Anemone Bleaching ?

[shadofax]

Well I have a question about my anemone. I have had it for two weeks and recently it has started to lose color. It started out a nice dark brown with a nice green tint. I left for Thanksgiving and when I came back to check on it (Tuesday to Saturday) the anemone had turned a light brown. From Saturday to Monday it now has white tips but is still fully expanded. I should also note that for the first week and a half there was no noticalbe change in color on the aneone. The change in color has started from the tips and is working its way down to the base.

I have the anemone in a tank with a single sponge filter with a Dolphin 5 star air pump powering it. I also have a MJ 900 that is well proteced for water movement. The heater is a 300W titanium heater proteced by PVC with holes drilled in it. For lighting I have it in a window that gets full sun every day and then 2x 20W 5000K 93CRI light bulbs. The tank is a 20L and I do 25% water changes once a week to keep everything in check.

I feed the anemone every day during the week by turning off the flow and spot feeding mysid shrimp. It closes fairly quickly and usually eats all of the first shot of mysid and a majority of the second shot. I then remove any leftover food with a net and discard.

This is a propagation tank so in terms of live rock and sand there is none. I have a few small pieces of rock in the tank incase the anemone wants to attach to a rock and other than that it is a bare tank.

The history of the anemone is unknow but I do know that it was at Premium Aquatics for about 2 weeks under metal halides in a very healthy system. I know that it was taken care of well at PA I was just wondering that if it was brown under MH and then putting it under NO lighting with sun through a window could be starving the anemone. This could point to wild collection high on the reef.

Do you think I should change anything or just keep feeding and hope the bleaching stops soon before it is too late. At the current rate I would guess complete bleaching by Friday and possible Saturday at the latest.

Please Help

Thanks

 

[wrightme43]

Unless you are living near the equator sunlight thru a window is just not going to do. Even then the aneome is only going to be getting direct light for a short period eveyday.
It needs at minimum, compact flor or t-5ho.
Prefered M.H.
Aneome need a VERY well established system with VERY VERY high water quality.
A sponge filter is not going to work.
In my mind at least live rock, and a skimmer, with quality lighting.
I aint knocking you. That one is probley a dead one unless you have a thriving reef to move it into.

 

[shadofax]

Actually according to Calfo and several other reliable sources all you need for BTA prop tank is a few NO lights, a spong filter and lift tubes for water movement. I have seen photo documentation of succussful setups using only the ones mentioned above. The aquarium has stable water parameters and gets frequent water changes to keep water quality high.

I do have a few PC's and even some spare MH's laying around but I do not want to put more stress on the anemone. I know Calfo has said several times that the worst thing you can do for an aclimating invert is move it often and change its environment. I just wanted some expert advice on if it is time to make some changes or risk losing the anemone. I was not sure if the anemone would stop bleaching once it aclimated to the lower light and then recover some of the lost algae.

 

[wrightme43]

I apoligize for answering your question with something you didnt want to hear. I am sure you will figure it out on your own.

 

[LakeEd]

I would guess that your anemone is slowly starving for more light. It "was" under MH lighting, now much dimmer light... and bleaching. To me, that is pointing to starvation. I have seen many that live for months "white". Doesn't mean they are thriving, just holding on. If possible, see about adding more light over that tank.

Also, what are your tanks water tests like? Specifically Nitrate & Phosphate??? I know most anemone's don't do well with just about any detectible Phosphate, and definately want to keep things under 10 on your Nitrates. Not having any Live Rock for filtration purposes in that tank may cause your Nitrate levels to be higher. The food you are feeding your anemone will still decay.

 

[shadofax]

wrightme43: It is not that I don't want to hear it I just know that there are some untrue statements in your post. Numerous people have had great success with 4 x 40W NO lights over a 75 gallon tank are are producing dozens of cuttings. I know that light is an issue bud did not want the common response of use MH's. I was looking more for guidance on if I should up the light and if so how to minimize stress on the anemone (i.e. shorter photoperiod to start and slowinly increasing or just blast it with light to feed the algea).

LakeEd: thanks for the response. Yeah I figured it was underilluminated but was not 100% sure. Do you think I should just swap out the NO's for PC's and if so 1 or 2 55W PC's? As for water quality. S.G. 1.025, PO4=0ppm,
NO3=5ppm. I know that the mysid will rot but I try to remove as many as possible to minimize this. I hope the weekly 25% water change will help this. I am going to do everything I can too keep the anemone from bleaching further. Do you think just adding a large amound of light like from a PC could do more harm than good from stress.

Thanks,

 

[LakeEd]

Shadofax,

I would think that over a 20L, even 1 55W PC would be more light than you currently have, and that should help. Just keep in mind, this isn't a condition that occured over night, and won't be one that fixes itself quickly either.

Your tests look good (PO4 & NO3), so that doesn't seem to be a problem right now. Just keep monitoring them as you increase your light... and hopefully you will notice the color returning slowly.

Keep us informed!

