Glutton for punishment...

GoReefin · Feb 24, 2022

I've tried mixing BTAs in the past and it did not go well. This time I'm armed with cipro, and a completely separate water volume to use if needed.

My rainbows and my H Aurora get along famously but whenever I tried to add different colors in the past they always shrivel up and die on me.

First incident happened last night when i woke up to gushing noises and had about a half a gallon of water on the floor. Wife was not impressed

turns out my new green bta decided to detach and cover my entire overflow...

So this morning I cut some reliefs in the tank overflow divider.

Let's see what today brings...

bradleym · Feb 24, 2022

Good luck! Beautiful H. Aurora, btw

dvgyfresh · Feb 24, 2022

You got this , I had the same issue , after using cipro in DT all anemones get along now

GoReefin · Feb 24, 2022

dvgyfresh said:
You got this , I had the same issue , after using cipro in DT all anemones get along now

Looking awesome man! Yeah going to start cipro if the nem looks off tonight. May just start it anyway don't really see a downside to it honestly.

GoReefin · Feb 27, 2022

Looks like the green BTA has settled in finally. Hasn't moved for 24 hours now. Also my clownfish decided to make a new home. Hopefully it continues to be happy in that spot.

Jekyl · Feb 27, 2022

This seems to be a really common problem when mixing certain color variations of BTA. Make sure to run carbon for best chances. Beyond that some may be fine, while others not. Cross your fingers is about the best explanation I've found.

Jekyl · Feb 27, 2022

@Eagle_Steve @Lost in the Sauce @OrionN @JonezNReef @F i s h y

bradleym · Feb 27, 2022

GoReefin said:
Looks like the green BTA has settled in finally. Hasn't moved for 24 hours now. Also my clownfish decided to make a new home. Hopefully it continues to be happy in that spot.

Looks good! Here's hoping it stays put.

GoReefin · Feb 27, 2022

Jekyl said:
This seems to be a really common problem when mixing certain color variations of BTA. Make sure to run carbon for best chances. Beyond that some may be fine, while others not. Cross your fingers is about the best explanation I've found.

I agree. I'm armed with cipro now so if he starts becoming restless I'll just dose the tank. May add metronidazole as well to cover anaerobic bacteria better.

pecan2phat · Feb 27, 2022

I bought a rainbow and a green BTA from an LFS that keeps all his anemones in baskets but same raceway system.
Both were placed into the same established tank. GBTA expanded quickly and looked to be dominant over the RBTA but over a course of 2 weeks they became the opposite to the point where the GBTA stayed under the rock work and had little extension, more like stubbles. I pulled the GBTA after the 4th week and did a Cipro treatment for 8 days with a few more for observation. Well enough that I placed him back into the tank hosting the rainbow so I'll see what happens.
I'm prepped to treat the display as Eagle_Steve has done so successfully, if the GBTA starts going downhill again in hopes that this is a pathogen in the display vs incapability.
In retrospect, I've had rainbow dominated anemone only tanks before and have tried to add GBTAs several times all to have them eventually perish. Don't know if it's a known issue but then you see others do it well all the time.

Lost in the Sauce · Feb 27, 2022

To echo @Jekyl , this is something that just happens. There are hypothesis as to why. Nothing we can prove yet.

When running many and dissimilar anemone, Carbon is your friend. When one nem gets threatened and starts releasing tannins into the water, your others that may have been totally cool, we'll start releasing also. This could have the effect of turning everyone into anenome soup.

Removing the terps was like hitting reset. Once they all get the message, they all stop bombing each other.

Cipro is a great tool to have on hand. Not always needed, But when you need it, you'll be happy to have it.

GoReefin · Feb 27, 2022

pecan2phat said:
I bought a rainbow and a green BTA from an LFS that keeps all his anemones in baskets but same raceway system.
Both were placed into the same established tank. GBTA expanded quickly and looked to be dominant over the RBTA but over a course of 2 weeks they became the opposite to the point where the GBTA stayed under the rock work and had little extension, more like stubbles. I pulled the GBTA after the 4th week and did a Cipro treatment for 8 days with a few more for observation. Well enough that I placed him back into the tank hosting the rainbow so I'll see what happens.
I'm prepped to treat the display as Eagle_Steve has done so successfully, if the GBTA starts going downhill again in hopes that this is a pathogen in the display vs incapability.
In retrospect, I've had rainbow dominated anemone only tanks before and have tried to add GBTAs several times all to have them eventually perish. Don't know if it's a known issue but then you see others do it well all the time.

How long have you had the gbta in the tank for since cipro treatment? Any signs of any problems since reestablishing him back into the main display?

GoReefin · Feb 27, 2022

Lost in the Sauce said:
To echo @Jekyl , this is something that just happens. There are hypothesis as to why. Nothing we can prove yet.

When running many and dissimilar anemone, Carbon is your friend. When one nem gets threatened and starts releasing tannins into the water, your others that may have been totally cool, we'll start releasing also. This could have the effect of turning everyone into anenome soup.

Removing the terps was like hitting reset. Once they all get the message, they all stop bombing each other.

Cipro is a great tool to have on hand. Not always needed, But when you need it, you'll be happy to have it.

Hopefully we can come together as a community and figure out why there is an incompatibility. From what I'm gathering the leading theory is different bacteria in different anemones which cause problems when introducing different BTAs to the display.
I am running carbon which is a must with any reef tank in my opinion but more so with anemones and softies.

Has anyone here ever dosed metronidazole and ciprofloxacin together before?

pecan2phat · Feb 27, 2022

Since yesterday so 1 day.
So I had the GBTA treated with 8 days of Cipro with daily 100% water changes and 5 days of observation. On day 3 of the observation period the GBTA split most likely due to stress.
As of today, both are on the underside of the rock work in the DT.

GoReefin · Feb 28, 2022

Things looked awesome last night before bedtime but I woke up this morning to a weird overflow noise and investigated and found my new gbta back in the overflow. Looks like this guy just isn't happy. All my other nems have not moved or deflated.

I think I'm going to start cipro treatment tonight. Will document the progress. Going to treat the whole tank.

dvgyfresh · Feb 28, 2022

I don’t have tons of experience but when I dosed cirpo to DT I did 250mg every night after lights out and removed all carbon , skimmer stayed on. First night I turned off flow and intentionally gave cirpo to the sick nems only. All other nights I broadcast dosed

First time mixing species now , hopefully it all goes well

bradleym · Feb 28, 2022

Rough way to start the week! Here's hoping you get it settled in with the others. I'm doing something similar, mine have been together for about a week, so I'll be following your progress in case I run into issues.

pecan2phat · Feb 28, 2022

GoReefin said:
Things looked awesome last night before bedtime but I woke up this morning to a weird overflow noise and investigated and found my new gbta back in the overflow. Looks like this guy just isn't happy. All my other nems have not moved or deflated.

I think I'm going to start cipro treatment tonight. Will document the progress. Going to treat the whole tank.

Please keep us apprised on which treatment protocol you will be doing, thanks!

GoReefin · Feb 28, 2022

pecan2phat said:
Please keep us apprised on which treatment protocol you will be doing, thanks!

Will do!

GoReefin · Mar 1, 2022

It begins.
500mg ciprofloxacin HCL placed in 100ml rodi water.
Dosed roughly 300mg to one tank and 200mg to the other tank.
Left my skimmer on but took off the skimmer cup to continue oxygenation of the water.
Took out all carbon sources.

This morning things are looking good still.

The only thing I've noticed from my first dose of cipro is that my unhappy elegance coral is having some white exudate. Perhaps there was a bacterial infection causing the unhappiness. Will continue to monitor.