Need help from a BTA expert

[emmyd1994]

long story short. I was gifted this beautiful BTA when my tank was only a month old (his name is Rubble.) It somehow managed to survive every cycle crash, salinity swings, nitrates sky high, being hand fed HUGE pieces of Krill shrimp 3x a day… The works.
We are about 5 months into our journey together (I’m aware tank is still too new) as of now and my tank has been stable for a few months with one random cycle crash 2 months ago. Right after that cycle crash he began to get sick. I love him so much (my toddler loves him more) I even had him housed at my LFS for the last 2 months. He had zero improvement there and got worse. He’s been back home for about a week and some days are better than others.
only treatment he’s been given was a coral dip upon returning home. I’ll post pictures.
He eats. He moves. He reacts to touch. His foot is strong and fully attached during lights on but he always falls off his rock face first into the sand within 2 hours of lights out, he has no the tentacles at all. Always hates ceiling lights being on and some days tank lights also but he’s coming around some to tank lighting (maybe because there is no where to hide)

I’m so sad watching this once BEAUTIFUL creature suffer day in and day out and I feel so helpless. My toddler will come unglued if he passes away.
can anyone help troubleshoot at all?

 

[James M]

Your tank does not look suitable for an anemone, which means you will not see improvement
Info on the tank ?
it will take months before you see Some improvement in a suitable tank

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Specific questions about your tank: size (especially height), type of lighting, any water tests performed recently (salinity, ph, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate mainly). Type of filtration and/or protein skimmer? When @James M is saying he thinks the tank is unsuitable, what he is more than likely referring to is that it appears to be very sterile with little live rock or diversity of lifeforms currently, and as you already mentioned you are aware the young age of the tank contributes to this. Stability is also very important to keeping anemones, so other questions which might help us guide you would be size and frequency of water changes, are you doing any regular testing or dosing of alkalinity/calcium/magnesium? The fact is there is probably very little consumption of these at this point since there is very little lifeforms in the tank currently, but I bring this up to at least hopefully make you aware of some of the husbandry that goes into maintaining the tank.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Also along the lines of stability, it appears to be a pretty small tank, am I correct? The smaller the tank, the more difficult it can be to maintain temperature at a constant level, and also small mishaps can have a much larger effect in a small volume of water. For instance a single fish or 'nem dying in a tank that size can be catastrophic to the other inhabitants while in a larger tank not so much so.

 

[pecan2phat]

being hand fed HUGE pieces of Krill shrimp 3x a day

only treatment he’s been given was a coral dip upon returning home

These 2 scenarios are a problem IMO.
You were overfeeding the anemone by 10 folds and coral dipping an anemone is a big no no.

 

[dedragon]

We need a lot more info on your tank but i think you should reference these videos to help you out https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/category/brs-tv/5-minute-saltwater-aquarium-guide

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Such a beautiful animal. Try adding some live rock from a established tank. I had anemones thriving in a new tank but I blame the live rock for that miracle.

 

[Jekyl]

Agree with others that the environment doesn't seem suitable. Anemone need an established tank, stable parameters and strong lighting.

 

[Dburr1014]

He needs shade of it wants it. Rock or pcv temporarily can be put in.
Yes, stop feeding.

 

[undermind]

So far you've gotten advice to feed more, feed less, give more light, give less light, add live rock, all without knowing a dang thing about your tank.

Please let us know tank size, other inhabitants, and parameters (salinity, temp, nitrate, phosphate are good for now). Also what lighting do you have and is there any flow?

Absent that information that is unique to your setup, I can tell you that BTAs like strong light. They also don't need to eat things like krill or silversides. It's hard for them to digest huge chunks and things with shells and skeletons. You may see them eat it but you probably don't see them spit it up at night. BTAs get fed from light and/or food.

When you say its foot is attached in daytime and detaches at night, it may be trying to take best advantage of photosynthesis while the lights are on and then move during lights out to a superior position, which is why it's detaching. It could also be detaching out of desperation and hoping to get picked up by current and carried to a new zone with better conditions (oceanic behavior of course).

 

[sfin52]

@Eagle_Steve need some help overhere

 

[sfin52]

@F i s h y @Lost in the Sauce you guys are fantastic too. Any thoughts

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@Eagle_Steve need some help overhere

As @James M said, need more info. Without that, just speculation and assume worst case on tank setup. Don’t want to do that.

 

[F i s h y]

@F i s h y @Lost in the Sauce you guys are fantastic too. Any thoughts

Need more info as has been said.

Only the 3rd time I've seen one completely void of tentacles.

 

[emmyd1994]

Your tank does not look suitable for an anemone, which means you will not see improvement
Info on the tank ?
it will take months before you see Some improvement in a suitable tank

Tank pictured in photos is the hospital tank. It’s a 10G. My main tank he came from is a 95G hex with a 40G sump.

 

[emmyd1994]

Hey! Sorry for lack of details! I wasn’t totally sure what all info y’all would want so thank you for all the input! And I knew I had A LOT of info and no time to type it up when I posted originally.
The photos I originally posted in this thread are all from my 10G hospital tank where I moved him to when I thought he was dead. I have since returned him to the tank he has always lived in.
I learned today there’s a chance be might not be getting enough flow (if in the mesh box or the anemone cup but, I do have both placed where I can see plenty of water movement) as a precaution I will be putting a plastic bin in there tonight that has bigger holes.
I’m posting more pictures and everything I know to tell y’all.




