anemone issues

[SkyAurelia]

i have 3 clowns in my tanks along with 3 nems, 1 long tenticle, 1 pink tip condy, and a BTA. 2 of the nems are doing great, but for some reason any time i add a BTA to my tank after a few days it starts to go south, its mouth starts gaping and then it dies, i cant seem to figure out why this is happening, the other two nems have been in my tank for a 4 months, i do water changes once a week 15% of the 40g tank.

salinity is 1.024 0 1.025 depending on evaportaion (sumpless tank)
nirates are about 10~
ammonia 0
calcium 425
mag 1300

lighting is a coralife seascape light

the BTA is in a hole in a rock and i am not able to get a pic of at this time. but its boot looks good its nice and dark pink, its color looks good, its specled with green, if it comes out of the rock i will post a pic.

 

[SkyAurelia]

did best i could for pics, the ling tenticle is shrunken right now has been for a while cause i had a decorator crab in the tank that was trying to wear it, crab has been removed, the condy eat a mysis shrimp a few hours ago.

 

[Tahoe61]

How long have you had that BTA? It appears to have lost it's zooxanthellae. The coloration is very pale, and the tentacles are stubby. It appears to have a nutriental deficit.

 

[Stang67]

Phosphate level? Light may not be strong enough.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The lack of algae growth on the sand, rocks, and glass makes me think the light is not strong enough

 

[SkyAurelia]

lack of algea on stuff is me cleaning it, and i have not had the bta long i got it from petco and thats how it looked when i got it though, its been in my tank about a week and half now.

at one point there was hair algea growing all over the rocks but the hermits and emerald crab to care of it.

alot of my fish came from petco my duncan was also bleached when i got it, its geting color now though.

the white on the bta though is speccls, trying to get a better pic, he was coming out more but hes tryint to move to a new spot and the clowns are all over him

and when the bta is all the way out its tentivles do come out more then that, this is just how they have been sense it started moving to a new spot.

here is the light i have the light is new i just bougt it a week ago my old light was actually not strong enough or the correct light type. was a fluval aquasky 2.0

https://www.chewy.com/coralife-seas..._Zjc0MpWDmgDZgs1N0_8_ZhWt8DWdKqRoCDokQAvD_BwE

 

[SkyAurelia]

on a side note i got a good look at the BTA and its mouth is no longer gaping may have been pooping? im still new to anemones, have had my tank 2 yeares almost

kinda hard to tell cause its in that hole, its slowing coming out though

 

[Tahoe61]

on a side note i got a good look at the BTA and its mouth is no longer gaping may have been pooping? im still new to anemones, have had my tank 2 yeares almost

kinda hard to tell cause its in that hole, its slowing coming out though

If you got it from Petco you most likely got an unhealthy specimen to start with. I have never seen a tank with the appropriate lighting for an Anemone at Petco. I am not bashing Petco, I get a lot of stuff from Petco, but Anemones are not one of those things.
I am also suspect of that light, it doesn't even say how many watts it is.
The Anemone's tentacles are stubby, a sign of chronic starvation.
Personally I would not buy Anemones from Petco, and I would look into getting a better fixture. That's an expensive fixture for what you get.
It's a learning curve, I hope your Anemone perks up.

:)

 

[SkyAurelia]

If you got it from Petco you most likely got an unhealthy specimen to start with. I have never seen a tank with the appropriate lighting for an Anemone at Petco. I am not bashing Petco, I get a lot of stuff from Petco, but Anemones are not one of those things.
I am also suspect of that light, it doesn't even say how many watts it is.
The Anemone's tentacles are stubby, a sign of chronic starvation.
Personally I would not buy Anemones from Petco, and I would look into getting a better fixture. That's an expensive fixture for what you get.
It's a learning curve, I hope your Anemone perks up.

