shrinking BTA

FishyFarr · Sep 7, 2010

I upgraded to the 120 from a 55 this summer.
All the fish did fine I did lose my poccillipora ? and now my anemone is almost completly shrunk to nothing.
I had it for a good 6 months and it was steadily growing.
It moved itself around and is in the middle of the tank now.
the clownfish don't even associate with it anymore it is so small.
I had feed it twice a week the small frozen (I thaw them first of course) brine shrimp or the mixed meat food I have always fed it.
I have even wondered lately if I should try just buying some real shrimp?

it is steadily shrinking and I am beginning to wonder if I am losing it.
AT its largest it was as big as my fist and would spread out to about 6 inches. its mouth was big enough to swallow my clarks clown once.
now its tiny. mabye 2 inches across at best and barely comes out at all.

any helpful hints?

coralfarm123 · Sep 7, 2010

Got a pic of it? Is it bleaching? Did you dramatically increase or decrease the lighting it in the new tank?

FishyFarr · Sep 7, 2010

If it comes back out tonite I will snap a pic
the coloring looks decent just shrinking.
Lights went from 4 100 watt pc's to two 250w metal halides with one big reflector.
I noticed teh pocillilopora (I cant spell that) anyways I noticed it started bleaching white right away and my zoas seem to be reaching up. so do my mushroom corals.
candy canes, kenya trees, hydno, xenias and brains and favias(on bottom of tank) all seem to be doing well some even started multiplying already the zoas are multiplying a bunch.
I have an outbreak of aipitasia and I ran out of joes juice about 2 weeks ago. I have 3 peppermint shrimp?
Cant think of anything else to tell you

FishyFarr · Sep 8, 2010

believe it or not in the middle of the black circle is a very shrunk (well fed yesterday) green BTA

Teh picture does not show well how the rock slopes down and away to the candy canes. He has moved a little since yesterday. away from the nearby glass anemone(aipitasia)
I am a little leary of putting a bunch of joes juice or apitasia X on the nearby aipitasias. will that hurt the anemone as well.
Kinda wondering if when I treated them hard core after the upgrade if maybe he ingested some of that ???

will try another pic tomorrow he should be bigger but he is still much smaller than he was.

1. Water parameter issue? (salinity, temp, contaminant).
salinity was a little low 1.0215 (refractometer tested)
calcium 380 magnesium 1400 temp 76-78 no nitrates or ammonia at all.
2. Allelopathy (chemical warfare).
could be the one nearby aipitasia is stinging it? nothing else close (within 2-3 inches) Teh anemone moved to this locale itself.
3. Neighboring coral is stinging it.
xenias on one sede about 3 inches away and candy canes about the same distance.
4. Lighting issue?
anemone is dead center or tank and up high.
I will take a picture and show you waht I mean.
thanks for the help on this

Ericm1205 · Sep 8, 2010

i think it might be due to lighting. nems usually do the irratating and not the other way around so i thin the aptasia are not the cause.
you must have done a great job of moving everything over and to only loose a pocci.
if if was a problem with the water quality it would possibly bleach. if your zoas are stretching for light then it might need some more. but bta's are the nems that need the least light.
i would try moving him to a spot closer to the top to get more light. if it moves back down, then it might just want to get better acclimated to the tank more.
did you carry over most rock and sand when you upgraded?
i wouldnt feed it at all for a while, like a few weeks and just watch it and see what it does.

SlackTide · Sep 8, 2010

interesting, as they are about 99% water anyway the size isn't all the relevant, just look at mushrooms, they go from nothing to huge daily, I am suspecting your lighting, pc to mh is a hefty spectrum shift and Im guessing with time its symbiotic algae will accommodate the new lighting and puff up to its usual