Sad BTA

danimgale · Jun 4, 2020

I ordered a BTA from an online retailer and it is looking pretty sad. It looks as though he has a tear in his foot and is spitting some guts out. I am hoping he is just stressed from the shipment. What are your thoughts? Will he be able to pull through?? The picture of him hanging upside is from this morning....

Webslinger · Jun 4, 2020

Leave alone...time will tell

PicassoClown04 · Jun 4, 2020

Let him be, make sure your powerheads arent going to shred him if he decides to move. He will settle in a spot where he’s happy and everything will heal and probably be okay. Feed him meaty chunks of LRS food every day and he will start looking like mine! RBTA bought during spring break of this year.

andrewey · Jun 4, 2020

I'd leave him be and ensure powerheads and overflows are protected. I'm not a fan of feeding injured nems. If the anemone continues to deteriorate, you may consider treatment to treat associated bacterial infections.

danimgale · Jun 4, 2020

I have my power heads covered with mesh so he can't get sucked in. I don't plan on messing with him because I don't want to stress him out more. I just wanted to see what others think about his probability of recovering.

Webslinger · Jun 11, 2020

do not feed him every day!..once every couple weeks or never is best. They get all they need from photosynthesis

danimgale · Jun 11, 2020

Thank you! He looks much better now. I haven't fed him directly but have squirted brine shrimp in his direction a couple of times.

PicassoClown04 · Jun 11, 2020

Most people recommend feeding anemones, especially when they’re not doing too hot. The majority don’t feed nearly as much as I do but it seems like a lot of people feed 2ish times a week. I’m just speaking from experience, I have a BWBTA that I never feed and an RBTA that I feed every day and the RBTA looks significantly better and has beautiful, massive bubbles while the BWBTA doesn’t have any bubbles at all.

D-Nak · Jun 11, 2020

I would not feed it anything (directly or indirectly) until it looks comfortable in your tank. It may go through a period of complete deflation then inflation while it adjust its zooxanthellae population to your tank lighting. You want it to focus on that.

Webslinger · Jun 12, 2020

footgal said:
Most people recommend feeding anemones, especially when they’re not doing too hot. The majority don’t feed nearly as much as I do but it seems like a lot of people feed 2ish times a week. I’m just speaking from experience, I have a BWBTA that I never feed and an RBTA that I feed every day and the RBTA looks significantly better and has beautiful, massive bubbles while the BWBTA doesn’t have any bubbles at all.

directly feeding a sick anemone isn't a good idea or Twice a week! wow You'll have a tankfull of bta's in a year. They tend to split when stresses and when overfeed.