Need Help with BTA

[duc]

Seems to be a rash of BTA troubles.
First pic is two days ago, it looked healthy then went under the rock it is on then this morning on the sand. I moved it back to the rock and this is what it looks like. Any ideas? Is it a goner? Al my parameters on near perfect, Nitrate is about 10-15 other then that everything is spot on. Salinity 1.021
BTA was purchased on Friday so it is a new addition, is this just a new phase or......

[john]

My wife's did the same thing when it died.

[duc]

My wife's did the same thing when it died.
So death is your prediction? I am sure hoping that is not the case but we will see. How long until it died? When I moved mine to the rock it re-attached and closed up a bit, the tips also are getting a tad bigger.

[john]

When ours died, it basically pushed alot of white stringy stuff out of its mouth and the tentacles shrunk to almost nothing. Hope yours is different though.

[Richard]

I would suggest you raise your salinity to 1.024.

[NaCl_H2O]

With Nitrate at 15, I would do a 15%-20% water change, and your SG is a litle lo IMO, I would push it up to 1.023 over a period of a 2-3 days.

What's the tank size and lighting, and what's your temp?

Do you feed the BTA anything?

[duc]

With Nitrate at 15, I would do a 15%-20% water change, and your SG is a litle lo IMO, I would push it up to 1.023 over a period of a 2-3 days.

What's the tank size and lighting, and what's your temp?

Do you feed the BTA anything?
10-15 range so your thinking a water chg, will get on that shortly.

So do either of you have a suggestion on how to slowly raise it? Take a gallon out then add a plus-ed up gallon a gallon at a time?

125 with PC (384W) temp was 78-80 with the PC it is now 80-82.

Haven't feed anything to it since it got home but I tried to this morning, mysid. Suggestions?

Couple new pics, good sign or just part of the death cycle?

[NaCl_H2O]

Since you have a sump, I would just add a little salt at a time into a turbulent flow area in the sump, maybe 1/2 - 1 cup a few times a day? Make sure your SG test equip is in good working order before you start and check it 30 min after adding, and just before adding more.

And Richard is right, 1.024 is a better SG target

Temp sounds OK, might need to place the BTA up high with PCs?

A small piece of raw shrimp (like from HEB) - a couple about the size of a pea, fully thawed in a little saltwater. Mysis may be a little small. You can also get frozen Krill at the LFS - our's likes that :)

[duc]

Since you have a sump, I would just add a little salt at a time into a turbulent flow area in the sump, maybe 1/2 - 1 cup a few times a day? Make sure your SG test equip is in good working order before you start and check it 30 min after adding, and just before adding more.

And Richard is right, 1.024 is a better SG target

Temp sounds OK, might need to place the BTA up high with PCs?

A small piece of raw shrimp (like from HEB) - a couple about the size of a pea, fully thawed in a little saltwater. Mysis may be a little small. You can also get frozen Krill at the LFS - our's likes that :)

Adding more salt right now, thanks.

BTA is approx 9-10" from the actual light itself I could raise it 3" more but it will move where it wants to ultimately so it is out of my control. I have some HEB shrimp and will try that as soon as I am done typing. Fed Krill last night but don't know if it got any or not.

Looks like I wont make the meeting today seeing as I am dealing with this right now.

[NaCl_H2O]

Use a Turkey baster and deliver the shrip/krill directly into the BTA's tentacles - if it is hungry & healthy enough, it should grab onto the flesh & pull it into its mouth.

[Instar]

Since you have a sump, I would just add a little salt at a time into a turbulent flow area in the sump, maybe 1/2 - 1 cup a few times a day? Make sure your SG test equip is in good working order before you start and check it 30 min after adding, and just before adding more.

Do NOT do it this way. Never do it that way. Do it right, mix it up in a bucket that is dedicated to salt mixing only. (Sorry NaCl_H2O)

You can just replace evaporated water with salt water mixed up already over the course of a couple days and that will get it up there.

For a 125, you should add some more actinic lighting and use samll water changes to gradually reduce the nitrates. That plus increasing the salinity of the change water will also gradually accomplish your goal. I have seen things kept in 1.021, but, thats not normal for anemones. It was probably a lot higher at the store and that means a longer drip acclimation if you drop it into your salinity. And even then, it still might shock it as it looks like is the case.

There is not much sense in feeding it until it assumes a feeding posture and that is not while stressing over the salinity shock of the move to your tank. A feeding posture will be with tentacles open, mouth tightly closed with the guts inside - no white inside muscle tissue showing.

