BTA bleaching

I bought a small BTA several months ago and it was obvious when he had the zooxanthellae (sp?) in his tentacles, but not now. Shortly after I got him I put an anemone crab in there. It was obvious the anemone didnt care much for the crab and/or the crab was too big for the anemone so the anemone didn't stay 'opened' for a long time. The store where I bought it kept telling me to give it time and the BTA will accept it. Well after a month or so the crab annoyed me enough for preventing the anemone from fully opening I took him back. In addition the store had told me you don't need to feed BTA's, the symbiotic algae is enough so I never fed it. I've a GLO light system with 2 54w bulbs. One's a Marine Glo (actinic spectrum) the other's a Power Glo (18000K). The Kenya tree and zoanthids do awesome with Kenya tree becoming a problem as it's growing/splitting all over the place. Anyway, I've been feeding the now white BTA mysis and small pieces of shrimp. I believe I've read somewhere where it's the BTA can regain it's symbiotic algae? The store I regularly shop told me they've never heard of this and once it's bleached, it's bleached. SO, I'm asking ya'll with WAY more knowledge than I, 1) do I not have enough light or are there other factors that turned my little guy white? 2) can I never help him regain his mojo in his tentacles???

 

I had not much experience with anemones, but 1 thing is for sure you don't have enough light, if I understood right 2 54w bulbs for a 100g is kind of short, that is a lot of water for a total of 108w. what kind are they t5's or just regular fluorescents? you need more like 265w
or better, bear in mind that watt's are the way electric power is measured, someone more experienced may be able to help you with more detail. the reason the kenya and the zoas are doing better is because they don't require as much light

 

IMO, u can prolly get him back. but anemones are tricky, sensitive creatures. what is your water temp? and yes feed it.

and you got 108w on a 100gal. you should definitely add or upgrade lights.

 

OK you don't have enough light for any photosynthetic anemone. Yep you should be feeding it, and yes you can get it back with feeding and light.

 

wattage really means nothing anymore. #1 that isn't a great set up (talking bout the glo series.)it doesn't have individual reflectors so you are losing alot of light. T-5 systems with individual reflectors put out about 300 percent more light than those that don't have them. #2 even if it had individual reflectors that's just not enough light over that tank for most coral. #3 I wouldn't try to keep a nem in anything less than a 6 bulb set up with individual reflectors like sunlight supply's tek light but that's just me. someone else may disagree. #4 I know the t-5 cops are going to role out here and kick my butt, but there's no question to it if you stick some metal halide above the tank you won't have the lighting woes.

 

Thank you for the replies and yes, they're T5 bulbs, but apparently that's not enough to do it for him. That sucks cuz if they'd told me it wouldnt be enough to begin with I would've saved the cash and got the lighting I'd needed in the first place. With what I've told ya'll, what do you think I'm looking at $ wise for a setup to keep 'light hungry' guys like my BTA happy?

 

the little guy should come back if you up your lighting, you dont have nearly enought for an anemone. i agree with daneil throw some MH on that baby. but you need to also have really good water quality, IMO i wouldnt feed him too much if you have the right light, mabye once a week

 

I concure ! You are way starving your anenome of light . Metal Halides. With supplemental VHO's. Since you have the length with that 100 Gallon.;D

 

I don't understand. I just got back from the fish store and the guy with the most experience there tells me I've enough light already and then I read on here it's not enough! Guy at the store tells me not to listen to ya'll! lol! ;D The cheapest halide systems I saw there started at like $550. He showed me a corallife product that had 4 bulbs with moon lighting for $209. I'm not really keen on spending this kind of money right now. If we're talking 500+ to keep my bta happy(ier) I may find him a new home til I have the funds to get that kind of lighting. Meanwhile I'll just live with my ever expanding (almost a nuisance) Kenya tree and the Zo's. :-/

 

If you find a solution let me know...

All my bta's in main tank "bleached" after an inadvertent overtemp last October. :-[

They have remained alive, but could hardly be called thriving...have used different feeding regeims, but nothing so far has made any difference...:-/


Plus, a couple "offspring" have been surviving in Nano with only 24w lighting. So I don't think lighting is an issue.

My clowns still enjoy...



But anem looks nothing like it did before...(bleached one same as large one in pic)




Same kind of BTA, as smaller ones above, in Nano under 24w lighting...however shows little signs of growth, but does survive and keep color, unlike siblings in main tank...



One change I did make sometime around when overtemp occured was move to a 14k SPS MH bulb from a 10K....don't know if this had anything to do with it...