Zooxanthellae Transplant for Bleached Anemones

MnFish1 · Sep 15, 2020

I dont know how to edit a review - somehow mine came out with '1 star' - which was not my intent. I liked the article - and the idea! I would suggest perhaps (since you have a ton of anemones) - to do what someone else said - try doing this with 2 bleached anemones - one that gets the 'transplant' - another that gets nothing. Then repeat it a couple times. The reason I'm saying this is not to criticize - but only because lets say I buy an anemone - Its not like I have extra anemones to pull tentacles off

... Again - sorry - I didn't mean to give you a 1 star review - I'm not sure how it happened - it was actually very interesting!!!!

twiatr2001 · Sep 15, 2020

I have seen this before, have not done a transplant myself but have supplemented with salmon/tuna along with reef roids, and it does work just takes while and a lot of patience. I imagine something as a part of a tentacle from another anemone will work better as the zooxanthellae are live and can repopulate faster, just FYI, if someone asks, if you take zooxanthellae from a Colorado sunburst and transplant it to a rainbow, the rainbow will not turn into a CSB. Just thought I would share that, the anemone will still take on its natural coloration.

terraincognita · Sep 16, 2020

Wow!

im So glad I found this thread.

Here is my haddons carpet, would you consider this bleached? If so it would explain why he is so temperamental.

do you think feeding coral would have the same effect?

I’d gladly feed some GSP or loose Zoa heads.

OrionN · Sep 16, 2020

That does not look like a Haddoni Carpet, rather, I think it is a Gigantea Carpet. Can you take better picture of the column.
BTW, he is not bleached.

terraincognita · Sep 16, 2020

OrionN said:
That does not look like a Haddoni Carpet, rather, I think it is a Gigantea Carpet. Can you take better picture of the column.
BTW, he is not bleached.

Glad he’s not bleached.

I’ve been feeding him more the past 2 days and he’s doing a lot better. But he still is deflating sometimes randomly more than I think is healthy.

OrionN · Sep 16, 2020

If he is deflating sometime, don't feed him yet. Wait until he is healthy then you can start feeding. It will get him sicker.
Your tank is kinda new for this anemone. Hope he will be fine for you

terraincognita · Sep 16, 2020

OrionN said:
If he is deflating sometime, don't feed him yet. Wait until he is healthy then you can start feeding. It will get him sicker.
Your tank is kinda new for this anemone. Hope he will be fine for you

Yeah, it was a transfer/upgrade but I probably should’ve kept him in the other tank until it got more established.

I used most of the live rock and the water as well. Didn’t calculate for the size difference definitely having to let the BB colony more than triple in size.

But then I didn’t want to disturb him again and move him back.

Finally last 2 days the water params have started to stabilize, so he’s definitely starting to get better.

So you think he’s a Gigantea?

So I shouldn’t feed him until he is back to normal puffiness behavior?

OrionN · Sep 16, 2020

terraincognita said:
....

So you think he’s a Gigantea?
...

Maybe. I need an in focus picture of the column to tell for sure.

So I shouldn’t feed him until he is back to normal puffiness behavior?

You should not feed him until he stop deflating.

a.ocellaris · Sep 21, 2020

Nice article, and thanks for sharing your method @OrionN. Not sure if this was answered somewhere, but does the donor have to be the same type of anemone? I assume same type would be the best. I have a bleached mag anemone for a couple months now. The mag eats and sticky, but it is still bleached. I do not have a donor mag to use, but I have plenty of RBTAs that can donate a tenacle. Not sure if that would cause a negative reaction, though.

OrionN · Sep 24, 2020

a.ocellaris said:
Nice article, and thanks for sharing your method @OrionN. Not sure if this was answered somewhere, but does the donor have to be the same type of anemone? I assume same type would be the best. I have a bleached mag anemone for a couple months now. The mag eats and sticky, but it is still bleached. I do not have a donor mag to use, but I have plenty of RBTAs that can donate a tenacle. Not sure if that would cause a negative reaction, though.

I would give BTA to Magnifica transplant a try. Likely it will work

a.ocellaris · Sep 26, 2020

OrionN said:
I would give BTA to Magnifica transplant a try. Likely it will work

Thanks. I actually tried it last night. I put a snip of RBTA tentacle on a small piece of defrosted shrimp and feed it to the my bleached Magnifica. Fingers crossed!

Tankkeepers · Sep 28, 2020

Omg this is one of the coolest things iv read in 15years thank you so much for sharing

Maxx · Sep 28, 2020

Minh's been doing this for years.
He knows what he's doing.

glascock.rebecca · Dec 2, 2020

So with bta I just nip a tentacle off and feed it to my bleached bta? (That simple I know about keeping the temps the same and the salinity etc) can they regain their zooxanthellea just by adding a healthy not bleached nem to the tank?

brandon429 · Dec 2, 2020

Orion that’s amazing good job

CakeyCake · Dec 4, 2020

old post, i know, but i had a question about this.
I wanted to try this out with my Gig(recipient) and BTA(donor). What kind of reaction can I expect from the BTA when i cut a tentacle? I'd love to know how it will react so that I know what to look out for if any problems arise.

Thanks

kartrsu · Dec 16, 2020

Is it possible to jump start zooxanthellae repopulation of bleached euphyllia by feeding excreted waste from another euphyllia? I’ve done microscope of expelled waste and it contains zooxanthellae. Thanks!