Bleached out RBTA

[BCT182]

Hello everyone , I've got a BIG question. I have a reef tank that I've had it set up for about 4 months, my question is, when got my Rose bubble tip it was very dark red. Within two weeks it had almost turned completly clear with pink tips. I increased lighting from 4watts per gallon, to 7, to 9.2 watts per gallon. I have fed cyclopseese or something like that, DT's, krill, brine, mysis, and formula and nothing changed. He appears to be otherwise healthy. Hes very sticky to the touch. Has anyone else ever had this problem?
I'm Brand new to the hobby but Im having a blast, and by the way, ReefFrontiers is Great. Thanks
Brett

 

[gkeong]

I have mine under Halides and it is doing great. The color comes up to a deeper red when the RBTA has been exposed to my lights for a while.

I have noticed that when my PCs comes on (half an hour before halides), the color is pinkish. Maybe it's not the wattage of your lights, but the intensity? I may be wrong.

HTH,
Gary

 

[iamjosh]

It was very unhappy with lighting it will probly move / split.. you can try moving it under a cave.. depending on how its attached you can use ice in a bottle to get the foot to let go ot just a small (low flow) power head to get him to let go and then dirrect him to the cave or new area.. Good Luck.

Also have you tried feeding silver sliders?

HTH,
-josh

 

[LakeEd]

Brett,

I have a Rose BTA also, and am only running PC lighting on my tank. It hasn't lost any color, and is extreamly happy. I do feel it every other evening a Silversides (found at Petco & Petsmart), then on the off evenings, I feed a 1/4" x 3" slice of fresh Squid (Found in my Local Supermarket... but it is an AWESOME store, so this may be harder to find). From what information I've found thru the various Forums online... they are not only filter/light feeders, but meat eaters also... and directly putting the Silversides into their sticky tenicals at least every other evening, this may help improve the coloration of yours.

Yes, they will tend to move around from time to time... but hopefully yours will eventually find a place in your tank that it likes. That depends on the different BTA... the correct texture for its foot, flow rate it likes, lighting, availability of food... all those it will move and look for, and may even seem to of found "Its Spot"... only to move around again in 2 months.

Try direct feeding of the Silversides every other evening, and see if this doesn't help improve his/her coloration for you. I have a large BTA, so I feed the entire Silversides... you may need to cut one in 1/2 before feeding.

Hope all this darn ramboling of mine helps some! Best wishes!!!
Ed

 

[BCT182]

He guys, thanks for all the great input. You know, the funny thing is it will accept any type of food. The clowns on the other hand will pick sliversides out, and carry them across the tank. I did read that if the zooanthellae is dying off that the rose bubble will bleach out. Is there a way to build this stuff up? I guess all anemone's have an underline brown base of zooanthellae , so with out it, a rose bubble is pink instead of dark red.

 

[Angelscrx]

There are white BTA though aren't there?

Hey lakeEd do you think a RBTA would be fine in my tank? I have a 55g with two PCs and two Actinics.

Thanks

 

[BCT182]

Um.. My understanding is any white is bad....

 

[LakeEd]

There "ARE" white Anemones. They are not BTA's (bubble tip Anemones)... but there are some that are white that you may find at your LFS (Local Fish Store) for home Aquariums. Those, usually are VERY white, and at the very tips of each stock, is a light purple, or pinkish dot.

As for Bubble Tip's... when they start getting white, or Bleaching... that is usually a sign that its not getting something that it requires to be fully healthy. Usually, thats a lack of intensity in the lighting. However, as in everything else to do with our hobby, it can be caused by a number of things... water quality, being one of the more common causes.

All Anemones require very good quality water to thrive. They aren't happy at all if your Nitrates, or Phosphates are anywhere near high. This may also be part of the reason your Anemone is bleaching Brett... so test your water. More than likely, its a combination of several things that your piticular Anemone isn't happy with.

As for feeding the Silversides (and/or squid, as I do). Yes, I have one heck of a time with my White-Strip Maroon clown wanting to "Clean" its house, and remove them when I add. What Ive started doing now... is I feed my Anemone 1st... then immediately as I pull my hand out of the tank, I'm feeding my fish. This gives the Anemone about 3 to 5 minutes to get a really good grip, wrapping around its food... so my Clown can't remove it. There are times of course, when even my bestest made plans fail... and I'll notice my other fish in the tank with an Instant "Special" meal. *Grinz* That doesn't happen every evening, so I just figure something "Special" for the rest of them once in a while won't starve my Anemone... and let them enjoy.

Ed

 

[LakeEd]

There are white BTA though aren't there?

Hey lakeEd do you think a RBTA would be fine in my tank? I have a 55g with two PCs and two Actinics.

Thanks

Angelscrx,

Each tank is different Angelscrx. Depending on what you have in your 55, and the size of BTA you choose, YES, it could do really well. Bubble Tip's are most often chosen for our Aquariums, because they CAN survive with just the PC lighting. Of all the Anemones, they require the lease ammount of light to survive.

Of course, "survive" can be a subjective word... and even the BTA's do much better with more intense lighting. They do afterall have the photo sensitive cells.

What I've seen with my RBTA... she likes the light, and after floating around my tank checking out several different possible places to rest... she chose one about 1/2 way up my tank. I have to guess this was where she found the lighting, flow, textrue for its foot... that it perfered in my tank.

As I mentioned in my last post... all Anemones need good water quality. If you would enjoy adding one to your tank, check your Nitrates & Phosphates. I would recommend your Nitrates be at least below 5, and hopefully that will also help your Phosphates to be below .25 as well.

