Bta treatment

[rgodoy22]

Need some help with my bta, I purchased two nems and they are currently in a quarantine tank. one has been doing great since arrival I've had them for 4 days it's mouth has not opened and stays inflated 90% of the time. The other doesn't seem to be doing too well it's receded most of the day and today it's mouth was completely open for 20 min or so then closed completely. All the research I've done states a gaping mouth is a bad sign but no one ever advises what should be done. Should I treat with cipro or allow the nem to heal on its own? Does it have the ability to heal or is medication required. All the write ups on cipro are for mag. or carpet anemones I have not seen one for bta. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[Lance M.]

Pics?

 

[rgodoy22]

Right not it close up but I will post one as soon as the mouth opens up again

 

[rgodoy22]

Here is one of it when it was receded It's not the best picture though lights were really blue at the time

 

[rgodoy22]

 

[Lance M.]

Give it some more time. It's still acclimating. Try and get a better pic of the one on the right later, but the left is fine.

 

[rgodoy22]

Yea the left one has been doing great the right one is the one worrying me. Not sure what to do if it's mouth gapes again

 

[chris k.]

Mine did that for a while when i first got him. But he is doing great now.

 

[rgodoy22]

Mine did that for a while when i first got him. But he is doing great now.

But did the mouth ever open up all the way? I was under the impression that a gaping mouth is a sign that the anemone is sick

 

[rgodoy22]

Got some pics with it's mouth open, first time it opened up it was larger than in the pictures

 

[chris k.]

Its mouth was open and there was black syringy stuff coming out. After a few feedings it normalised.

 

[thejuice24]

I would give it a couple more days to normalize to see how it reacts. It could be just straight up stressed out. If you never had bubble tip anemone before you’ll learn they are interesting sensitive creatures. Black stringy stuff is it popping. In my experience or from what I read, it’s when the mouth is open and you can see the white innards of the anemone is when you need to take action.

 

[rgodoy22]

Ok thanks everyone I'll keep an eye on it and see how it does

 

[rgodoy22]

Does anyone know what actually causes an anemones mouth to gape? Is it a bacterial infection?

 

[Lance M.]

It can be any number of things related to stress/health of the nem- acclimation, water parameters, infection, etc.

 

[rgodoy22]

It can be any number of things related to stress/health of the nem- acclimation, water parameters, infection, etc.

So when should there be treatment and will cipro help?

 

[Lance M.]

So when should there be treatment and will cipro help?

With bta's, there hasn't been as much information on using cipro or something like that to treat it as compared to mags and gigs so its hard to say. I know some people have, I have used it twice on two different btas. For me it came down to, all water parameters are good, stable, nothing else changing, could not determine anything that could be affecting the bta. So basically used it as a last resort.

The first one I treated showed improvement after treatment, although it found its way through a mp40, and now there are two them. They look way better though and are slowly getting bigger.

The second bta I treated was on a long decline (~3 months) so I decided to try it. After treatment, its decline has halted and it appears to be very slowly recovering but very slowly.

Would they have recovered anyway? I don't know. Did they have infection? I don't know. I have four other rbtas in the same tank that have been fine the whole time. No idea.

If you can't narrow it down to anything else, and it continues to get worse, I would consider treatment.



I would hold out for another week or two for yours since it is still new, just to see if it continues to decline or not.

 

[rkpetersen]

What's the dosage and protocol for treating a sick anemone with ciprofloxacin? I don't have any that are unwell but it's good to be prepared.

 

[rgodoy22]

With bta's, there hasn't been as much information on using cipro or something like that to treat it as compared to mags and gigs so its hard to say. I know some people have, I have used it twice on two different btas. For me it came down to, all water parameters are good, stable, nothing else changing, could not determine anything that could be affecting the bta. So basically used it as a last resort.

The first one I treated showed improvement after treatment, although it found its way through a mp40, and now there are two them. They look way better though and are slowly getting bigger.

The second bta I treated was on a long decline (~3 months) so I decided to try it. After treatment, its decline has halted and it appears to be very slowly recovering but very slowly.

Would they have recovered anyway? I don't know. Did they have infection? I don't know. I have four other rbtas in the same tank that have been fine the whole time. No idea.

If you can't narrow it down to anything else, and it continues to get worse, I would consider treatment.



I would hold out for another week or two for yours since it is still new, just to see if it continues to decline or not.

Did you treat the entire tank? Or did you isolate them to a quarantine tank

 

[rgodoy22]

And thank you for the info it's hard to find anything on BTAs