's not a good idea, and as soon as I put her in the 30g she gonna be a whole lot happier!

So sorry to scare everyone on the BTA in the 8g. Not much of a choice them plopping it in my lap like that. I couldn't wait for the 65 to be put together, so I grabbed a 30g online with luck. They now know no new tank stuff without my permission. Hubby learned, that was an extra $300 out of his pocket to fix their mess.

Will post photos soon.

Ramie

Ps. Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me this far, especially Big Al!

:hug1:

 

[BigAl07]

Sounds like a SCORE on the new tank. Can't wait to see it coming together.

Start yourself a thread on the tank over >>>>>>>HERE<<<<<<< so you can keep it organized and be able to look back many months down the road and see your progression. I think you'll be surprised how things "change" over time.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me this far, especially Big Al!

Hey now... no blaming Me !

 

[Ramie]

I checked all parameters, and everything seems OK. I made sure to try and use as much of the original water in there as possible. Water is clear for the most part, not as crystal as my 8g tank, but pretty darn close.

Salinity 1.025
PH 8.2
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0
Ammonia 0

I have Mexican Caulerpa in there, and doing a filter media change again tonight. The filter media I stuck in there last night is pretty nasty considering I really tossed the sand and used a colander to filter and pull out excess rock that was actually in the bed of sand. Not sure if the smaller rocks help at all, but really wanted to clean up the look of the tank. I plan on keeping the rock that was actually in the sand itself. The pieces are perfect size to frag with down the road, so that is definatly a plus.

What else is a plus?

I wake up to an almost clear tank, other then a slight haze and guess what I find?

A toadstool,<1"high> a baby cleaner shrimp, few tiny starfish, Neon Green Zoanthids, Chatter Coral Polyps?, and not sure cause I can't get close enough, but looks like some more Zoanthids, or possibly the nasty brown anemone things that grow crazy in under cared for tanks. I have absolutely no clue how that cleaner shrimp eluded me during the 2 hours of filtering out the sand. I did a pretty good job, and got almost everything out. Save a few small shells. I swear the Tank Gods must have put him in there.

My question is it too soon to toss things in the other tank given my situation? Kind of in a spot, but nervous at the same time.

As you can see from the photos, the corals that are in there seem pretty good.. ALTHOUGH I will be purchasing new lights today wewt! Just stock lights in there now, I had to toss in a spare 10k 18w 9" daylight bulb from my 8g, the bigger daylight stock bulb was blown. And possibly something other then this Mexican Caulerpa. Not liking the looks of it in my tank, even though it is confided. Just looks like its going to get messy. I like the looks of some of that stringy stuff I see in some of the refugiums on the site. Doesn't look like it will break off into pieces and float through the tank.

Once the tank is completely clear, I will post FTS. There are 2 pieces of rock in there now. The main piece is absolutely HUGE! I so want to take it out and weigh it, cause I'm so curious. But have things growing all over it, so no way I'm taking a chance on those really nice looking free corals. But if you can check the photos, how did my guessing do?

Promise after this final post, and the A-OK on the new tank. I will start my thread. Will have to do some back tracking and explaining, but I'll figure it out.

So what do you think? Chance it or let them stay in the 8g a little longer?

Ramie

P.s. Anyone notice the hitchhiker? I got them little buggers everywhere, but this one was actually hitching a ride.

 

[Ramie]

Ok finally just started my thread, you can find it below. Again thanks to all who have helped this far. If anyone could give me a heads up in a good or bad idea moving them to the bigger tank now that would be great. I know its a bit soon, but am in an emergency situation with the 8g being too small.


Thanks

Ramie

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-chronicles/55280-ramies-reef-chronicles.html

 

[Ramie]

Well I'm sad to say my precious BTA died this morning. Absolutely no clue why. Water tests were fine, nothing in there to bother her. The Maroons didn't like me taking her out, but didn't want her nuking the tank. And O M G the smell! She was fine the day before, and then found her floating around on the bottom of the tank face down not moving at all. I kept flipping her over and no response, so I finally pulled her out.

I'm gonna miss her!

:cry1:

 

[wm23oh]

I'm sorry for your loss and as much as I know I'm going to get beat up for this it looked light starved. The tentacles were short, stubbly, and far between.

What kind of lighting did you have over her? If it was the standard lighting on that tank or that PC lighting I saw you have it wasn't enough.

It has enough light per WPG rule but it lacks the intensity needed to keep it alive. (It took me quite a while to understand that).

My reason for this is I don't want you to buy another and end up in the same situation.

Best wishes,

James