:)

yeah there nem tank had crashed a while back its sump went bad, all 3 of my nems came from petco, sadly i have no where else to get them at, i have tried buying them online but when i do the ppl never send them to me and end up refunding my money not sure why.

also the light they are useing at petco im pretty sure is not correct at all its a imagitarium one there own brand
slot of there nems look bleached.

i just did more digging into the light and i guess it would have worked it my tank was shallow, but sense its a normal 40g its deep and i guess i dont get enough par at the lower part of the tank, this lighting stuff is killing me
i dont have alot money and i have now bought the wrong light 3 times and i cant return the lights... sighs there going i just cant afford a new light right now

 

[SkyAurelia]

sense i dont have correct lighting and not enough money for a new one, do you think it would be a good idea to put the aquasky on the tank to?

there is so much misinformation about these lights on the internet its more then a learning curve issue, i keep finding posts with ppl saying the light i have will work but then it turns out after i buy the light the posts where wrong

the lighting for the salt tank is the most off puting thing about this and the miss info is really making this off putting for me

my tank is 40g can someone reccomment a light cause i cant keep spending money i dont have on these lights, preferablly as cheap as it can be but does what i need...i apparently cant pick a light for the life of me.

 

[Tahoe61]

sense i dont have correct lighting and not enough money for a new one, do you think it would be a good idea to put the aquasky on the tank to?

Sure.

You can get a Viparspectra 165 watt LED through Walmart for $160. That fixture will grow most anything you want.
I have to shop at petco as well because of the distance to LFS. I get most of my stuff online.
Perhaps there is a local hobbyist group that can help you out.
Save the money you would have spent on livestock for a better light.

It's an expensive hobby, but there are ways to make it work.

:-)

 

[SkyAurelia]

Sure.

You can get a Viparspectra 165 watt LED through Walmart for $160. That fixture will grow most anything you want.
I have to shop at petco as well because of the distance to LFS. I get most of my stuff online.
Perhaps there is a local hobbyist group that can help you out.
Save the money you would have spent on livestock for a better light.

It's an expensive hobby, but there are ways to make it work.

:)

ok found that fixture and saved it for when i can afford it, its 140 that cheaper then this coralife one, thanks for the help.

hopefully with the aquasky on the tank to it will keep things alive tell i have money for the other light.

i forgot to mention that one rock with the pink tip condy on it is white cause i fliped the rock over a few days ago.

update: light is on the tank now, made it super bright in there pic attached, lighting dont make colors stand out as good as before but it is definatly bright in there.

 

[SkyAurelia]

forgot to ask but does the Viparspectra 165 watt LED work for both lps and sps?

 

[Tahoe61]

forgot to ask but does the Viparspectra 165 watt LED work for both lps and sps?

Yes.

You're able to to adjust the intensity. For example I have have the blues at 60% and whites at 15%. There is a timer to set on and off times. This is a 45 gallon.

 

[SkyAurelia]

Yes.

You're able to to adjust the intensity. For example I have have the blues at 60% and whites at 15%. There is a timer to set on and off times. This is a 45 gallon.

oh dang thats pretty, thats awesome love the nem colors.

 

[SkyAurelia]

so sense im stuck with this aquasky how should i set it for the salt tank? it has reds, green, blue and white,
by default its set to

daylight
red 68%
green 100%
blue 100%
white 100%

night
red 0
green 0
blue 5%
white 0%

with the ramp up and down for sunrise and sunset sense it uses a timer.

 

[SkyAurelia]

ok i got the nem moved to a new spot finally and i noticed somethings now that i got a better look at it.

a few days ago i noticed the emerald crab in the hole with the nem, i thought it was just eating its poop cause ffom what i understand they will protect them and groom them.
this was also around the time it stoped extending its tenticles and started hiding.

i think based on how the nem looks i may be wrong it looks like the nem was attacked and had some of his tenticles eaten off, some of them are gone and some just look like they got torn off and are almost not there at all. i got a few pics but not sure you can really tell in them. the nem is still alive as far as i can tell it is moving and attached to the new spot, its mouth how ever is definately gaping :(

i know they can be pretty hardy and come back from alot, so im hoping it recovers,, so far does not look like it is disentigrating yet so going to monitor and will update if something changes.


in the mean time going to capture a crab and move it to the secondary salt tank with the decorator crab and damsels.

 

[SkyAurelia]

update: the nem is now walking around the rock and looks like this, clowns are gaurding it from pictures right now lol.

do you guys think it will recover?

 

[SkyAurelia]

nem is still alive as of right now, i did some fresh tests on the water params

nirates 20~
ca 400ppm and this one is just slightly off going to try to raise this
mg 1,150ppm this one is a little low going to try and raise it some

based on this test i am going to add a little bit of all for reef to get those levels up a little.

 

[SkyAurelia]

current state of the nem, alive, not infalting properly but trying, hoping it improves.
its on a rock wall in this picture.