[Tim Marvin]

Raise Salinity, and you have to get the nitrates down.... Anemones are very easily killed be high nitrates. I wouldn't put them into a system higher than 10 max. Do some water changes. It looks better, and will probably survive and do fine if you follow the advice given in these responses.

[duc]

Since you have a sump, I would just add a little salt at a time into a turbulent flow area in the sump, maybe 1/2 - 1 cup a few times a day? Make sure your SG test equip is in good working order before you start and check it 30 min after adding, and just before adding more.

Do NOT do it this way. Never do it that way. Do it right, mix it up in a bucket that is dedicated to salt mixing only. (Sorry NaCl_H2O)

You can just replace evaporated water with salt water mixed up already over the course of a couple days and that will get it up there.

For a 125, you should add some more actinic lighting and use samll water changes to gradually reduce the nitrates. That plus increasing the salinity of the change water will also gradually accomplish your goal. I have seen things kept in 1.021, but, thats not normal for anemones. It was probably a lot higher at the store and that means a longer drip acclimation if you drop it into your salinity. And even then, it still might shock it as it looks like is the case.

There is not much sense in feeding it until it assumes a feeding posture and that is not while stressing over the salinity shock of the move to your tank. A feeding posture will be with tentacles open, mouth tightly closed with the guts inside - no white inside muscle tissue showing.

Here is my light description:
Dual Daylight and Dual Actinic Compact Fluorescent bulbs
Is this not enough? Forgive my ignorance but which ones are the Actinic bulbs?
Clif

[Tim Marvin]

I just saw your lighting post. On a 125 you need around 250w- 500w of PC for anemones to do well. Mine are all kept under halides and split regularly.

[NaCl_H2O]

Do NOT do it this way. Never do it that way. Do it right, mix it up in a bucket that is dedicated to salt mixing only. (Sorry NaCl_H2O)

Instar, no "Sorry" necessary! You obviously have lots more experience than most!! I have used this method in the past for minor SG adjustments and haven't noticed any ill efects? Then again, I'm also the idiot that drove my SG to 1.028 when my PinPoint monitor went south!

Clif - I had almost identical lighting (72" Orbit, 4x96w PCs) on my old 125g system. Anemonies would do OK if I could keep them in the upper third of the tank, but as you said, they go where they want to!

Do you have a glass top on the tank? That will also reduce the light penetrating the water.

[Tim Marvin]

4/96w now we are talking.. I was afraid he may have had a couple 65w PC's.....Lighting should be fine I agree. If you are carefull to just add a little salt at a time to the sump you'll be OK there also. I would mix salt water and use it as top-off though, that would be my prefered method.

[Tim Marvin]

SInce the anemone is already stressed you may end up with two.. I have done some pretty mean things to these anemones in an effort to split them, they are pretty hardy as far as anemones go. I beleive it will do fine. I would do a 10-15 gallon water change tonight and put in a salinity of around 1.028 slowly. This will bring up the overall tank salinity to around 1.022/1.023 if you do that again in a week or two you'll be at 1.024/1.026 which is your target level.

[duc]

I have 384W now and I have 4 T-5's not being used. Should I add them? I just read the Actinic are the blue bulbs, I could remove the whites and put two blues in each adding 96W of additional Actinic.
God idea bad idea or am I fine the way I am?
I would rather buy a 60-72" and add it as a single bulb than add two stand alone fixtures in addition to what I have.

[Tim Marvin]

I like the T-5's I would add them..

[matt]

Lighting is not what's stressing this anemone; it's water quality and salinity. 80-82F is okay for temp. Maybe as you're doing the things that have been suggested you might do some real reading about keeping anemones in aquariums; it's not an easy task, and the vast majority of anemones caught in the ocean die shortly after being placed in aquariums. Here's an introductory article about host anemones to get you started:
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html

Yours is E. quadricolor, and it's definitely the best choice as far as survival in aquariums goes; maybe yours was even tank raised. But you're still going to have to learn the basics about it's habitat and dietary needs. Good luck!

[duc]

Lighting is not what's stressing this anemone; it's water quality and salinity. 80-82F is okay for temp. Maybe as you're doing the things that have been suggested you might do some real reading about keeping anemones in aquariums; it's not an easy task, and the vast majority of anemones caught in the ocean die shortly after being placed in aquariums. Here's an introductory article about host anemones to get you started:
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html

Yours is E. quadricolor, and it's definitely the best choice as far as survival in aquariums goes; maybe yours was even tank raised. But you're still going to have to learn the basics about it's habitat and dietary needs. Good luck!
Thanks for the link, I have been reading about them and still have a lot to learn.