Bleached BTAs

[Costareefer]

Hello, I’m new and bring with me stupid questions. Never in my life would I consider purchasing a bleached bta but since I live in a country where things are limited I have ended up with two bleached btas.

I have lots of experience with anemones and would always shy away from unhealthy specimens but I ended up with them bc there are no other options and I would like to keep an anemone.

BTA 1 i picked up in early June. It was probably the size of a saucer or a little bigger when I got him. He had a little color but since had continually shrunk in size to the point it no longer looks like a bleached anemone. When fully expanded now it appears to be about the size of a tennis ball. I placed it in my tank. It moved quite a bit and took a little mysis in the beginning then it began to look sick, gaping and regurgitating its food. I did a lot of research and decided to try Cipro for 7 days. Since I’ve placed it back in my tank last Friday it looks a lot better. No gaping. It hasn’t moved. Seemingly it’s good. The problem is though that it has shrunk and when I feed it mysis it takes the mysis but about 3-4 hrs later it spits it out.

My tank is a 100g reef it’s been up 1.5 yrs but was converted to reef just a few months ago. It has been stable for many over a year. My nitrates are < 5 ppm ammonia 0, nitrites 0, ph 8.2, temp 78-79.

I will post some pics of before and current with the anemone.

I’ll address bta two later as it is very bleached this one though I feel has a better shot at survival. I’ve had tons of experience with anemones but when I lived in the states i didn’t go seeking out unhealthy specimens. The first two pics are from a little over a month ago and the small btw is the same one photographed today.

Oh btw I run two 180w Chinese black box leds and an AI prime in the center bc of shadows. The bta is about 20-24 inches directly under the ai prime. All of my coral is growing like crazy but bc I started out with unhealthy btas they are not so good.

Pic 1 is 6 weeks ago in the lfs and pic two is today.

 

[LIreefguy]

dont really understand what your asking .

you stated many times you have tons of experience with anemones and your tank is healthy and everything else is growing

if thats the case then just give the anemone time to heal and get its color back.

you state feeding it a few mysis that it spits it back up.
i would leave it alone.

you have an unhealthy coral, either its going to make it or it isnt.

i feel moving it and messing with it will only make matters worse.

anemones need a stable tank. give it that and hope for a come back

 

[Costareefer]

dont really understand what your asking .

you stated many times you have tons of experience with anemones and your tank is healthy and everything else is growing

if thats the case then just give the anemone time to heal and get its color back.

you state feeding it a few mysis that it spits it back up.
i would leave it alone.

you have an unhealthy coral, either its going to make it or it isnt.

i feel moving it and messing with it will only make matters worse.

anemones need a stable tank. give it that and hope for a come back

Yep tons Of experience with even more difficult anemones that weren’t bleached nor unhealthy when I purchased them. In all that time I probably had one shrink and that was a Heteractis crispa. This anemone has gone from bleached completely, to shrinking 60% and looking less bleached. My inexperience and question comes from the fact that instead of continuing to bleach it has began to shrink instead. It is not taking food and my concern is that it will continue to shrink. This is the situation. I’m trying to figure out A. Why it is shrinking and B. How long should I wait to feed it again?

Those are two questions but there are many more when I get to bta 2. Again if I’m in the states i wouldn’t be asking about bleached btas bc I would not be obtaining a bleached bta. I agree it needs to be left alone now but if I had not intervened to treat it then it would be dead. Honestly I’ve never been in this situation with a bta so it’s uncharted waters.

 

[mta_morrow]

@Eagle_Steve
@OrionN

I have never dealt with this with a bta, perhaps one of you can offer some advice.

 

[LIreefguy]

ok i understand a little better now thank you

also its ok you can stop explaining why you bought it, what is done is done.

your question is why bubble tips shrink and how to stop it.

that i am not sure, i had one or 2 wild ones shrink on me too. i no longer buy wild bta. while my 2 captive raise ones started to shrink a little. all i did was do bigger water changes for 6 weeks, instead of doing 10 gallons i did 20. this helped and mine haven't strunk since. i dont feed my anemones at all.

not saying this is the answer, just saying what i did to stop them from shrinking.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@Eagle_Steve
@OrionN

I have never dealt with this with a bta, perhaps one of you can offer some advice.

If it is a Green BTA that is bleached: (which it looks like)
Provide stable water parameters and do not make a ton of changes to the water chemistry.
DO NOT FEED IT. If it is severely bleached, it will not have the strength to digest any type of food.
DO NOT KEEP MOVING IT AROUND. If the nem can attach somewhere and it foot stays planted, it can move if it needs to. It will just move slow compared to a healthy nem.
They take time to recover and it can be anywhere from a month to 6 months until they regain all of their color and act normal. It just really depends on the nem and how bad it really was. Or if it was wild or a split from a captive one. Wild ones that are fresh plucked take a bit longer to adjust to a new tank.

