Hold through BTA

[lilfishy]

Hello! I’ve had a BTA for a few months now and it randomly had a hole through it. It closes back up and “reopens” I guess everyday for the past almost week. Can anyone help give some insight into what’s going on please? I appreciate any help

 

[laverda]

A better photo under white light would help a lot. I would have never guessed that is a BTA from your photo. Its mouth is probably gaping for some reason. This is an indication it is not healty. Why it isn’t healthy is hard to say without a lot more information.
Please tell us more about your tank, size, age, set up with dry or live rock? What are your tank perimeters?
From your photo i suspect it may not be getting enough light. BTAs are light loving. It is pretty hard to over light them.

 

[lilfishy]

A better photo under white light would help a lot. I would have never guessed that is a BTA from your photo. Its mouth is probably gaping for some reason. This is an indication it is not healty. Why it isn’t healthy is hard to say without a lot more information.
Please tell us more about your tank, size, age, set up with dry or live rock? What are your tank perimeters?
From your photo i suspect it may not be getting enough light. BTAs are light loving. It is pretty hard to over light them.

Hi! Thanks for your response, I will try to get a better picture for you soon.
Size: 13.5 gal
Age: 6mo
Live rock
pH 6.8
Carbonate between 40-80kh mg/L
Alkalinity been 80-120 mg/L
Cl2, nitrate, nitrite all 0mg/L
salinity is 1.021 (which I believe is actually a little low- just did a water change last night)

 

[Bucs20fan]

Whatever is going on, that nem is absolutely bleached and not doing well. First your salinity is not high enough. Get it upt to 1.025 asap.

 

[lilfishy]

Whatever is going on, that nem is absolutely bleached and not doing well. First your salinity is not high enough. Get it upt to 1.025 asap.

Doing that now hopefully this will help. Thank you!

also I just bought an AI Prime 16 light. Any suggestions on best lighting with that?

 

[Jekyl]

The hole is actually its mouth gaping. Your anemone is not in very good shape. 6 months old is generally the soonest an anemone should be introduced. Get salinity slowly up to 35ppt, alkalinity in range of 8.5, nitrate around 10 to 20, phosphate .05 or so. Beyond that, what lights are you using?

 

[Jekyl]

Doing that now hopefully this will help. Thank you!

also I just bought an AI Prime 16 light. Any suggestions on best lighting with that?

Look up the AB settings

 

[lilfishy]

Look up the AB settings

What does AB mean?

 

[lilfishy]

The hole is actually its mouth gaping. Your anemone is not in very good shape. 6 months old is generally the soonest an anemone should be introduced. Get salinity slowly up to 35ppt, alkalinity in range of 8.5, nitrate around 10 to 20, phosphate .05 or so. Beyond that, what lights are you using?

Do you have any recommendations on what to use for testing tank parameters? Right now I just have test strips from Amazon and I don’t know how accurate these are. Thank you

 

[Bucs20fan]

Salifert or Red Sea test kits work very well, Hanna checkers even better, but very pricey. API test kits are most affordable and can get you in a good range, but aren’t very precise. The chances for the anemone aren’t good, they need good lighting and good water to survive. This is one of those learning experiences we have all gone through. Nems are tough so I’m not saying it cannot recover, but the swings in salinity and no actual water parameters don’t give this nem a good chance. But I wish you the best of luck and hoping for recovery.

 

[lilfishy]

Salifert or Red Sea test kits work very well, Hanna checkers even better, but very pricey. API test kits are most affordable and can get you in a good range, but aren’t very precise. The chances for the anemone aren’t good, they need good lighting and good water to survive. This is one of those learning experiences we have all gone through. Nems are tough so I’m not saying it cannot recover, but the swings in salinity and no actual water parameters don’t give this nem a good chance. But I wish you the best of luck and hoping for recovery.

Thank you! I went ahead and bought the Hanna checkers. Slowly increasing the salinity of the tank. Here is an updated picture from a few minutes ago. Thank you, everyone! I hope my BTA "Bubbles" pulls through

 

[SE7ƎN]

Doing that now hopefully this will help. Thank you!

also I just bought an AI Prime 16 light. Any suggestions on best lighting with that?

I use Patty's (hernanoreefs) light schedule and my previous and current Nems do very well under this. If you want this schedule, send me a DM and I can email you or DM you the AI Schedule. Here's her videos - She is very successful with them:

 

[laverda]

Hi! Thanks for your response, I will try to get a better picture for you soon.
Size: 13.5 gal
Age: 6mo
Live rock
pH 6.8
Carbonate between 40-80kh mg/L
Alkalinity been 80-120 mg/L
Cl2, nitrate, nitrite all 0mg/L
salinity is 1.021 (which I believe is actually a little low- just did a water change last night)

BTAs require an established stable system. Your tank is neither. Your parameters are all out of wack. Salinity should be 1.025-1.026, Alkalinity should be 8.6-9 DKH Ph should be 8-8.3 ideally. 6.8 is very low. Correcting you salinity will help with the PH and Alkalinity, but probably not solve the issues. What salt your using can make a big difference here. I would increase your salinity.oo2 a day for the next 2 days and then .001 higher. Then keep it there. Check your parameters again and slowly increase your ALK to get it in the proper range.
All life requires some Phosphate and BTAs require nitrate. Nitrates are a food source for BTAs. Personally I recommend nitrates above 10 for BTAs.
I like Salifert test kits the best. If possible I would find some one with a well established tank to hold and try to revive your anemone. Good luck!