BTA assistance

drew1 · 10-01-2008, 12:37 AM

Hi,
We have a 55 gallon reef aquarium which is in the process of being populated. It has a couple hammer corals, a toadstool, a few button polyps, and some zooanthids, so it is lightly loaded. In addition we have a sea hare (who has duty among our other aquariums as well) a maroon clown and his BTA. The problem is with the BTA. When we got him several weeks ago he seemed fine. We got the clown and BTA together and they have remained close even today. The first week all was fine with the BTA. He seemed to like the place we chose for him and anchored, more or less, where we placed him. Maybe a week later he decided to move and crawled (for lack of a better term) under a ledge to the back side of the aquarium. Now he faces the back wall remaining largely under a ledge. What little we can see of him he looks much smaller. My theory has always been that since anemones can move he would do so if he wasn't happy. Any thoughts?
The aquarium is well lit with two 250w MH, four 65w actinics and 6 LEDs. Parameters seem good with nitrates at 5, phosphates are close to 0, temp 76-80, SG 1.025, pH 8.0, and calcium at 500. We have two Koralia 2's providing flow, although the BTA has little direct flow. We use a protein skimmer, although I can't remember brand/size right now although I tend to oversize compared to advertised recommendations. And we have a sandbed (about 2 inches) and enough live rock to form a reasonable reef. We use RO/DI water for top off and water changes. We top-off the aquarium a couple times a week and do about 10% change every week (give or take a couple days).
Everyone looks happy except the BTA, but it's hard to see how he really looks. Any insight would be apprciated.
Thanks, Drew

cbrownfish · 10-01-2008, 12:51 AM

Anemones will periodically hide out and stay there for several days to a week. As you alluded, this is likely a behavior caused by stress. Target feed this anemone while it is hiding, this way it has a source of nourishment. Couple things worry me --

1. Age of this set up? I would not recommend adding a BTA to a set up younger than 6-12 months old.

2. "Top off a couple times a week". Even small aquariums evaporate 1/2-1 gallon of water per day. If you are waiting 3 days to top off, your salinity could be swinging by a lot. Top off daily. Inverts like shrimp do not handle salinity shifts very well at all. Anemones certainly don't.

3. Temp of 76 and swing of 76-80. A temp of 76 is a bit low for a reef aquarium, especially for BTA's (78-82 is best). A swing of 4 degrees is too high.....try to keep this within 1-2 degrees for stability.

chriswho · 10-01-2008, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbrownfish

Anemones will periodically hide out and stay there for several days to a week. As you alluded, this is likely a behavior caused by stress. Target feed this anemone while it is hiding, this way it has a source of nourishment. Couple things worry me --

1. Age of this set up? I would not recommend adding a BTA to a set up younger than 6-12 months old.

2. "Top off a couple times a week". Even small aquariums evaporate 1/2-1 gallon of water per day. If you are waiting 3 days to top off, your salinity could be swinging by a lot. Top off daily. Inverts like shrimp do not handle salinity shifts very well at all. Anemones certainly don't.

3. Temp of 76 and swing of 76-80. A temp of 76 is a bit low for a reef aquarium, especially for BTA's (78-82 is best). A swing of 4 degrees is too high.....try to keep this within 1-2 degrees for stability.

I agree whole heartedly with cbrownfish.

kathywithbirds · 10-01-2008, 10:24 AM

You do have a lot of light IMHO. I have 2 nems under a pair of 150W MH and the RBTAs are happy on the bottom (75g) and the sebae (I think it's a sebae) hides and pokes its head out to get a little light. Could be part of it.

drew1 · 10-13-2008, 06:06 PM

Over the weekend we decided a drastic move as required. The anemone was facing away for so long that we had no idea what he even looked lime any more. So the tank was rearranged, including flipping his rock, so he is now on top of the rock but low on the aquarium. We also cut back on lighting to reaclimate him. He doesn't look great, but at least now we can see what we are dealing with and is getting light and food.
As for the other aspects, we have the temp steady at 78 and we top off every day to every other at most. The tank is a little young at about 6 months now. All parameters are very steady, at least what we test (pH, Ca, salinity, temp, nitrites/nitrates/ammonia, phosphates). I haven't seen a reason to test magnesium and I haven't found an iodine/iodide test yet.
On a side note, anemones at the LFS where he came from look worse than he does - not that it helps him.