Looking at the OPs pictures, the nem looks really good compared to how it was. My suggestion for this one is to not feed it. It can live on light alone. Keep everything stable, do not change the lights, make huge changes to the water chemistry and just give it time. BTAs act weird for about a month after going through cipro, at least ones I have had to treat. Also, being as it was just added back in, it could be adjusting to the light where it is at now or planting its foot deeper in the rocks. Best thing to do is to leave it be and let it do its thing.

Monitor Only at this point. If things start to go south, it starts to look like it is turning inside out, losing tentacles, etc. Then let us know. Also, keep us updated on how it is doing every few days. Pictures under 100% white lights are very helpful as well to track how the nem is doing.

I suggest taking a pic of it today, under 100% whites and no blues, and posting it so you can begin a health log in this thread. Take a new one every few days or if something looks not good. Post those and it will help track how the nem is doing and how it looks.

 

[Katrina71]

First, there are no stupid questions. Your nem looks better to me as well. You have come to the right place. We are all here for the same result. Happy, healthy reefs!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Here is some encouragement and light at the end of the tunnel for ya, as being patient and not worrying to death is a problem I struggle with every day lol. I also want to give you some props for taking a swing at saving the nems you have. The pics you posted show a ton of color is back, so you are on the home stretch. Just be patient and keep us updated.

Below is the progression of a nem that went through a powerhead, sat in a sump for almost a month with almost no light and was melting. (long story and was not my nem to begin with, but is my nem now and a pretty one after it has healed lol)

With patience and stable water parameters they can make a come back. They are tough little critters. You are almost there with this nem, so keep it up.

 

[Costareefer]

If it is a Green BTA that is bleached: (which it looks like)
Provide stable water parameters and do not make a ton of changes to the water chemistry.
DO NOT FEED IT. If it is severely bleached, it will not have the strength to digest any type of food.
DO NOT KEEP MOVING IT AROUND. If the nem can attach somewhere and it foot stays planted, it can move if it needs to. It will just move slow compared to a healthy nem.
They take time to recover and it can be anywhere from a month to 6 months until they regain all of their color and act normal. It just really depends on the nem and how bad it really was. Or if it was wild or a split from a captive one. Wild ones that are fresh plucked take a bit longer to adjust to a new tank.

Looking at the OPs pictures, the nem looks really good compared to how it was. My suggestion for this one is to not feed it. It can live on light alone. Keep everything stable, do not change the lights, make huge changes to the water chemistry and just give it time. BTAs act weird for about a month after going through cipro, at least ones I have had to treat. Also, being as it was just added back in, it could be adjusting to the light where it is at now or planting its foot deeper in the rocks. Best thing to do is to leave it be and let it do its thing.

Monitor Only at this point. If things start to go south, it starts to look like it is turning inside out, losing tentacles, etc. Then let us know. Also, keep us updated on how it is doing every few days. Pictures under 100% white lights are very helpful as well to track how the nem is doing.

I suggest taking a pic of it today, under 100% whites and no blues, and posting it so you can begin a health log in this thread. Take a new one every few days or if something looks not good. Post those and it will help track how the nem is doing and how it looks.

Ok thank you for the great advice! I have been taking pics but not with all white lights. I’ll start doing that today. Also I’m not going to touch it. No feedings. I will keep everyone updated and get feedback on the next steps. I will also post pics of the other bta soon. It is severely bleached but has been in the same spot for 3 days.

 

[Costareefer]

Here it is all whites for the sake of comparison going forward

 

[Costareefer]

Here is the other all white lights it’s expelling some water or adjusting its mouth usually looks better

 

[Eagle_Steve]

The first one still has some bleaching but looks a ton better than the first picture you posted of it. The second one is bleached out bad, but still has a hint of color which is good. How long have you had the second one?

 

[Costareefer]

I’ve 10or 11 days. I put it through the Cipro protocol too just to be on the safe side since it came from the same source and has obviously been stressed possibly sick. It’s been in the display 3 days now and hasn’t moved.

Steve do you think the first one looks darker bc it’s maintained it’s zoo since I’ve gotten it and it shrunk?

 

[Costareefer]

The first one still has some bleaching but looks a ton better than the first picture you posted of it. The second one is bleached out bad, but still has a hint of color which is good. How long have you had the second one?

