Bleaching Rose Anemone - help!

[dvb]

I have had a rose anemone(E. quadricolor) for about 5 months now. I have noticed that it has been slowly bleaching for a while now. The temp was getting up to about 85 on some days, but was consistently in the low 80's. I just got my chiller up and going this last weekend! The temp is set for 79 now, which it maintains very well. Is this a good temp to stay at? I feed it once or twice per week with Prime Reef and just started feeding frozen krill. Will the zooxanthellae come back or regenerate or what? How long does this take? What can I do that I am not already doing? BTW I tested my water this weekend, as I do every week, and it was very good. 0 nitrates/nitrites/PO4. Sg 1.025 Calcium >400ppm. Anything I am missing? Or is it just temp related? I have another bubble tip that is pale green with pink tips that hasn't been affected.

[ May 06, 2002: Message edited by: dvb ]</p>

 

[danmhippo]

How deep is the tank and what kind of lighting do you have?

-----------------------------------------

Just saw your tank spec, only 1 x 96W PC for a 55G? Tell me that I am reading it wrong.

If the above is true, that's definetly not enough light. Try adding 2 more VHO lamp into your hood.

[ May 06, 2002: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>

 

[MandarinFish]

My experience:

I got 2 anemones, one was a split off the mother.

1 was kept in a 55 gallon with decent, but not MH lighting.

1 was kept in a 135 with almost negligible artifical light (a tiny actinic) BUT tons of natural sunlight.

After 4 months, the one in the sunlit tank is HUGE, dark, full bodied, and seemingly ready to split.

The one under the decent, but artificial light is tiny, white, and sickly-looking.

I moved the sick one into the tank with natural sunlight.

I've learned the hard way with some marine organisms that there's almost no such thing as too much light. Animals with zooxallenthae (sp?) require all the light they can possible get.

I've also learned that those who believe it is best to put a tank in the dark, away from the sun, then try to replicate it with a light fixture do not understand the importance of nature.

Not that a big MH setup wouldn't help bleaching anemones. But I've seen, in my admittedly limited experience, how important the sun can be in improving the health of these animals.

Make sure you have tons of light.

 

[dvb]

I have 2 96w power compacts. One is white, the other is blue. I don't know the tmperature rating on the bulbs.

 

[MandarinFish]

dvb - from my limited experience, the difference in strong light is shocking.

My little sickly white anemone is sitting right next to it's sister anemone, which is dark purple-brown and *M A S S I V E*.

Light means everything to these creatures.

I strongly suggest getting a MH setup. Screw paying $500-1,000 + for an aquarium store MH setup.

Get a hydro grow light... check craigslist.com for them. Use your current lights as backup or for night cycle.

Metal halide is cheap if you get it from a hydroponic hobbyist or grow store. The bulbs aren't real cheap, but you'll get more lumens for less power $$$.

It will make your anemones happy, as well as your corals. And you can do it cheap.

If you are willing to take the plunge, email me. I have a 1000watt metal halide I will sell you for $100. I got a 15000 kelvin bulb for like $150 for my other 1000 watt.

I'm in Oakland.

 

[suckair]

BTAs don't need as much lighting as many, Infact I find my rose one of the easiest of all to keep. I would say that one small PC is not enough! I also have clowns that do a good job of feeding.

Mine did bleach a little when it decided to crawl under a rock for a few months but has since seen the light and came back out for MH yummies..

good luck.

PS make sure you are feeding often due to the bleaching.

 

[Anonymous]

Lack of feeding and/or light can cause an anemone to bleach. Some do not fare well w/o iodine supplements. If you can,take some of you healthy anemones excrement(with a turkey baster) and feed it to the bleached anemone. The feces will have some expelled zoo. This may help with a new populus of zoo.

80-83f would be better.

 

[dvb]

I was tired of no clowns in my anemone, so I added a Clark's clown yesterday. After a while he dove right into the rose, which was really cool. One of the primary reasons I got a tank to begin with. I hope the clown helps the anemone. Do most people out there use iodine supplements for their anemone's?

 

[suckair]

I don't dose iodine at all.. I can't test for it! My clowns feed my anemone but for their own selfish reasons. They hord all the food and put it in to the anemone so they can eat it at their leisure. However the anemone gets fed in this proces..

Randall

 

[dvb]

I fed my anemones some krill last night and the clown just left it in the rose one and ate it at his leisure. Should I feed that one a little extra because the clown is eating some of it?

 

[Anonymous]

Do not overfeed. It may just cause more stress.