Initially I thought maybe starvation? But there’s no way right? My clowns used to feed it daily with no problem and I have always spot fed it at least twice a week (I made a lot of over feeding mistakes the first month of having him and he didn’t seem to care about that. Mistakes have been corrected for months now)
Lighting is a pretty big suspicion of the cause. I have a general understanding of the way everything in and out of the tank work except the light. That thing is powerful. It’s brand new. The app confuses me. And I have yet to find a “happy” setting with it, despite my best efforts.
Lighting is a single Kessil A360X. I’ve run 14 day acclimation mode 3x since having the light and the bubble tip. First acclimation period was ran when I got the light about 3 months ago now? Second acclimation period was ran when he first got sick. And the most recent acclimation period just ended 2 days ago (I ran the 3rd acclimation period when I put him back in my main tank from the hospital tank) and no improvement from the BTA. Any advice on this lighting situation would be amazing! I have not found any info on the Kessil and BTA settings on google.
Ive been syringe feeding it directly over it’s mouth since I noticed it wasn’t grabbing food anymore (when it still had some tentacles) I have now been force feeding it for about 2 weeks (please no comments on force feeding. He would die from starvation if not. This is an EXTREME circumstance that warrants my choice to force feed) By force feed I do mean with a little pipette directly into the mouth. I squeeze out all the air prior to insertion and slowly slowly slowly squeeze the food in its mouth. I do have to hold the syringe there for a while until he closes up a bit. Otherwise it all falls out and just sticks to his flat surface.
He currently gets fish eggs or mysis thawed and soaked in Selcon for 7 minutes. I do feed him more frequently than some of you suggested (3X a day) because of how little I’m able to feed at one time. I’ve seen a million different opinions and advice on what’s best as far as feeding goes. I can cut back to every few days though and see how it goes. I just worry he won’t be getting enough food. He is in my main tank but, in a little basket. I did try moving him into a anemone cup today so he could start trying to catch some food from the tank but, Im now paranoid about glow (thanks google) in the cup so I’ll be putting him in a plastic basket that can get plenty of flow.
There is no other BTA in the tank or competing animal. I’ve never seen any tank mates bully them bubble tip. My clowns are aggressive with a lot of things but, not with Rubble.
Tank has a few snails, 2 clowns, 1 flame (fire?) hawk, and a few small Zoa frags. That is all. I’m waiting until after my first year to really stock it up, as I don’t enjoy killing living creatures.

parameters -


PH = 8.3
Temp 78
SG = 1.025
Nitrate = 0
Phosphate = 0
Alk = 10.0 dkh
Ca = 460


Tank specs -
95G hexagon.
40G sump.
DT is 36 inches wide.
DT is 24 inches deep.
sand bed is a mix of live sand and crushed coral it is 3 inches deep.
70 pounds of cycled live rock have been in the tank since setup day.
25 pounds of assorted man made dry material like rocks (I forget what they are called) they have been slowly added as I find pieces I like at my LFS.
tank is drilled.
pump is Blueline aqua (now called panworld) model is 100PX-X. It can pump 3,200GPH. I don’t run it that high.
Flow is good in my opinion. I have the flow from the blue line that comes from a power head on the left side of the tank. Then I have some little cheapie brand wave maker mid level on the right side of the tank.
skimmer is eshopps brand. I can’t remember the model. I’ll post a pic of it.
I run a UV sterilizer at all times.
Sump is a trickle sump with dry rock.
I have a ton of filtration. I’ll send picture.
I dose tank once a week with 50ML of Tropie Martin All-For-Reef.
I do a monthly water change.
I have a Refugium (it’s new-ish and I’m not super duper educated on it) I think it’s stocked with pods? I don’t see them and haven’t since right after I poured the jug of them in there but, I gave it a lot of pod options (I forgot which ones were in the mix and the brand. The label was green if that helps) after it’d been installed for a few weeks. I don’t really understand pods and stuff. The chaeto is growing fine though. It’s lighting is opposite of tank

I reluctantly purchased a “donor” BTA today. It’s still drip acclimating actually. I really do not want to cut a tentacle off of it. It’s kind of a last ditch effort since nothing else is helping.
Oh and my ATO only works when it wants to. I’m pretty good about refilling the evap daily by hand when my ATO decides that’s not it’s job but, If I forget or actually trust my ATO to work and it doesn’t work. There will be a very very small salinity change. Like from 1.026 to 1.024 over the course of a few days. So not a quick or drastic change.

I attached a few photos. Of the dosing I use. Bubble tips feeding arrangements. The donor BTA. My DT (the net doesn’t live there it fell in a second ago, the breeder box also doesn’t live in the tank, and the T5 bulb light strip on the wall has never been turned on since I have no clue how it works nor have I installed it. It just arrived today. I still need to research why the heck I even bought it. I’m a total hot mess human if you haven’t gathered that yet.) and the sump setup. Pumps are all turned off in photos since I’m about to let the potential donor BTA free.

 

[sfin52]

Zero phosphates and zero nitrates is not a good thing, the algea in the coral is starving.

 

[emmyd1994]

Zero phosphates and zero nitrates is not a good thing, the algea in the coral is starving.

I did the thing I always do.
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - <20
Phosphate - 0

i get nitrites and nitrates mixed up all the time if I’m not looking directly at the test.

 

[Rmckoy]

Doesn’t look happy at all .
im
Worried that one kessell light isn’t enough but I could be wrong .

the anemone doesn’t have any tentacles in most of the pictures .
large pieces of food would be hard to digest . They use a lot of energy that they’re not getting .

 

[sfin52]

I did the thing I always do.
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - <20
Phosphate - 0

i get nitrites and nitrates mixed up all the time if I’m not looking directly at the test.

But zero phosphates isn't good. The algea needs both nitrates and phosphates.