Upgraded tank size, anemone not happy

Leyth · Aug 2, 2017

Hey guys, so I had a 17 gallon that was established for a year and it was doing really well. Everything thrived and my RBTA even actually had the bubble tips.

Well I upgraded to a 90 and while I moved all my rocks and seeded the sand bed with some of the old sand, I think it was too much of a change. On top of that, I changed my lighting from a radion to a ATI T5 fixture. It doesn't seem to have sticky tips or just doesn't want the food. It hosts the clowns, but I've noticed it shriveling up a lot and blowing back up to the picture I've attached. It's always that one side of it that is very retracted for some reason.

Current Params:

C: 475
Alk: 7
Mag: 1270
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78.5-79.6

Any ideas?

Lance M. · Aug 2, 2017

How new is the 90 before you added the bta?

Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite levels?

I would wait until it gets settled before feeding. It has had a lot of changes. You likely need to photo acclimate as well, it may be getting a lot more par from the T5's depending on the setup.

If you could maybe, stick with the led's set up similar to the previous tank (height, time, etc.) for a month or two to limit the number of changes at once.

PSLReefer · Aug 2, 2017

I had my bta's do the same thing after a transfer and mine even started turning black. I fed them every week and after a few weeks they bounced back great. Not sure what happened to Make them get that way except the possibility of a small cycle disrupting things. Regardless of doing a straight transfer your tank is reacting and it will throw your water chemistry out of whack got a bit.

Leyth · Aug 2, 2017

I think you guys are right. My feeling is that it's just going through some heavy changes and will make it. However, I am fairly new to the hobby and just wanted to make sure I wasn't being ignorant to something obvious going on.

For the record ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are 5. I think my params are quite ideal, but I am seeing cyano blooms come and go as well as pod populations come and go. I think those are the characteristics of miniature cycles going on. I let the tank cycle for about a month and a half before I started transferring live stock. I would transfer a rock every few days to the new tank to help seed. Ammonia did reach like 3 ppm and it was cycled in less than 2 weeks.

Lance M. · Aug 3, 2017

Leyth said:
I think you guys are right. My feeling is that it's just going through some heavy changes and will make it. However, I am fairly new to the hobby and just wanted to make sure I wasn't being ignorant to something obvious going on.

For the record ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are 5. I think my params are quite ideal, but I am seeing cyano blooms come and go as well as pod populations come and go. I think those are the characteristics of miniature cycles going on. I let the tank cycle for about a month and a half before I started transferring live stock. I would transfer a rock every few days to the new tank to help seed. Ammonia did reach like 3 ppm and it was cycled in less than 2 weeks.

I would mainly watch parameters and let it stabilize, possibly be prepared for a pwc, but sounds like it just needs some time.

Since the bta was healthy to begin with, you may possibly think of it as same situation as if you just bought a healthy specimen and put it in your tank (90).

I would still photoacclimate as well as hold off feeding until it looks better. I wouldnt be so worried by inflation and deflation over the next couple of days (adjusting to new environment) as long as it is able to keep its mouth closed.

If everything is stable, it will likely go back to normal in a couple weeks.

Do not be surprised by a random splitting due to the changes. May also be on/off with the bubbling.

One of the gbta's I have, when I purchased it, it was completely bubbled at the lfs and had been there for months. Given the length of time they were able to keep it alive under t8's, I bought it and it has since increased in size while loosing all bubbles and has much better color. Looks like a completely different anemone.

My other gbta and 2 rbta's all bubble, all four deflate after lights out and reinflate when lights come on daily, like clockwork.

Leyth · Aug 3, 2017

Lance M. said:
I would mainly watch parameters and let it stabilize, possibly be prepared for a pwc, but sounds like it just needs some time.

Since the bta was healthy to begin with, you may possibly think of it as same situation as if you just bought a healthy specimen and put it in your tank (90).

I would still photoacclimate as well as hold off feeding until it looks better. I wouldnt be so worried by inflation and deflation over the next couple of days (adjusting to new environment) as long as it is able to keep its mouth closed.

If everything is stable, it will likely go back to normal in a couple weeks.

Do not be surprised by a random splitting due to the changes. May also be on/off with the bubbling.

One of the gbta's I have, when I purchased it, it was completely bubbled at the lfs and had been there for months. Given the length of time they were able to keep it alive under t8's, I bought it and it has since increased in size while loosing all bubbles and has much better color. Looks like a completely different anemone.

My other gbta and 2 rbta's all bubble, all four deflate after lights out and reinflate when lights come on daily, like clockwork.

That makes sense. Thank you for your advice. I will continue monitoring closely and report back if I see anything out of the ordinary.

PS. What is PWC?