 

[shadofax]

Thanks Ed, the strange thing is the color changed over th course of 5 days. Does this seem rapid for a bleaching event. Also the whole anemone is not bleached only about 1/4 - 1/2 of the tips so hopefully it will make a good recovery. I will add the PC tomorrow and keep everyone updated.

Thanks,

 

[LakeEd]

I would view a change that quick not to be a good thing. When I noted any change, it was over weeks, if not months. I would just upgrade the lights as you are planning, then keep an eye on things for now... with finger's crossed!

 

[MikeS]

While BTA's have demonstrated the ability to tolerate lower light conditions, this doesn't mean it's the best environment for them. Also, any claims of "success" keeping them under low light or other less than ideal situations need to be taken with a grain of salt. These creatures have a very slow metabolisim, and problems may not always be immediately apparent, or stongly pronounced.

If you are seeing that rapid of a change in your anemone's appearance, something is probably drastically wrong....as stated, an upgrade in lights is in order, and keep a close eye on your water quality...

MikeS

 

[Maxx]

You never out and out say it, but I;m assuming this is a BTA?
Is it panning for light?
If it is then you might be short on light. If its not panning, (Stretching out/up for the most light possible), then you may have the anemone just reverting to its natural coloration. If it was under high light before, its entirely possible it was carrying more Zoox than it is now.

Can you take a pic of it?

Nick

 

[morgan]

u r also over feeding the anenome imo they are also not carnivours by natuer
i keep 2 under 4 NO fluros

 

[shadofax]

Sorry, Yes it is a BTA and no it is not panning for light. It is always fully expanded but never stretches up for more light. I am just worried because the natural color of any anemone is not clear/white. Is it possible for it to expell too much Zoox by accident and then stop. The reason I ask is because my shift in color seems to have stoped this morning. It was just an incident that happened while I was gone for 4 days over thanksgiving break. The shift was great over a two day period but has seemed to stop now.

Thanks for the info on feeding. I will cut back to 3 times a week and see what that does.

Also with MikeS's sugestion: just in case something is drastically wrong I am going to do a 25% water change every day this week and see if that makes things better. Just because I am not detecting something doesn't show everything is fine chemically. The water changes should emliminate that possibility.

If the color change seems to continue I have PC's on hand and am ready to add them when needed.

Thanks

 

[shadofax]

Also I dont know that it matters but the anemone has nice bubble tips. I have read that a stressed, unhappy BTA will look stringy but the anemone has huge bubble tips and seems to be very happy. Will anemones seem happy even through a bleaching event.

 

[Maxx]

Not typically.
Let the animal's behavior guide you in this instance. If its acting normal, not panning for light, has healthy bubble tips, has a normal feeding repsonse, then you should be fine.

Nick

 

[shadofax]

Thanks Nick,

Since the last post the anemone seems to be coloring up again. This seems really strange to me. About half of what I thought to be bleaching has turned brown again and the rest is starting to turn green. Hopefully I was just freaking out and it is just starting to color up. I will keep everyone informed.

Thanks,

 

[wrightme43]

To my knowledge there are no untrue statements in my post. It is very simple, straightforward, and what works for me, and many other people.
Zooanthele acclimated to high light M.H. systems, do not do well when transfered to sunlight thru a window in northerern lattitudes. 40 watts of N.O. output flor lights are not enough of supplement to make up for this.
Water quality in a tank where you are feeding a anemone, with no live rock, no live sand, and a sponge filter is not going to fly.
Again nothing I have said is untrue, or incorrect.
At most I understand a 30% efficency of converting food to flesh or energy. That means 70% of your feeding is being expelled, and acted on by bacteria in the sponge filter. Think about what that does to Ph. Ammonia level, and Nitrate level.
Anemone are best kept in reef aquariums, high light, low food input, clean water. Its been proven over and over again.

 

[shadofax]

Keeping an anemone in a reef aquarium is by no means optimum for propagation purposes. I would agree that keeping an anemone in a well established aquarium is great but you cannot propagate an anemone this is not happy, healthy, and stable. Having said this, there are many people out there propagating anemones in tanks that have a sponge filter, skimmer, lift tubes (or protected PH's), 4 x 40W NO lights and a heater and that is it. An establised reef is not the only way to keep an anemone happy and thriving. With frequent water changes and a close eye on water quality I should be able to keep a thriving colony of anemonies in my tank.

Also, sorry if I came across rude, that was not my intent

 

[shadofax]

The 4 x 40W NO lighting is for 55 - 75 gallon tanks

 

[MikeS]

you cannot propagate an anemone this is not happy, healthy, and stable. Having said this, there are many people out there propagating anemones in tanks that have a sponge filter, skimmer, lift tubes (or protected PH's), 4 x 40W NO lights and a heater and that is it.

Actually, some anemones will split or propegate under less than ideal situations as a survival tecnique...think of it this way...two anemone clones will have a better chance of surviving than one alone will. Under "ideal" situations they don't always tend to split as often, as creating another clone can potentially create a competitor for food, space, light, ect...excess feeding can of course help them to split, as the competition for food is not as great in that situation. In less than ideal situations, often I think you are seeing splitting as a survival skill rather than an indicator of optimal conditions for the anemones health....

MikeS