Frankie · 10-13-2008, 06:18 PM

You need to find out whats causing your nitrates to be at 5? and bring them down. Your Calcium is too high and that tells me your Mg. and possibly ALK is off also. It sounds like your water parameters are out of whack and stressing the anemone out. Lighting is second when it comes to anemones and water quality 1st.

BigJay · 10-13-2008, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

. Lighting is second when it comes to anemones and water quality 1st.

wooohoo the first time I've heard that said here. Frankie your the man.

drew1 · 10-13-2008, 10:52 PM

Nitrates are fine. They are actually at 0. It was user error (the yellows vary so slightly). The calcium is a little on the high side (the test kit says 400-500 is good - it fails to put everything in perspective) due to adding calcium before getting a test kit or having anything to use up the calcium already there. The dKH is at 7 (125ppm or 2.5 meq/l) which seems a little low, especially given the calcium level.

James Preston · 11-09-2008, 06:35 AM

Hello i need help with my Anemone
My Green BTA Anemone every morning spits out his guts and shrinks once i turn on the tank lighting and then during the day it will grow again to about 16 inches in diameter i been told to feed it once a week Mysis Schrimp but this morning its done it worse i have had it in my tank for 3 days. Is this normal. lunch time onwards and night time it looks great but once i turn the lights on in the morning it seems to panic

wanareef · 11-09-2008, 08:11 AM

JP

Are your lights on a timer? And if so do they all come on at once or one at a time?

When I had the roses and the green BTA, I had the lights on a timer but the antinics all four of them came on but one at a time then the MH's one at a time. Same for sundown, just reverse.

But mine never did what yours is doing, only after a meal, never when the lights come on.

For feeding our roses and greenie, I used silversides injected with vitamins and stuffed with a little garlic. Sometimes a half raw shrimp with the vitamins and garlic or the blender mush.

But since it inflates and the color is good, I would just keep an eye on it sometimes they do wierd things.

10-01-2008, 12:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
drew1 Tubeworm Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26 View Gallery Karma Komment	BTA assistance Hi, We have a 55 gallon reef aquarium which is in the process of being populated. It has a couple hammer corals, a toadstool, a few button polyps, and some zooanthids, so it is lightly loaded. In addition we have a sea hare (who has duty among our other aquariums as well) a maroon clown and his BTA. The problem is with the BTA. When we got him several weeks ago he seemed fine. We got the clown and BTA together and they have remained close even today. The first week all was fine with the BTA. He seemed to like the place we chose for him and anchored, more or less, where we placed him. Maybe a week later he decided to move and crawled (for lack of a better term) under a ledge to the back side of the aquarium. Now he faces the back wall remaining largely under a ledge. What little we can see of him he looks much smaller. My theory has always been that since anemones can move he would do so if he wasn't happy. Any thoughts? The aquarium is well lit with two 250w MH, four 65w actinics and 6 LEDs. Parameters seem good with nitrates at 5, phosphates are close to 0, temp 76-80, SG 1.025, pH 8.0, and calcium at 500. We have two Koralia 2's providing flow, although the BTA has little direct flow. We use a protein skimmer, although I can't remember brand/size right now although I tend to oversize compared to advertised recommendations. And we have a sandbed (about 2 inches) and enough live rock to form a reasonable reef. We use RO/DI water for top off and water changes. We top-off the aquarium a couple times a week and do about 10% change every week (give or take a couple days). Everyone looks happy except the BTA, but it's hard to see how he really looks. Any insight would be apprciated. Thanks, Drew

