Wounded BTA

dragon99 · Jul 16, 2016

I added a BTA to the tank 2 nights ago and he took a walkabout and had a fight with the MP10. I found him the next morning shriveled and facedown in the sand. I moved him back up to a rock and got him to attach. He looks MUCH better now than when I first found him so I'm hopeful that he's on the road to recovery.

Questions:
How long will he take to recover/regrow?
Should I feed him mysis or reef frenzy or give him a couple more days?

Maddlesrain · Jul 16, 2016

dragon99 said:
I added a BTA to the tank 2 nights ago and he took a walkabout and had a fight with the MP10. I found him the next morning shriveled and facedown in the sand. I moved him back up to a rock and got him to attach. He looks MUCH better now than when I first found him so I'm hopeful that he's on the road to recovery.

Questions:
How long will he take to recover/regrow?
Should I feed him mysis or reef frenzy or give him a couple more days?

I had mine get stuck in one of my mp10s to the point that I had to just rip it out and it recovered pretty quickly (maybe a month). I just cleaned the tank after that happened to make sure nothing harmful was expelled and let the anemone do its thing. I haven't fed either of mine for about 3 years (or after the one got shredded), but trying to give it a little food for an extra boost couldn't hurt. I'd wait a couple days to let it settle down first though. Goodluck!

dragon99 · Jul 19, 2016

Already seeing good improvement. How long should I wait before introducing my Clarkii clown pair? They will be cleared from QT later this week. No guarantee they will even host the BTA, because they've never met.

cromag27 · Jul 20, 2016

Generally, btas can take several weeks to heal. I wouldn't bother trying to feed it yet. I also would add any new clowns until it heals, especially if they're big.

pga7602 · Jul 22, 2016

Like the ealier post. Give it a few weeks with no food and no fish. You can even relocate into a basket which will also lower flow to speed up the healing process. The bta is a beauty btw ! :)

dragon99 · Jul 22, 2016

Thanks! It has an awesome green glow at night under the moonlight and a nice orange tint during the day.

It's looking a little better every day with the new tentacles growing and multiplying almost overnight. It settled right in the middle of the tank where the vortech flow kinda tapers off, so I haven't tried to move it.

dragon99 · Aug 3, 2016

He took another trip and hid in a cave a for day or so. Yesterday he moved out into crevice right at the front of the tank.

dragon99 · Oct 4, 2016

Anemones are amazingly resilient. When I found it the morning after the accident I thought it was a goner, but this BTA has a will to live. 2 months later he's growing happily.