Bleached Nem from PETCO

[Nezareth]

So I got a nem from petco and saw it was in rough condition and took it in. Jk It was the first one I saw and I liked it so I brought it home. In fact its my first time having a nem and because it is bleached it has me constantly monitoring it. It was labeled under bubble tip anemone. For some reason or another it is either fully open or like this and the only time it has been fully closed has been in the pet store all the way during acclimation. Since then it has been open for the most part and has taken comfort in the shade in a low flow area. Contrary to what I have been reading ironically. Here is a pic. Im not sure if this is fission or what but its mouth is closed and has no problem eating mysis shrimp. The picture where there is only white light is from before he moved again lol.

 

[Reef Jedi]

Your tank looks new and steril however the anemone looks much happier in its new environment then in the store. It’s pretty typical for them to inflate and or hide. It’ll move to a spot it likes in the tank.

How long has this tank been established?

 

[Nezareth]

Your tank looks new and steril however the anemone looks much happier in its new environment then in the store. It’s pretty typical for them to inflate and or hide. It’ll move to a spot it likes in the tank.

How long has this tank been established?

For about 4 months, I have the tank in a really dark room and have had the lights on rarely and when I do have them on I keep them majority blue and purple and keep them dim as to avoid algae blooms of any kind. So this is normal behavior from my nem?

 

[OrionN]

Host anemones required bright light. Your BTA requires less bright light than other host anemones, but still a lot of light. Keeping tank dim may be fine for fish but your light is not enough to keep this anemone alive. He won't recover unless expose to normal day length bright light.
To manage algae in a reef tank, you need to manage nutrients, not keep the tank dark so algae does not grow. I would recommend rehome this anemone. You should keep FO tank, or FO and non-photosynthetic invertebrates.

 

[Nezareth]

Host anemones required bright light. Your BTA requires less bright light than other host anemones, but still a lot of light. Keeping tank dim may be fine for fish but your light is not enough to keep this anemone alive. He won't recover unless expose to normal day length bright light.
To manage algae in a reef tank, you need to manage nutrients, not keep the tank dark so algae does not grow. I would recommend rehome this anemone. You should keep FO tank, or FO and non-photosynthetic invertebrates.

So why cant I just turn up the brightness of the light. And besides I only keep them dim bc its a new lighting setup and Im still learning what my nem likes and dislikes. On high lighting it closes up and is stressed so….
Im also aware that dim lighting doesn’t control algae and that it thrives in high phosphate environments but algae is photosynthetic which Im sure you are aware. Im not trying to to control algae in my tank or even rake extreme preventative measures Im just learning my lighting set up. I haven’t even had this nem for 4 months I got it less than a week ago and Im new to nems thats why I came here for help. Once I learned that the nems behavior was abnormal I wanted to help it immediately so thats why Im here, to look for helpful comments from my peers. Frankly that was not helpful and either way there is no one within miles of me who could take care of it so its take it back to the pet stores where he was dying or here with me where it is happier and regaining its color .

 

[OrionN]

For about 4 months, I have the tank in a really dark room and have had the lights on rarely and when I do have them on I keep them majority blue and purple and keep them dim as to avoid algae blooms of any kind. So this is normal behavior from my nem?

Your post was why I wrote what I wrote.
You must be willing to provide the right condition for the animal you want to keep. Your post suggested otherwise. Host anemone requires great clean water condition and bright light. Some species require brighter light than other.
So unless you are willing to do that, it is best not to get anemones.
Anemones are mobile creatures. When they are not happy, they move trying to get to better place. A moving large animal with a lots of stingers make a deadly combination. Often they ended up in the overflow box or moving into a power head and get purée. That can be bad for other animals in your tank.
Now that you know they need bright light and decent water movement, you can make logical decision on wether to keep him.
Best of luck to you, your anemone and the rest of your tank inhabitants.

 

[dvgyfresh]

an anemone that bleached can recover , but it takes stable parameters , good light , and will require feedings. I would mix some mysis / smallest amount of reef roofs together and feed the anemone using a pipette (daily very small amounts) it lost the ability to generate food from light so you must provide while it heals

 

[Nezareth]

an anemone that bleached can recover , but it takes stable parameters , good light , and will require feedings. I would mix some mysis / smallest amount of reef roofs together and feed the anemone using a pipette (daily very small amounts) it lost the ability to generate food from light so you must provide while it heals

UPDATE! I had no other choice but to flip the rock my nem is on. I am running a POPBLOOM RL60 which gives about 60 watts and 400 PAR at surface level but I have my light built int my tank lid so its pretty close to the water surface. Water parameters are mostly perfect. My water parameters are all at zero except nitrate which is at about 5.0ppm and stable, salinity is perfect. Calcium, alkalinity is perfect, temp flow and light have been consistent my phosphate is between 0.25-0.50ppm. My bleached bta is having a bit of a harder time recovering, its mouth is closed and it opens up its mouth when I try to feed mysis shrimp but doesn’t pull in the food in. Most of the day it is shrunken and kind of firm but I have noticed at night time in the late evening to very early morning (1am and lights off) it will be really inflated and open but still with stubby tentacles like during the day, Ive also found it cycling fresh water into its body by inflating and deflating. Im thinking of also setting up my quarantine tank to put my clown into as I find it nibbling the nem every so often. I ordered reef roids and some coral amino which I have read really helps. I will update later on those two products and how much of a help or detriment it is.