10-01-2008, 12:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
cbrownfish Elegance coral Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 1,102 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance Anemones will periodically hide out and stay there for several days to a week. As you alluded, this is likely a behavior caused by stress. Target feed this anemone while it is hiding, this way it has a source of nourishment. Couple things worry me -- 1. Age of this set up? I would not recommend adding a BTA to a set up younger than 6-12 months old. 2. "Top off a couple times a week". Even small aquariums evaporate 1/2-1 gallon of water per day. If you are waiting 3 days to top off, your salinity could be swinging by a lot. Top off daily. Inverts like shrimp do not handle salinity shifts very well at all. Anemones certainly don't. 3. Temp of 76 and swing of 76-80. A temp of 76 is a bit low for a reef aquarium, especially for BTA's (78-82 is best). A swing of 4 degrees is too high.....try to keep this within 1-2 degrees for stability. __________________ *Confucius Say: "best way to save face, is to keep lower part of face shut".* CURRENT SET UP -- 90 gallon display, 30 gallon refugium, 100 gallon sump, 2X250 MH 14K DE HQI, 3X Hydor Koralia #4's for flow, 2X Tunze 9010 Skimmers, Sequence Dart return, 2X Ranco Controllers w/Titanium Heaters, 150 lb LR (90 in display, 60 in sump), 5" DSB, Mixed reef - Softies, LPS, SPS, Clams.

10-01-2008, 10:24 AM	#4 (permalink)
kathywithbirds Social Darwinism victim Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Hood, NJ Posts: 5,847 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance You do have a lot of light IMHO. I have 2 nems under a pair of 150W MH and the RBTAs are happy on the bottom (75g) and the sebae (I think it's a sebae) hides and pokes its head out to get a little light. Could be part of it. __________________ (\_/) (\__/) ( . .) (^.^) (")(") (> <) Bunny and Bunnina have worked things out. Bunny was mistaken after all, Bunnina was not having an affair. "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." ~Lin Yutang

10-13-2008, 06:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
drew1 Tubeworm Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance Over the weekend we decided a drastic move as required. The anemone was facing away for so long that we had no idea what he even looked lime any more. So the tank was rearranged, including flipping his rock, so he is now on top of the rock but low on the aquarium. We also cut back on lighting to reaclimate him. He doesn't look great, but at least now we can see what we are dealing with and is getting light and food. As for the other aspects, we have the temp steady at 78 and we top off every day to every other at most. The tank is a little young at about 6 months now. All parameters are very steady, at least what we test (pH, Ca, salinity, temp, nitrites/nitrates/ammonia, phosphates). I haven't seen a reason to test magnesium and I haven't found an iodine/iodide test yet. On a side note, anemones at the LFS where he came from look worse than he does - not that it helps him.

10-13-2008, 10:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
drew1 Tubeworm Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance Nitrates are fine. They are actually at 0. It was user error (the yellows vary so slightly). The calcium is a little on the high side (the test kit says 400-500 is good - it fails to put everything in perspective) due to adding calcium before getting a test kit or having anything to use up the calcium already there. The dKH is at 7 (125ppm or 2.5 meq/l) which seems a little low, especially given the calcium level.

11-09-2008, 06:35 AM	#9 (permalink)
James Preston Tunicate Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance Hello i need help with my Anemone My Green BTA Anemone every morning spits out his guts and shrinks once i turn on the tank lighting and then during the day it will grow again to about 16 inches in diameter i been told to feed it once a week Mysis Schrimp but this morning its done it worse i have had it in my tank for 3 days. Is this normal. lunch time onwards and night time it looks great but once i turn the lights on in the morning it seems to panic

11-09-2008, 08:11 AM	#10 (permalink)
wanareef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: OR Posts: 18 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: BTA assistance JP Are your lights on a timer? And if so do they all come on at once or one at a time? When I had the roses and the green BTA, I had the lights on a timer but the antinics all four of them came on but one at a time then the MH's one at a time. Same for sundown, just reverse. But mine never did what yours is doing, only after a meal, never when the lights come on. For feeding our roses and greenie, I used silversides injected with vitamins and stuffed with a little garlic. Sometimes a half raw shrimp with the vitamins and garlic or the blender mush. But since it inflates and the color is good, I would just keep an eye on it sometimes they do wierd things.

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