RBTA in trouble
 

Hi all,

My Rose Bubble Tip anemone has lost its beautiful colour and is shrinking from its original size of 4" when I purchased it 4 months ago from a member to now 1" at best. It used to have nice pink bubbles, but now they are more like very small nubs and very scarce. I initially didn't feed it as the previous owner suggested he didn't directly feed it.

Recently, suspecting starvation, I have been trying to feed it raw scallops, but it just does not seem interested and is non-sticky. At times it accepts the small piece of scallop and puts it almost all in it mouth (over a very long time), and then spits it back out.

I fed it immitation crab once when I first got it, but I doubt this would cause the problem.

All other corals (sps, lps, softies) and fish/inverts in the tank are happy and growing. My ALK/CA = 10/400 and amonia/nitrite/nitrate = 0/0/5.

Tank is 28 gal nanocube with 150W hqi. Anemone is at the bottom of the tank (around 16-18" away from the light).

Can anybody suggest what I may be able to do differently to bring this animal to its normal self? Should I move it closer to the light even though when the lights are on, it mainly hides. It actually expands more when the lights are off.

Have any of you had similar issues with these animals? I really don't want to lose it, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I'd think if it wanted more light it would move
Same goes for flow

Try feeding it some silverside - maybe a quarter or half piece to start with
If it eats it, try feeding it once a week until it comes around, then slowly dial it back to once or twice a month
And if you can't get some right away, try some Mysis until you can go shopping

My RBTAs get a quarter or half once a month, depending on their size

I appreciate the input.

Like I said, it doesn't seem to be interested in food and it is very non-sticky, so it takes a very long time (over 15 minutes) to even open its mouth to put a very small piece of cut scallop/cut salmon in its mouth (of course all this time while I am holding the piece and other animals trying to steal it).

Somebody mentioned that heat might be the culprit, and that might be very much the case as the tank is constantly at 80F in the summer and during light-time it goes up to 83F. I am trying to combat the heat issue with fans/ice but we have had a very long period of sunny/hot days.

By the way, tank inhabitants are only 2 clowns and 1 coral banded shrimp.

How's the 'nem's color ?

Maybe try cutting back your photo period for a bit to;
-See if it will come around
-Help you battle the heat

Maybe the heat is an issue, and if it's not eating (and there's not enough food in your water ), it may bleach / be bleaching ?

Good luck, and def try some more 'natural food'

Can't really cut back on light anymore as I am already down to 6 hours. My lights come on at 6 pm to try to escape the midday heat.

I think bleaching is the issue in addition to shrinking, but I am hoping that it is related to heat and will get resolved once the temps come back to normal.

Might be hard to bite the bullet, but you should probably look into a chiller. With the heat we have been having there is very little you can do about the temp except to buy a chiller. They are quite expensive, but they are a great piece of mind. I set mine to 78 and walk away :mrgreen:

UPDATE.

Anemone bit the dust yesterday :( RIP --- Had to take its goo out before it affected other inhabitants in the tank and did a minor cleanup.

I was able to control the temp by dropping a frozen 2L bottle of water into the tank, and all inhabitants (2 fish, inverts, and corals) seemed to appreciate the cooler temps.

Thanks anyway for your help/advice.

I will now start the hunt for a new home (anemone) for my 2 clowns.

sorry to hear, hope things get better

Well, everything else except the anemone was and still is doing very good and growing.