Almost Dead BTA treatment progress

[BelleReef]

My first rainbow BTA started out beautiful, but quickly declined over 2 weeks to the point where it was barely attached to a rock. I decided to treat him with ciprofloxacin according to @OrionN protocol (link below). Cipro treatment for anemones is hotly debated, so I’m going to post it’s progress in case it helps others. I believe in this treatment based on progress pictures I’ve seen so I’m hoping for the best. I am treating it in an acclimation box with a rubble rock, inside a 5 gallon hospital tank with an aquaclear HOB and BRS heater, and have adjusted Cipro dosage according to 5 gallon tank size.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/protocol-for-using-antibiotics-to-treat-infected-anemones.758495/

 

[BelleReef]

Anemone when I brought it home:

1st day of treatment. Anemone barely clinging to rock, mouth open, no tentacles extended, partially bleached.

Day 3 of treatment. Firmly attached to rock, mouth closed, no tentacles extended, partially bleached. Expelling lots of brown waste that I’m guessing is zooxanthellae? Has a lump toward the bottom right of its mouth that appears to be its flesh.

 

[BelleReef]

Day 4 of treatment (today). Little to no change, appears to be slightly more inflated than day 3, has stopped expelling brown waste, lump still there. I will keep you all up to date on his progress in the coming days.

 

[BelleReef]

Day 5: no obvious signs of improvement, lump still there. Expelled more waste and deflated after picture was taken, but his mouth closed back up after which is promising.

 

[Danroo]

Any idea what happened to it?

 

[BelleReef]

Any idea what happened to it?

It appeared healthy at my LFS and was fine for the first few days so I don’t think it was anything it came with. The trouble started when it had trouble expelling it’s waste after a feeding. It’s mouth was gaping open for the whole day trying to expel the pellet. I’m not sure if this is the cause since it’s my first anemone, but I’ve read that sometimes they can have trouble expelling food that is too large which can lead to it decomposing within the anemone and causing an infection.

 

[blaxsun]

Did it ever make it into the display tank or has it been in quarantine all this time?

 

[D-Nak]

It's common for BTAs to act strange for the first week or two. It looked fine in the first image. I'm guessing that it just needed time to adjust to your tank. They typically need to adjust their zooxanthellae population to match the lighting of the tank, and will oftentimes expel the zoox that they don't need.

I'm guessing that within in a week, even without Cipro treatment, it'll bounce back.

A couple of questions:

1. What else do you have in your tank?
2. How long has it been set up?

I ask these questions to rule out any sort of allelopathy and issues associated with a new-ish tank.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Are there any other anemones in the system ?

 

[BelleReef]

Did it ever make it into the display tank or has it been in quarantine all this time?

It was in an acclimation box inside DT for 24 hours, and then I released it into DT and it attached to one of my rocks.

 

[BelleReef]

It's common for BTAs to act strange for the first week or two. It looked fine in the first image. I'm guessing that it just needed time to adjust to your tank. They typically need to adjust their zooxanthellae population to match the lighting of the tank, and will oftentimes expel the zoox that they don't need.

I'm guessing that within in a week, even without Cipro treatment, it'll bounce back.

A couple of questions:

1. What else do you have in your tank?
2. How long has it been set up?

I ask these questions to rule out any sort of allelopathy and issues associated with a new-ish tank.

I tried to leave him to adjust but once it was mostly detached from the rock and its mouth was gaping fully open I decided to put it in QT to protect the rest of my tank in case it died. I’m hoping it will still bounce back.

My tank is 10 months old, parameters all okay. I have 2 clowns, tuxedo urchin, blue leg hermit, 2 leather corals, frogspawn, 2 favia, cyphastrea, 3 zoas, stylophora, and montipora digitata. There hasn’t been any direct contact/stings with the fish or corals, but I did find the urchin near him one day and I’m not sure if they touched. It came from a clownfish and anemone only tank at the LFS so it is possible it’s reacting badly to my corals.

 

[BelleReef]

Are there any other anemones in the system ?

No just this one, it came from a tank with many anemones at the LFS though.

 

[BelleReef]

Day 6: It appears more retracted today, mouth is slightly open, and only barely attached. It moved off of the rock and onto the acclimation box. I accidentally turned the LED light slightly brighter last night while doing maintenance, so I’m guessing this is the cause for the change. I changed it back to normal brightness this afternoon.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Where did it first attach when you released it into the tank? Top of the tank? Bottom?

 

[Danroo]

I also recently got mine a week ago and I’m still learning how to keep it. Today I did some changes and saw some difference in its reaction. Cause I felt like mine was a bit bleaching. Lowered the light and made the power head closer to it. It shrunk inside the rock and lost all of its bubbles. I then moved everything back to the way it used to and only just lowered my white’s. Bubbles came back and it came out of the rock in an instant.

 

[BelleReef]

Where did it first attach when you released it into the tank? Top of the tank? Bottom?

Rock on the bottom of the tank in a shaded area

 

[BelleReef]

I also recently got mine a week ago and I’m still learning how to keep it. Today I did some changes and saw some difference in its reaction. Cause I felt like mine was a bit bleaching. Lowered the light and made the power head closer to it. It shrunk inside the rock and lost all of its bubbles. I then moved everything back to the way it used to and only just lowered my white’s. Bubbles came back and it came out of the rock in an instant.

That’s good it recovered, good luck with it! There are so many conflicting opinions about their care and treatment, I’ve been having a hard time finding care/troubleshooting information resources for them

 

[BelleReef]

Day 6 (continued):
An hour or two after the day 6 treatment, I found it inflated and upside down so I took the opportunity to try to stick it back to the rock. After a few seconds of gently holding it to the rock, it held onto the rock on its own and stayed there.

Day 7:
There has been an improvement in its appearance compared to day 6, but it looks about the same as day 5 which was before the lighting mishap. Supposed to be the last dose of cipro given.

Day 8:
Foot partially detached from rock, appears to be about the same otherwise. Overall, I think the initial 2 days of treatment resulted in a significant improvement in health. After day 3 there did not appear to be any significant improvements in health. I am going to stop cipro treatment, keep it in QT in its box, and continue with frequent water changes until its health improves. I read that some people grind up mysis shrimp and selcon into a paste and feed small amounts to bleached anemones, which I might try in a few days if it doesn’t improve. I would be curious to hear your opinions on the next steps I can take.

 

[blaxsun]

At this point I think it’s more in Poseidon’s hands. Any of my BTAs that deteriorated to this extent never recovered and eventually succumbed. But you’ve tried several treatments that I hadn’t, so I’m cautiously optimistic that you’ll have a more favorable outcome. Best of luck!

 

[Danroo]

That’s good it recovered, good luck with it! There are so many conflicting opinions about their care and treatment, I’ve been having a hard time finding care/troubleshooting information resources for them

Apparently it was just removing its previous zooplanktons and getting more out of it. Mine just like more light and medium flow less par light wouldn’t work on this bad boy. Still hasn’t move an inch hopefully it stays that way forever.