Bta shrivels around noon

[TherealDusky]

Hi!

I have a bta in my tank for quite a while now ( around 3 months).
Tank is 6 months old , been set up with live rock from a fellow reefer.
Here is the story:
I bought the anemone of another fellow reefer, he has his bta for 10 years now and it regularly splits. One of the babies came to my tank.
The anemone has been fine for the past 3 months, only the last 2 weeks it started acting up. It suddenly started walking around after it had been in the same spot for more than 2 months. It's looking sick and shriveled when the lights are at their max intensity ( from 15 to 17 pm. Then, when it gets a bit "darker " in the tank it slowly inflates again.
Nothing changed in the tank. Parameters are still all the same.
I did notice it lost 1 tentacle for one reason or another. Around a week ago. I don't feed it, as the "parent" didn't get fed either. All other corals are thriving ATM, well, they all grow.

Any ideas? It looked so good before.

Cheers

 

[TherealDusky]

 

[Dancingmad]

Shoot buddy, Nems are fickle beasts. I'm just a hobbyist but I've been keeping BTAs for a few years now.

Inflating/deflating is a pretty normal activity. Even in the middle of the day. Maybe they're just having a few off waste expelling/pooing days. Like eating some sketchy tacos from a corner store. It happens to the best of us. I would probably just wait and see if I see any more definitive symptoms of poor nem health: bleaching, spewing insides, gaping mouth, severe loss of inflated bodymass. Moving is a pretty normal activity to. I'm dealing with what I'm calling the "great nem migration of 2017" in my tank right now, and its making all my hair fall out b/c I'm afraid a bold one is going to wander into my grye. Nem puree' is the thing of nightmares.

If you're sure your nem is deteriorating based on the water parameters being both at acceptable levels + stable, here would be my approach:

1. Check out the lights - clear off any salt creep that may have gathered on LED lens or bulb covers. Consider looking at some bulbs if they're super old. Doubt they are since the tank is at 6mos but worth mentioning if you managed to score an awesome fixture for cheap, used. I'm no expert on bulb longevity but I like to change them out about every year and a half or so, funds willing, if anything but to tinker with different bulb / LED spectrum options out there (so many options!!111one).

2. Acclamation style photocycle - What I mean by that is cut the photoperiod and intensity way back and work your way back up over a fews days. If you find a sweet spot that your nems (and hopefully all your other critters to) thrive in - stick with it. Critters should be fine in this cycle - reefs in nature have stormy and cloudy days so some reduced light should be no big deal.

3. Replace any used/spent media like carbon and GFO if you use it or maybe consider using a small amount temporarily. If there is irritant in the water that isn't associated with the typical tests (Ns,PO4s,etc) maybe either GFO or Carbon would remove it. Running a bit for a week or two shouldn't hurt your tank in any way.

Hope it works out - Happy Reefin'!