BTA help

nlutfi · May 26, 2020

Need some help with my anemone. I have a large green bubble tip that has been in my tank for around 6-8 months and has been doing great. Over the last week it stated wandering which I know can be normal but it had been in the same place for months now. On top of that it has been starting to let it's foot go and get really deflated, but a few hours later it is reattached and opened up huge again. Today my wife found it flipped upside down in the sand and I thought for sure it was a goner. But I got home a few hours later and it has its foot attached and opened up again . I have another small rose BTA that has been fine and happy. My parameters are alk: 8.3 calc: 425 mag: 1425 phos: .03 nitrates:12 everything has been stable and all my other corals have been fine as well. The only notable change is I upgraded lights about a month ago from 2 Hydra 26hd to 2 radion gen5 xr-15 pros with hybrid t5 fixture my tank is 3'x2' I matched all my par as close as possible during the switch and the anemone has been fine under the new lights until now. So I'm not sure that could be the cause or not. Let me know if you have any thoughts. Here is photos from today a few hours apart.

brmreefer · May 26, 2020

Looks like it is just trying to find its self a better location due to a change in the tank. Probably the lighting caused it, but hard to say for sure. The real issue is when there are a bunch of high end corals that could get stung during it's travels. I would just let it be as much as can be allowed based on what else is in your tank. I have a medium/large RBTA that decided to relocate after a month in my tank, but has now settled for about 3 months. :)

nlutfi · May 26, 2020

brmreefer said:
Looks like it is just trying to find its self a better location due to a change in the tank. Probably the lighting caused it, but hard to say for sure. The real issue is when there are a bunch of high end corals that could get stung during it's travels. I would just let it be as much as can be allowed based on what else is in your tank. I have a medium/large RBTA that decided to relocate after a month in my tank, but has now settled for about 3 months. :)

Thanks I'm really hoping that's all it is. It did not look good all day today and tonight it started to open up a little bit. I did intervene and moved it off the over flow glass and put it back on the rocks so hopefully it could get it's foot down a little better, we'll see. So far it has stayed away from my acro's so hopefully it stays that way.

James M · May 27, 2020

I agree on the lights... It finding a new spot since the lighting changed. I would just leave it be and don’t feed it (if you do).

nlutfi · May 27, 2020

James M said:
I agree on the lights... It finding a new spot since the lighting changed. I would just leave it be and don’t feed it (if you do).

Thanks! I do feed it once a week or so. I did give it some the other night and it seemed to eat, but I will stop until it settles down.

brmreefer · May 27, 2020

+1 on the "No Feeding" action for now. I don't feed mine anymore. I remember it would deflate the next day to eject any wastes from the previous feedings. Now I only witness my RBTA deflate during lights out and fully inflate the next morning