 

[Nezareth]

Update! Same day! So I cut the light schedule to reduce diatoms therefore there is more nutrients for my nem. Lights were off at 5:30pm EST. I come back to check the lights were off and to check up on the nem and it is REALLY open and inflated. I had tried feeding it some mysis earlier in the day but it was not eating at all, just deflated and firm. So I tried now, mind you it was around 7:45pm EST. I target fed some mysis and it opened up its mouth and let some mysis fall inside its mouth and then closed its mouth. I fed it with the lights off to avoid it closing up and stressing it out. But then I figured it was a good time to get a response to light intensity for me to dial in on my specific lighting set up. I cranked the whites and blues to the highest intensity and it loved it! Unlike the day time for some odd reason or another. Should I leave the lights on during the night and it help it recover its zooxs that way and keep the lights off during the day? Is it possible that the natural internal rhythm the nem has is opposite of my local daylight cycle? Also Im still not sure what species of nem this is lol

 

[painter1982]

Stability is key. Not changing lights every time you “think” it needs changed. The anemone will go to where it needs to be if it too bright. Which 400 par is too bright for a bleached anemone. It’ll probably hide under a rock. Then flipping the rock to expose it will counter what it needs. Probably gonna die soon without giving it proper care.

 

[Nezareth]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Nezareth]

Stability is key. Not changing lights every time you “think” it needs changed. The anemone will go to where it needs to be if it too bright. Which 400 par is too bright for a bleached anemone. It’ll probably hide under a rock. Then flipping the rock to expose it will counter what it needs. Probably gonna die soon without giving it proper care.

And what of the anemones circadian rhythm?

 

[OrionN]

Your anemone is pretty well bleached. It may not have any zooxanthellae at all. Your tank after 4 months in mostly the dark, and never have anemone in it so the tank is unlikely to have any free living zooxanthellae (that associated with BTA) in it for the anemone to take up. Much more likely than not, your anemone will never recover and become unbleached unless you do a zooxanthellae transplant. I wrote an article on zooxanthellae transplant linked below. You may want to consider this. In the mean time feed your anemone and hope for the best. Good luck

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/zooxanthellae-transplant-for-bleached-anemones.774/

 

[Tripod1404]

And what of the anemones circadian rhythm?

It's circadian rhythm will adjust to your light schedule.

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

So I got a nem from petco and saw it was in rough condition and took it in. Jk It was the first one I saw and I liked it so I brought it home. In fact its my first time having a nem and because it is bleached it has me constantly monitoring it. It was labeled under bubble tip anemone. For some reason or another it is either fully open or like this and the only time it has been fully closed has been in the pet store all the way during acclimation. Since then it has been open for the most part and has taken comfort in the shade in a low flow area. Contrary to what I have been reading ironically. Here is a pic. Im not sure if this is fission or what but its mouth is closed and has no problem eating mysis shrimp. The picture where there is only white light is from before he moved again lol.

Let me tell you for some reason all the nems are all bleached I rarely support Petco I hate it and once I asked if I can get nem for free they Said no but it's literally dying in your tank lol You're a fish store. How do you not know how to take care of it omg

 

[Nezareth]

Your anemone is pretty well bleached. It may not have any zooxanthellae at all. Your tank after 4 months in mostly the dark, and never have anemone in it so the tank is unlikely to have any free living zooxanthellae (that associated with BTA) in it for the anemone to take up. Much more likely than not, your anemone will never recover and become unbleached unless you do a zooxanthellae transplant. I wrote an article on zooxanthellae transplant linked below. You may want to consider this. In the mean time feed your anemone and hope for the best. Good luck

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/zooxanthellae-transplant-for-bleached-anemones.774/

Very helpful and insightful. Is it possible to purchase some Phyto-Plasm Phyto Zooxanthellae and help it recover its zoox that way?

 

[OrionN]

I do not think zooxanthellae can live in a bottle for very long at all. They are delicate creatures, that is why they need a host rather than free living like their many of their cousins. Not all zooxanthellae are the same. Even one clam, coral or anemone have a number of zooxanthellae associated with them.
There are a few scientists who study zooxanthellae. They culture and isolated them, but they have to have elaborate control environment for them. When sharing these strains, they alway overnight the specimen in enviroment control containers.
That is a long winded answer to your question. It is highly unlikely that any "zooxanthellae in a bottle" have any living zooxanthellae in it.
If you have other photosynthetic animals in the tank, they may shed zooxantellae that may be taken up by the BTA. There is no guarantee that these viable zooxanthellae are what your BTA needed.

 

[Nezareth]

Well then my last resort would be to purchase another bta anemone from petco, snip off a tentacle or something and feed it to my bleached one. Im. Ot entirely comfortable with that number one and number two I wouldn’t know what to do with the other anemone. What would be your best word of advice other than giving it away. I have no one to care for it and I cant take it back to petco to die. I also lost the receipt lol. But more importantly I dont want it to die at petco. Is overnighting the zooxs from algagen direct my best option?

 

[OrionN]

He may still have a few zooxanthellae in him. If this the case take good care of him and feed him and he can recover. If you feed him every other days he will grow.
I recently got a cheap bleached LTA from Petco. He was not complete bleached so I just feed him and he is coming a long OK. Even growing and not quite recovered yet. Hear is a picture a few days ago

 

[dvgyfresh]

Reefeeshments revive , no idea if this works tho