I'm stating this, because there are several of us out there, that have almost a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) type tanks... as we convert over to a Reef Tank. And, being a fish tank 1st... at least in my case, my Nitrates were normally between 10 and 20. I've since added a Fuge where I keep Chato, and my Nitrate levels aren't detectable now.

Once again, I'm sure I'm being too wordy here, please forgive me all.

Ed

 

[Angelscrx]

LakeEd, you were not to wordy you are very helpful thanks. I will wait a little longer my nitrates are good it's my phosphates that are causing me headaches right now. I am working on several solutions though. Thanks again.

 

[mojoreef]

Anenomes have the ability to rebuild thier zoox populations, just concentrate on your water quality and let the anenome go where it feels best. Alot of bubble tips will go into caves or under rocks to live and will extend themselves outward during the lighted periods. As per the clowns taking the food out I wouldnt worry much much about it, the anenome will get scrapes from the clown eating and will also get the food that gets pooped out.

Mike

 

[LakeEd]

LakeEd, you were not to wordy you are very helpful thanks. I will wait a little longer my nitrates are good it's my phosphates that are causing me headaches right now. I am working on several solutions though. Thanks again.

Angelscrx,

Anytime! I happen to really enjoy both the color, and the movement in my tank from my RBTA... and I'm sure once you get everything ready in your tank, you will also!

Ed

 

[Mikeydog]

Angelscrx. As for your phos.. Are you using an RO/DI unit. I would. The tri-cities dosses it's water pretty good, and there are a lot of harmfull chemicals in it for fish.. You may also have to put some phosguard in your tank. My understanding on phosphates is that if they get into your tank (from water and food), then they are very hard to remove because they kind of soak into the rocks, then once you remove all of the phosphates from the water, it leaches back out of the rock into the water..

Thanks
Mike

 

[Angelscrx]

Angelscrx. As for your phos.. Are you using an RO/DI unit. I would. The tri-cities dosses it's water pretty good, and there are a lot of harmfull chemicals in it for fish.. You may also have to put some phosguard in your tank. My understanding on phosphates is that if they get into your tank (from water and food), then they are very hard to remove because they kind of soak into the rocks, then once you remove all of the phosphates from the water, it leaches back out of the rock into the water..

Thanks
Mike

Hmmm that's something I hadn't heard before about the leaching. I use DI but I don't have RO I am looking at buying a unit when I save up the money. I tested my make up water and it tested 0 phosphates. The phosphates in my tank aren't that high at 0.1 I have a product called PhosBan in my sump now and will see how that works. I have a flower pot coral that is dying on me and I think this is the cause of my Phosphates. If it is should I take it out? Thanks

 

[BCT182]

Well my water quality is good, and has been good for a while. I figured I'd take the step and I just go halide's so, if this doesn't do it then...... Anyone wanna buy a sick anemone? Just kidding. If lighting is the problem, how long could it take for the halides to help restore the zooanthellae?
Brett

 

[LakeEd]

Brett,

I only have PC lighting here, so I wouldn't be a lot of help in answering that about the Halides helping. From what research I did before choosing to have my BTA though, when they bleach, they may take a couple of months to fully get back their full "deep" coloration again. The important thing would be to see that its eating, and otherwise looking healthy.

When you do switch your tank over to Metal Halides, I would recommend doing so carefully. By that, I wouldn't instantly have them running the same time period you do your PC lighting now. Its much more intense, and you can put your tank into a kinda "shock" with the higher lighting. I'm sure many people have switched over their tanks, and this may be a really good question to ask in a post all by itself.

Ed

 

[BCT182]

Thanks for the tips Ed!

 

[LakeEd]

Brett,

Something else you may wish to ask about when switching over to your MH lights... but I believe the highter intensity lighting in your tank will quite possiblly produce an "algae bloom" in your tank. Its just something that will happen, nothing to really frett over, but something you should know to expect and watch for.

Ed

 

[cheeks69]

The same exact thing happened to my RBTA when I switched to MH. The anemone was in a deep crevace in the rock and wouldn't move so I was unable to slowly acclimate it to the new lighting, so it changed color to a very deep maroon color and now it's a very light pink in color and it's doing very well so I wouldn't be concerned at all. AFA feeding:

"Underfeed, underfeed, don't feed! Underfeed, underfeed, don't feed! Most losses in captive systems are the result of over-feeding. How many more times do I feel I need to write this? Bunches! Some anemones have been kept for YEARS without any intentional external feeding. Know your stock! Many anemones (especially larger species) are detritivorous (a polite term meaning they eat poop), planktivorous, and largely chemoautotrophic/photosynthesizing species/individuals that hobbyists try to over-stuff with meaty/prepared foods. My bid for largest cause of loss of anemones is the consequences (lack of oxygen, hydrogen and other sulfide production...) from over-feeding. Cut it out! Within normal temperatures and other conditions, most can and do do well on weekly feedings. If you're going on vacation, leave them alone.

For almost all varieties kept, an occasional (weekly or so) perfusion (wash?) of live brine shrimp, prepared mash of frozen or dried food, or frappe' (as in with your blender) of "fresh" marine food meant for human consumption (shellfish, shrimp, langouste, not-so-oily fish) with or without supplementation. Temporarily turn off your particulate filters and squirt the food onto their tentacular surface.

Some authors suggest the use of beef and other foods unlikely to be encountered in the wild. I do not."


http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anempt2.htm

Here's a bad pic of mine it's a little out of focus but you get the idea.