Hot Pink Rose Bubble Tip Anemone / Bleaching...

I purchased a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone from a LFS that is about 1.75" wide. Its pricing seemed expensive, but I was told (by the owner of course) that it is higher in price because of the intensity of the color. I must admit that when seen in person, its pink is as neon as it gets... though it is only colored closer to the tips. The base and partway up the tentacles are white and translucent white.

When my wife told another LFS owner about the color ours has, he said that it must be sick. Upon checking out Karen's site I think that mine probably is, indeed, sick. Below is a picture of mine.

If it is indeed sick, and I feed it well (and do anything else that I can find recommended to ramp up the health of my anemone), what can I expect to happen (color-wise)? Also, does anyone with experience nursing a sick RBTA back to health have advice based on what worked for them?

 

what are your parameters, they need to be perfect for a healthy bta not mentioning a sick one.
a anemone is just one of those animals its almost impossible to save in all but the most well maintained tanks.

colorwise when healthy it should be a lot darker. a vibrant red

 

Is this in your 14gal biocube? Just to let you know, if you have the stock lighting, you may not be able to keep it anyways

 

Parameters & Tank...

0 Ammonia / Nitrites.
~60 Nitrates.
0.5 Phosphates.
15 dKh Alkalinity.
1400 Magnesium.
440 Calcium.

The nitrates are obviously high, considering all of the information I've read thusfar. Surprisingly, all of my corals and fish look and act very healthy. After reading all of the horror stories I'm really surprised not to have anything die yet.

The tank has about 17lbs of LR, 20 lbs of LS (~1.5"), the LFS' tank water to fill it, and has only been setup for about 26 days.

I'm new to the hobby and am becoming more and more aware of my mistakes, as well as of how different guidance on the same topic can be.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know any better when I bought it, but I guess having a neon pink anemone is too good to be true.

Indeed it is. The anemone has chosen a spot about 2/3rds of the way up and gets plenty of light, but that's plenty of stock light. When I setup a larger tank should I have metal halide so that I'm not limited by my lighting?

 

Well, the nitrates, alk, and phosphates are all a little high. What type of water are you using?
And I noticed you said you are new to the hobby? How long has this tank been set up? Anemones shouldn't really be added until the tank is around 8-12 months old.
Honestly, I would see if you can take it back to the LFS. Even for partial or no credit. That would still be better than having it die and losing your entire tank because of it.
Just make sure it holds its footing, and is sticky and doesnt get slimed over. When they start to really head south they will get a very bad odor as well. If any of those things happen, pull it asap.

 

The water initially came from the LFS' fish tanks, as in siphoned directly out of the water they sell fish in. Any water changes have been done with pre-mixed saltwater from that LFS, which they say is made using RO water and Instant Ocean. The gravity I'm unable to determine, as the store is currently out of refractometers. PH is 8.3.

Again, it's only been around for 26 days. Unfortunately that falls really short of your 8-12 month mark, so I'm concerned.

What kind of impact is it going to have if it dies?

How long do I have from the first sign of impending doom and the actual problematic impact on my entire tank that you referred to? I'm hoping it can't happen over the course of my work shift.

 

OK. Here's a few things:
What cycling method did you use? At 26 days you should maybe be starting to add your first fish, maybe even not be done with the cycling, let alone be fully stocked. Are you testing your own water or taking it in?
Never, ever use water from an LFS's retail tank. I wouldn't even add the little bit of water that's in the bag when you buy a fish/coral. Who knows whats in that stuff. Normally, its full of conditioners like Prime to keep the levels in check. I have a feeling yours probably was, which gave a false cycle.
As far as the impact: When an anemone dies or gets too stressed, it will release a very toxic poison soup into the water, which can literally kill everything. Even the bacteria responsible for the cycle.
You'll normally have a little bit of time before anything happens from the warning signs. Just make sure it stays sticky and doesn't lose its footing.

 

Being a neophyte, I tested my water to find 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites & 40ppm nitrates and thought "Oh my, I do declare that my water has cycled in miracle time!" : I thought at the time that on account of my LR, LS and LFS water I perhaps bypassed the normal cycling process or cycled very quickly and was on the tail end of it. So I believe it was day 3 of having a tank running that I added 2 juvenile Sebae Clowns, 1 Lawnmower Blenny, 2 Emerald Mithrax crabs, 6 Blue-Legged Dwarf Hermits, a Sun Coral and an Open Brain. I know, yikes!

I'm testing it myself.

I only recently realized not to dump the LFS bags' water into my tank when adding life. It didn't occur to me until I saw an article about acclimation mention "netting" a fish into the tank. I previously thought that it wouldn't make a difference, since I used a tank full of LFS water to start my tank anyway. Now, though, I appreciate that the tank really is an ecosystem and that LFS conditions probably aren't the healthiest.

The only good thing I have to report about my mistakes (which I know is not indicative that all is well or will continue to be well) is that, in spite of my wrongs, the corals and livestock look and act very healthy. Unfortunately the anemone was sick when I bought it. I've been feeding it pieces of silversides and it seems to eat them without any problems, as well as the mysis that its clown friend brings it after stealing it from a coral.

Here's some information that may be pertinent, and some related questions (if you would be so kind as to answer them):

On the same day that I bought the anemone about a week ago, I added 7 pounds of LR. I've seen people claim that adding LS / LR will "restart" a cycle, but I don't understand how and haven't seen a good explanation as to why, nor do I know why the pre-existing beneficial bacteria wouldn't just jump to the new LR and multiply. Any thoughts?

Also, here's my feeding schedule:

Daily plankton, alternating between LiquidLife's CoralPlankton, and DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton Premium Reef Blend.
Daily fish food, alternating between Ocean Nutrition's Brine Shrimp Plus Flakes (flake food) and H2O Life's Cyclops. Recently there have been a few days where the usual fish food was replaced with live brine shrimp to get my picky Banggai Cardinal to eat. Since then I've seen him eat cyclops and the larger mysis from Piscine as well.
Every other day spot-feeding of corals with Piscine's mysis shrimp, or Hikari's smaller mysis shrimp. I know I have a clean-up crew, but am I still over-feeding?

 

Well, you seem to be feeding a lot. That could partly be responsible for the high nitrates and phosphates. I only feed every other day and feed my corals about 3 times a week.

When you add new lr, there is usually dying organic material on it. Even the best cleaning will leave some there. This decays releasing ammonia. This sets the bio balance off, resulting in there being more ammonia than the bacteria can keep up with. The bacteria will eventually catch back up, but that's your cycle.

You made several mistakes, by adding all of that live stock at once and that early, by adding additional lr, and by adding an anemone after only 26 days. just learn from your mistakes. We all make mistakes. How is everything else looking?

 

keep an eye on your blenny in a tank that new/small as well, mine will not eat any prepared food and they also get fairly large for a tank that size...not sure how big it is, just a heads up that he may need a larger tank within a year, they also make a lot of waste...mine is constantly eating in my 46 gal. it will probably be your favorite fish after while...also I had a green BTA in my nano cube with the stock lights and id did well up until it crashed...my fault, noob mistake but nanos crash really fast so just keep an eye on it, I lost everything but a clown in one week...still have the clown, tough as nails