I’ve 10or 11 days. I put it through the Cipro protocol too just to be on the safe side since it came from the same source and has obviously been stressed possibly sick. It’s been in the display 3 days now and hasn’t moved.

Steve do you think the first one looks darker bc it’s maintained it’s zoo since I’ve gotten it and it shrunk?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I’ve 10or 11 days. I put it through the Cipro protocol too just to be on the safe side since it came from the same source and has obviously been stressed possibly sick. It’s been in the display 3 days now and hasn’t moved.

Steve do you think the first one looks darker bc it’s maintained it’s zoo since I’ve gotten it and it shrunk?

It looks darker for sure. The first pic looks like it was in blue, so seeing a ton of nems, I can tell how white it would have been under whites. The shrinking from time to time is normal and not all nems will look bubbly all the time. As time goes by if all stays stable, it should start to gradually look better and better, color wise. Just don’t freak out if it goes stringy or bunches up. As long as there is inflation of some type and the mouth looks good, the nem is usually good.

 

[OrionN]

I think your anemone, at least this one is doing OK. He recovered his color and looks fine

I think from reading your posts, this was him when he arrived:

I think this is your other bleached anemone:

I would not feed the sick anemone. Just leave him be. Need to separate the sick anemone from the healthy anemone so they won't transmit the disease to the healthy one.
Regarding anemone, once he do not deflates anymore, you can try to feed him. I would feed a very small amount, use human sea food. You can pulverized to food and then just feed a small piece to them. Pulverized food are much easier for them to digest.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I think your anemone, at least this one is doing OK. He recovered his color and looks fine

I think from reading your posts, this was him when he arrived:

I think this is your other bleached anemone:

I would not feed the sick anemone. Just leave him be. Need to separate the sick anemone from the healthy anemone so they won't transmit the disease to the healthy one.
Regarding anemone, once he do not deflates anymore, you can try to feed him. I would feed a very small amount, use human sea food. You can pulverized to food and then just feed a small piece to them. Pulverized food are much easier for them to digest.

@OrionN.

Both nems have been through cipro I think, so they should be ok in the same tank. As long as they both went through it. Correct me if I am wrong on that though.

 

[OrionN]

Infectious diseases are a little more complicated than that. There are a huge number of microbes in our tanks. Whether or not they become a pathogen depends of the microorganism, the concentration of these, and the health of the hosts. Sick anemones, when deflates (purging and get rid of the high number of pathogen in their cavity) put out a larger number of pathogen into the water column. I think this is the reason other anemones become infected.
Bacterial can live free in the tank, but can invade and cause disease, if the host (fishs, corals or anemones) become stressed. We see this in fish disease break out when they are stressed. Same with anemones and corals. Stressed animal get sick (infected) and died. Some of the pathogen can infect healthy animal, but most relied on weaken immune system to thrive in an animals.
Very virulent infectious organism will not survive for long. They will wipe out their host, then in turn died out becasue they don't have any host. Natural selection tend to select against super bugs. Only when human intervene, super-bugs developed.

 

[Costareefer]

Infectious diseases are a little more complicated than that. There are a huge number of microbes in our tanks. Whether or not they become a pathogen depends of the microorganism, the concentration of these, and the health of the hosts. Sick anemones, when deflates (purging and get rid of the high number of pathogen in their cavity) put out a larger number of pathogen into the water column. I think this is the reason other anemones become infected.
Bacterial can live free in the tank, but can invade and cause disease, if the host (fishs, corals or anemones) become stressed. We see this in fish disease break out when they are stressed. Same with anemones and corals. Stressed animal get sick (infected) and died. Some of the pathogen can infect healthy animal, but most relied on weaken immune system to thrive in an animals.
Very virulent infectious organism will not survive for long. They will wipe out their host, then in turn died out becasue they don't have any host. Natural selection tend to select against super bugs. Only when human intervene, super-bugs developed.

I did put them both them through the entire Cipro treatment separately. The really bleached one has dug into the rock work so tight that I’m afraid it could cause problems if I move him. Knowing that would you still remove him? Also this one completed the treatment after the one with more color. I thought about joining last week and asking before I added him but didn’t follow through. Hopefully someone learns from it

Btw The super bleached anemone has been in the same tank as the other for 3 days now. Was 8 days In the Cipro treatment. Thanks for all your feedback!

 

[OrionN]

As long as he does not deflates, it should be OK. BTA are very hardy, they don't get sick very often. Just leave him alone. Bleached is is not sick. He does not seem to be completely bleached so as long as he is doing OK, he will recover without help.