New BTA suspected to be dying, help!

[almeg]

Hello! I bought a BTA from my LFS this past Saturday 5/13 and it does not seem happy. We acclimated for 1 hour by adding increments of water to floating bag, placed it on a rock and turned off wave maker.

It constantly moved around but never seemed to actually attach. Then we started noticing it would constantly flip itself over face first in the sand. We would flip it back over and it would do it again.

its currently on the sand bed face up but shrunken about 10x it’s size and just looks in bad shape. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong!

here’s current setup and parameters, I will take a photo when I get home from work:

75 gallon tanking running about 1.5 years
pH - 8.1
Salinity - 1.025
alkalinity - 8
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate - 0
Temp - 76 (we just raised to 79)
Lights - viparspectra 165W 40% blue 20% white (slowly incrementing upward)
Suspected dinoflagellates in tank
Tank mates are 2 clownfish, 2 chromis, a rock flower, and GSP

we called our LFS and they haven’t been too much help, he doesn’t seem to be injured but this is our first BTA…

 

[T-J]

Could be the lack of N and P. The dinos are telling me your water quality isn't that great.

 

[Goaway]

Do you know if the bta was born in captivity or wild?

Wild anemones can be a hassle to new anemone keeper, rock flowers being a bit more of an exception.

 

[Borat]

Pictures of the tank are worth more than 1000 words writen here...

 

[almeg]

Could be the lack of N and P. The dinos are telling me your water quality isn't that great.

I did read a bit about nems liking some nitrate and phosphate.. how do you manage those levels? Should I buy a bottle to dose? Working on a remedy for the Dino’s, I’m thinking increasing the temp will help

 

[almeg]

Do you know if the bta was born in captivity or wild?

Wild anemones can be a hassle to new anemone keeper, rock flowers being a bit more of an exception.

I don’t know actually, but I can call my LFS and ask! Good to know.

 

[almeg]

Pictures of the tank are worth more than 1000 words writen here...

Agree to disagree, background on parameters and activity are always the first questions people ask to diagnose a problem - but I do recognize a picture will help and I will upload one when I get home from work

 

[Borat]

I don’t know actually, but I can call my LFS and ask! Good to know.

It sounds like your tank is very young and immature.. not a good idea to buy anemonies.. nems like established tanks, typically 1y old +... for some tanks it could be 1y+, for some other 3y+ depending on how well the tank has been looked after.

 

[Goaway]

It sounds like your tank is very young and immature.. not a good idea to buy anemonies.. nems like established tanks, typically 1y old +... for some tanks it could be 1y+, for some other 3y+ depending on how well the tank has been looked after.

75 gallon tanking running about 1.5 years

 

[Borat]

..as I said - time is not an indication of maturity. I bought my first nem when my tank was 2 yrs old and that nem perished.. It was not behaving as badly as yours - initially expanded and seemed happy but didn't survive for long.

 

[iamacat]

1.5 years with Dino’s and 6 inhabitants.

I would like to see a picture to get an understanding of the system because something is off the mark here.

 

[almeg]

..as I said - time is not an indication of maturity. I bought my first nem when my tank was 2 yrs old and that nem perished.. It was not behaving as badly as yours - initially expanded and seemed happy but didn't survive for long.

I did not counter your original comment - this was a response from another user. I understand your feedback, thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Borat]

I did not counter your original comment - this was a response from another user. I understand your feedback, thank you for sharing your experience.

You too, cheers, Borat.

 

[almeg]

It sounds like your tank is very young and immature.. not a good idea to buy anemonies.. nems like established tanks, typically 1y old +... for some tanks it could be 1y+, for some other 3y+ depending on how well the tank has been looked after.

Could you help learn me on some of the things to recognize that the tank is mature enough? Just to avoid guessing on a time and having the same situation happen. What makes a tank mature?

 

[j.falk]

One hour acclimation time?

It shouldn't be on the sand bed...BTAs need rocks to attach their foot into.

 

[Borat]

Could you help learn me on some of the things to recognize that the tank is mature enough? Just to avoid guessing on a time and having the same situation happen. What makes a tank mature?

There is no formula, but generally ample coraline algae growth and complete disappearance of algae in display tank are one of those indicators for me..

 

[Idech]

I’m still a beginner but I’ve read through research than anemones don’t do well with dinos. It might be the reason.

Mine was doing okay in my 16 months old tank then until I had to too many necessary changes. They really need stability.

 

[T-J]

I’m still a beginner but I’ve read through research than anemones don’t do well with dinos. It might be the reason.

Mine was doing okay in my 16 months old tank then until I had to too many necessary changes. They really need stability.

Nothing does "well" with dinos, since they're an indicator of poor water quality.

 

[Spare time]

I wouldn't raise the intensity of the lights anymore unless they are mounted very very high. I'd feed more to get nitrate up or dose aminos. You need to know phosphate (on a kit that reads below 0.25 (i.e. not API)

 

[almeg]

Unfortunately, the nem passed away. Here are pics of the setup, it’s currently doing blues so I briefly turned on white on one side for a pic. If this is not Dino’s let me know, there are bubbles everywhere.