BTA changing colors after splitting

[Oredigger77]

I bought what I was told was a sherman BTA about 9 months ago. It was big when I got it and it grew to about 14" and seemed to be really happy.

About two months ago it started looking terrible and split. I was bummed to loose the size but was generally ok with there being two of them.

It took a while for the two halves to move away from each other and a couple of times it looked like one or the other had changed colors. I'm wondering how normal it is to have dramatic changes after a split and if I should expect them to get back to how they were.


The smaller split has similar coloration and tenticals and has shifted to a different part of the tank.

But the bigger split looks terrible most days though I've seen it eat several times but seems to be a totally different color. I don't know if I can or should do anything.

 

[James M]

The splits look like they need more light. What lighting do you have

 

[Oredigger77]

The splits look like they need more light. What lighting do you have

I'm running Radion XR30s about 14" above the water surface and the tank is about 18" deep. I've had the lights on 100% output on the AB+ with about 80% white light 11 hours per day.

 

[Jason boles]

Does the original nem always look like that now? With its tentacles sucked in?

I have seen that once or twice but after an hour or three they are generally back to normal.

The unfortunate part is that whatever happened may have happened long before you noticed and is long gone now that your hunting for issues.

If it was happy and you didn’t change your lights I would assume it’s not lights.

I would check all the water parameters. May have a spike in nutrients. Clean your skimmers and check up on your filtration.

If it were me I would also start changing 5-10 gallons of saltwater a week or twice a week for a bit.

Nems are pretty bullet proof. If it’s mouth isn’t sagging open they will most likely bounce back.

 

[D-Nak]

What are your water parameters like? Many will tell you that anemones like lots of nitrates and phosphates, but they do have a limit. Since it looks like you have quite a bit of algae in your tank, I'm guessing that your nutrient levels might be on the high side.

Your lighting sounds fine (I run almost the same set up and my nems are doing great) so I'm guessing something else is goin on.

 

[Jason boles]

Also I have a backup reactor with carbon. I would get or run a fresh batch just in case.

 

[Oredigger77]

Does the original nem always look like that now? With its tentacles sucked in?

I have seen that once or twice but after an hour or three they are generally back to normal.

The unfortunate part is that whatever happened may have happened long before you noticed and is long gone now that your hunting for issues.

If it was happy and you didn’t change your lights I would assume it’s not lights.

I would check all the water parameters. May have a spike in nutrients. Clean your skimmers and check up on your filtration.

If it were me I would also start changing 5-10 gallons of saltwater a week or twice a week for a bit.

Nems are pretty bullet proof. If it’s mouth isn’t sagging open they will most likely bounce back.

There is no original nem any more just the two splits. One split looks fine

And the other looks terrible. They're on opposite sides of the same rock and these picture was taken this morning.

My nitrates are a bit high running about 20ppm and my phosphate has been high forever. Typically running about 0.2ppm.

I change 20 gallons every 3 days in a 120 tank. The tank is 3 years old at this point I think.

 

[Oredigger77]

Also I have a backup reactor with carbon. I would get or run a fresh batch just in case.

I do run carbon in the sump and just changed it out a couple of weeks ago thinking that might be the problem no real changes in the tank.

 

[Oredigger77]

I just took this to show how close the two are. The happy one you can see on the top and you can just make out the unhappy one on the bottom (next to the light glare)

 

[D-Nak]

It's odd that one is doing well and the other is not. Is there anything in the tank that could be irritating the one that is struggling? Maybe a crab or shrimp?

Regarding nutrient levels, even for anemone tanks, getting your phosphate under .1 will help. The original photo of your BTA looks to me like it's surviving, but not thriving: the tentacles are short and spread out across the oral disk instead of being longer and more abundant, completely covering the oral disk.

When anemones split, they undergo quite a bit of stress and having the ideal water conditions helps them make it through. Adding carbon--as previously suggested--will help remove pollutants. Adding GFO can help with phosphate levels. You can also quickly bring down your phosphate using a Lanthanum chloride-based product, like Brightwell Aquatics Phoshat-E or Tropic Marin Elimi-Phos Rapid. Just be extra careful and follow the instructions precisely.

 

[Oredigger77]

It's odd that one is doing well and the other is not. Is there anything in the tank that could be irritating the one that is struggling? Maybe a crab or shrimp?

Regarding nutrient levels, even for anemone tanks, getting your phosphate under .1 will help. The original photo of your BTA looks to me like it's surviving, but not thriving: the tentacles are short and spread out across the oral disk instead of being longer and more abundant, completely covering the oral disk.

When anemones split, they undergo quite a bit of stress and having the ideal water conditions helps them make it through. Adding carbon--as previously suggested--will help remove pollutants. Adding GFO can help with phosphate levels. You can also quickly bring down your phosphate using a Lanthanum chloride-based product, like Brightwell Aquatics Phoshat-E or Tropic Marin Elimi-Phos Rapid. Just be extra careful and follow the instructions precisely.

No crabs in the tank and the one cleaner shrimp lives on the other side of the tank. I guess I've never seen a nem overly thriving in person. It almost doubled in size since we brought it home in July but it's tenticals always looked about the same before the split. This is a photo about a week after I got it in the tank.

I see about getting some GFO in the tank. The phosphates have been high from day 1 in the tank and I've never brought them down and kept the there.

 

[Oredigger77]

As an update. The nem in the original location is looking much better but I'm still very confused by the color change. Our fireworks cloves are also going through a color change too. Any thoughts?

That's the one in the original location.

The one on the back side of the rock is still looking OK.

The cloves have been growing but they went from the green centers that the top two still have but the new heads as they've been spreading have lost the center.