High Tide Aquatics

Bleached GBTA very slow to recover?

bondolo

bondolo

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When I first started my tank one of my first acquisitions was a green bubble tip anemone. I now have two of them. One is reasonably happy and has a lovely colour. I did accidentally squash him a bit moving rock a month ago but he seems to be recovering reasonably quickly.

My original GBTA other is rather bleached. He was more bleached three months ago and had been slowly going down hill for a while. It turns out I wasn't feeding him enough. A quarter-to-half block of frozen mysis shrimp once a week had been all I was feeding. I am now feeding chopped silversides along with either mysis or formula one (mostly krill it seems) every day or ever second day. I've also been using the aquavito "Fuel" additive on the tank which I assume couldn't hurt. He does seem to gobble up whatever food I give him.

Unfortunately though his recovery from starvation has been very slow. His colour under actinc is now better, more green than it was, and he's visibly less white. He doesn't show any bubbles on his tentacles but they are a lot less spindly than they were. He also spends less time deflated and hiding in his mantle than he was.

He hasn't made a full recovery though and seems to have stopped improving. Should I be feeding him even more or something different? My understanding is that he should get much of his nutrition from photosynthesis (which is why I believe the improved colour under actinic is a good sign). If he's still willing to grab food and "swallow" is it possible to feed too much? That his buddy 4" away has been getting the same diet and seems perfectly fine (and able to recover from abuse) just adds to my perplexity.
 
IME RBTAs take a long time to recover from stress, sometimes they give up on life. Be patient and don't over feed the nem, just a few small bits here and there will suffice.
 
When I had a full anemone, it used to get most from light. I think I'd squirt a little of mysis or brine once a month and it kept growing like crazy.
I was trying to make it grow slower, but it wouldn't.
It started moving after I messed with the rock and took it out of the water with it attached just for a little to catch a fish.
It was then sucked in by my vortech and it's now reduced to the size of a penny, but coming back slowly. It even has tentacles again. Pretty tiny ones, but it does :)
I wish your bta comes back.
 
What kind of lighting do you have? Although you can keep a BTA under less powerful light like PC, it may be hard to recover a BTA under less powerful lighting conditions. If you have a metal halide, T5, or LED, just provide stable parameters and a good diet (without over or underfeeding) and the anemone should make a steady recovery. Good luck with your nem. :)

Also, sorry to change the subject, but may I ask where you bought your Aquavitro Fuel? It was recommended to me for fast zoa growth, so I looked online for it and couldn't find it. Where did you get yours?
 
Mine lost a of of color and shrunk down to 1/4 its full size a few months ago.
I thought it was splitting but it never did.
I had never really fed it.
It seems to be on a slow recovery.
I still never really feed it.
 
Euphyllia said:
may I ask where you bought your Aquavitro Fuel? It was recommended to me for fast zoa growth, so I looked online for it and couldn't find it. Where did you get yours?
Click to expand...

The entire AquaVitro line is only distributed through LFS. You won't find it online except through grey market. Something by SeaChem to appease the LFS I believe by helping them with a higher margin exclusive product line. I got mine at Albany Aquarium though I saw it for the same price at Aquatic Collection.
 
I have a couple also. One is a wild caught GBTA with purple tip and the other a clone of Dolphin's purple nem with neon green tips. The GBTA is a little lighter than most I see from the LFSs although he maintains a good size. The purple BTA almost died when I first got him thanks to my crazy ass maroon clown. The purple lost a bit of color but is slowly growing again. My experience with BTAs tells me that patience and tank stability is key.

I give these guys a cube of frozen tuna every weekend a few squirts of mysis. Is that a good amount? The GbTA is Approx 6 inches wide when open and the Purple BTA is Approx 4 inches. They sit 24" under 150w Phoenix MH. The fixture is about 12" above the surface of the tank.

Sorry for hijacking the thread...
 
Lighting is their primary source of energy, so you should find a balance between feeding and lighting. To my understanding, they'll have more energy and can digest food faster under stronger lighting, so in that case they could be fed every few days. Since yours are 2' down from the halide, I personally would just feed them a piece of krill or two once per week. It's good to feed them very meaty foods.

I've seen somebody put a floaty basket at the very top of the tank under their halide. They fed silversides every few days, and their RBTA split like crazy. They started with one and they had 10 within a year.
 
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