 

[dsb1829]

Okay a lot of information and missinformation in this thread. I would recommend a trip over to Dr. Ron's Forum on RC. Here is a link: http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=719bc9ae406c28686bddc827a361a6e4&forumid=40

I attended a lecture on anemones that he gave last year. From this I walked out with some key ideals that he conveys on keeping anemones. Lighting is not the most important factor. It provides the zoaxanthalee (sp?) light to produce sugars which will keep the anemone alive and even let it grow slowly. But anemones can be kept under normal flourescents if you provide them with food. Particulate food will give the anemone better health than food that the zoaxanthalee provide to grow. It is not a good idea to go from flourescent to full MH lighting either. Odds are the anemone will go hide under arock because it is brighter than it is now accustomed to.

One thing to consider also is the possibility that your anemone could be dyed. If so it could be returning to a more natural color. So long as it is feeding and still sticky to the touch it should be okay. Keep all water parameters as they should be, that should go without saying.

Lastly, the addition of the clown IMO is very hasty. For two reasons, 1) you already think the anemone is under stress, 2) the clown is too large for the anemone. I would put the clown in quarantine or return it to the lfs until the anemone is larger and in stable condition. Anemones should be at least 5x the size of the fish in diameter to minimize the fish's impact on the anemones stability.

 

[danmhippo]

dvb, Is the pic of your avatar, the same "rose anemone" you are talking about?

 

[Minh Nguyen]

If your Avitar picture is the picture of your Rose, then I agree that it is bleached. I would recommend feeding it with a variety of food as often as it will eat and not regugitate. Increase your light. Make sure that you have good water quality. BTA are hardy but you will have more problem with a bleach BTA. As long as it will eat, it will do OK.
Good luck

 

[Anemone]

Ditto what Minh said.

The color of the anemone in your avatar is pretty, but the one in my avatar is healthier.

Also, if that is your anemone, then, IMO, the clown is not too large.

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[MFisher]

IME what Ron said is 100% correct.

Here is what I would do if I were you. BTW this is what I have done in the past when my BTA bleached (in my case due to lack of feeding-I believe).

DON'T change lighting until your anemone is back to good condition. Bleached anemones are hardier than one might think as long as conditions remain stable. Change your lights to MH and they'll die.

Feed as often as possible, as soon as possible.

Be patient, it'll take over a month to start getting color back and much longer to get back any lost body mass.

Good luck,

Matties

 

[dvb]

Thanks for the info guys. The Avatar is the rose anemone that I am talking about. The clown is a small Clarks clown, probably 1.5" long. He feeds the anemone every time he eats, by talking the chunks of food and stashing them back in the anemone so that he can get more food! :lol: I am also feeding it krill about every three days. Over the last week, a little bit of color has returned, but I think it still has a long way to go. My water quality is really good. I do thorough tests every week and my temperature is very stable now that I added my chiller. I have it set at 80. Is that about right or should I adjust?

 

[Len]

I recommend you feed your specimen in small portions daily until it regains its zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae can repopulate within a month's time. Your temperature of ~80 degrees is fine. Although there are many causative agents that may induce bleaching, the high temps that you described is highly suspect to me (especially in light of the fact your specimen is regaining color after you installed your chiller).

There's significant issues I disagree with Ron when it comes to the husbandry of host anemones. His assertions are based on research perfomed on North Pacific non-photosynthetic, non-hosting anemone species. Needless to say, tropical photosynthetic host anemones are entirely different organisms, and should not be regarded as voracious predators like thier non-photosynthethic counterparts. Put simply, I emphasize the utility of photon energy more so then Ron does, and de-emphasize intensive feeding regiments for healthy specimens. IMO, if you are forced to heavily feed a host anemone in captivity, you're making up for other shortcomings in your system; if anything, it's not a natural approach. Healthy host anemones need not be fed a heavy diet on a heavy rotation. A diet of light, detritus, dissolved organics, and plankton should more then suffice.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that you should keep up with the feeding. But if you want to get the zoo back quicker you can get some feces from a healthy anemone and feed it to your bleached one. Anemones expell zoo in their feces,and when expelled it is still alive.

The reason your anemone is bleached is the dye has blocked the necessary light needed to keep the zoo alive. Once your anemone rids itself of all of the dye the zoo population should take off.

Good luck

 

[Chucker]

The reason your anemone is bleached is the dye has blocked the necessary light needed to keep the zoo alive. Once your anemone rids itself of all of the dye the zoo population should take off.

Good luck

I didn't see any mention of dye in dvb's description. How are you inferring this? I know of 2 roses from different sources within our local club that have hearty, deep, flourescent pink coloration. A third exhibits similar coloration to the one if dvb's avatar, but is also on the bottom of a 30" tank. Even so, it has been healthy for many years, and is well fed.