Whats Wrong With My Rbta?

[milkton]

I have had on and off problems with this red bubble tip. And for some odd reason, nothing is wrong with my green bubble tip... Right now, after wat seffie told me it was anastomising (shedding of tentacles) (i dont know why) it has hidden into my rockwork and looks terrible for the past week. In the day, it would come out a bit, only showing the tentacles but not completely out and healthy. My water parameters: calcium- 420 SG- 1.025 pH- 8.3 nitrates- 0-5 phosphates should be really low since i use rowaphos. I place it in the middle where it gets alot of light (6 ft tank [3]x250w MH) and small flow that only blows its tentacles in 1 direction - is that the problem?

This anemone is an anemone cloned in captivity so there must be a huge problem for it to be stressed. it is being hosted by a tomato clownfish that hosts the rbta and gbta. it gets fed 3 times a week with frozen krill. the tank is a 150G which i dose supplements like calcium and trace element supplements.

Anyone have an idea of wahts going on?

Thanks

 

[seffieuk]

Oh no, you are stil having problems - I had hoped no news was good news.

BTA are not keen on too much light, the metal halides could have stressed it, however I would have thought it would have moved lower in the tank. Is it bleaching?

Imo you should be feeding your nems once a week with things like a prawn, cockles, silversides but I cant imagine this is the problem unless the nem is bleaching?

They dont like a lot of flow and will hide away if there is too much, nems can vary, one may like more flow than others -if you say the tenticles are only flowing in one direction the flow is too much!

Can I see a photo please?

Seffie x

 

[milkton]

thanks seffie in advance, it seems like your always helping me

nope, its not bleaching, it just looks deflated and stressed at times more often than not. I have always had the metal halides and when it was cloned, the owner had metal halides so dont think thats the problem.

ok, ill start feeding less, my lfs told me to feed 3 times a week, i guess they just wanted me to buy more food lol.

oops didnt quite make it clear, i meant that the tentacles are only getting flow from one direction (right to left), it is visible that there is little flow because you cant see the tentacles being blown and flowing in 1 direction.

Thanks

EDIT - forgot to add that when you told me about anastomising and i researched about it. it didnt seem like much of a negative thing but once my nem started anastomising, thats when it started looking bad and getting stressed out.

 

[seffieuk]

The 'droopy' photo is a perfectly healthy anemone, they just dont all look the same When do you get back from holiday, I would really like to see a photo?

Is the anemone closed up?
Can you see strings coming out of its mouth?
Is it feeding now, I know it was?
Is it open in the day and closed at night?
Has it changed colour?
Is it now settled in one place?

Seffie x

ps I went to a lfs yesterday and they had a tank full of bleached nems - it was heartbreaking

pps I'm sorry but you will have to remove the link 'droopy' as it links to another forum

 

[milkton]

i get back on sept 5th so its guna be about another 2 more weeks . the nem is always hiding in the back of the rockwork, deflated- very little times has the nem inflated and even so it would be just a bit. It wont accept food when it was inflated a bit. it looks like the nem is slowly creeping to another location. There is nothing coming out of its mouth. It hasnt changed color at all. Ill have to get back to you with the open in day closed at night thing cause i havnt really noticed how it was at night. But it is usually deflated in the day.

this incident happened recently, before it was really healthy it seemed. not sure what happened. i had this nem for the past 4-5 months??

 

[seffieuk]

Could someone take some photos and email me them, I can then see and post them up for you?

Seffie x

ps I have just had a thought, you are sure it is a BTA, it couldnt possibly be a long tipped anemone? If it could be you may have chemical warfare going on eeekkk

 

[milkton]

sorry seffie, my dad doesnt know how to upload the pics to the computer and send them. he barely ever uses the computer, so there really isnt a way to give a picture untill i get back. but its pretty easy to imagine, he just tells me that when it looks stressed, it deflates in its hole, while at times it inflates but not fully and its only inflated in its hole. its tentacles arent sticky nor is it latching onto the food so i cant feed it either.

to tell if its a bta or lta, im supposed to look at the feet right? if its tan-brown color then its a lta while a bta is red?? cause now that i think of it, it might have a tan-brown color foot. if so, should i tell him to throw a bag of activated carbon till i get back?

thanks

 

[seffieuk]

Well no, BTA can have either red or brown pedal (feet) the only way to tell the diffference reliably is by the absence of verrucae on the base, verrucae are like little bumps. So, if you were looking at the Nem from the top you would see the tentacles, if you looked underneath you would just see a smooth column leading to a smooth pedal of either red or brownish. Not sure if I have explained that very well If your nem has Verrucae it is not a BTA - maybe explain it to your dad as measles looking but on the underneath not the tentacles as BTA sometimes get like a white spotty rash on their tenticles - oh gawd, have I just confused you more!?

Yes, I would get some activated carbon in there to be on the safe side

Seffie x

ps just thought, didnt you upload a photo when he first went in, I will go take and look

 

[milkton]

OH YEAH! i forgot about that first picture i still have on photobucket- this is how it looked like when i first got it

i just looked up verrucae on google and my anemone doesnt seem to have those.

thanks

 

[seffieuk]

So at least we know you have a bubble tip then phew - do you have another tank? I am starting to wonder if maybe you have two bubbletips from different parts of the world and they dont like each other Clones usually get on well together but it might be they are playing chemical warfre. Think I would be tempted to take out the sickly nem to another tank and see what happens, at least then if it dies its not in your main display but there is also a chance it might perk up in the fresh water

Seffie x

 

[milkton]

argh! my dad just turned the 65G into a fish only tank. I have no where else to put this guy, but i can setup a 10 gallon - just that it wont have proper lights. is it possible for different nems to get used to each eachother over time and become tolerable? cause if so, i can perform more frequent water changes and activated carbon untill they get used to each other

 

[seffieuk]

Yes, it is possible - I think that is probably your only answer Its what you could have done it you had another tank with lighting. You would have used water from each tank and put it in the other tank and slowly build their tolerance.

Run the carbon and fingers crossed

Seffie x