problems with rose bta and green btas

[jchump5415]

I am experiencing some problems with my rose bta and my two green bta. The tank they are in is a year and a half old. They have been in the tank since the start. The tank has several sps, lps and fish. For about two months the anenomes have just looked shrunk down all the time. The tenecles are stringy and they don't eat well. I have tried to feed them krill, scallops, shrimp, silversides, and squid and they eat very little. The tank has a 55 gallon sump with a berlin skimmer, geo marine calcium reactor, calupra bed. The main tank is lit by 3-175 watt metal halide bulbs (10k), and four 110watt vhos. I have tried just about everything, added trace elements, water changes, changed foods around, nothing helps. The tank parameters are as follows: ph-7.8-8.1, temp-79-82, saltalinity: 1.025, nitrate-0, phosphates:0.03, calcium-450, kh-11. I am in the process of trying to up the ph but it seems to always stay low due to the calcium reactor. ANy suggestions? THanks

[Squidman]

I'm hoping to get some insight on this possible issue in this thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=153599) .

[jchump5415]

I am trying to post a picture but it keeps saying the file is too big, seems they must have cut down the max size when the site changed. I will try again later. They have not lost any color but all look shrunk down and stringy.

[delphinus]

All in the same tank? That could be your problem. Do a search on "diffuse competition" and see what you come up with. There were some discussions about this, about a year ago, in Dr. Ron's forum.

To sum up: anemones don't necessarily play nice with each other when in the same water in close proximity. They can get along fine for a while, but the risk is there that they eventually start releasing toxins with the intent of pushing out their "competition." This competition can be even worse among members of the same species since they occupy the exact same niche. So just because one BTA does well in your tank, doesn't mean two BTAs will do well in that tank.

My personal experience is that there is a definite threshold when it comes to putting too many anemones into a single tank. One or two may be OK, but once you start getting into the "three or more" area .... trouble (unless they're all clones of each other).

[jchump5415]

Thanks, the two green ones are clones. I guess I will try a couple more things and maybe move one if need. Thanks again.

[BlAcK_PeRcUlA]

maybe you could move the green bta's out or move the rose out and put it in a seperate tank. that would probably help

[jchump5415]

Any other suggestions? I am just not totally convinced on the competition issue since they have been in the tank for over a year doing fine until now. Also, I don't have room in my other tank, it has two anenomes in it already:) Maybe calupra releasing toxins or taking in some nutrient that the btas need? Who knows!

[Marc03]

are they supplied with enough Iodine

[TIGER SHARK]

Do you use carbon at all? If you dont, you might try running some carbon for a couple of days. I have read that if there is chemical warfare going on, the carbon can remove some of the toxins from the water. I would really like to have a couple anemones in my tank someday so please let me know if this works and good luck!

[delphinus]

I don't know if I would discount the competition theory just because they were fine for a while. I had mixed anemones in the same systems together for quite an extended period of time before I ever saw any problems. But it happened nonetheless, and when it did happen, the only solution in the end for keeping both species was separating them into different tanks.

Food for thought .... Just because one anemone does well for you, does not mean you can keep putting more and more of the same species into the same tank. In nature, unless they are clones, they don't necessarily cohabitate the same 2 or 3 square foot territory (or whatever the equivalent is of our home aquaria). This is a lesson I had to learn the hard way.

If you can set up a separate tank, what harm is there in trying to separate the two strains to see if there is an improvement?

It's just my $0.02, do what you feel is best of course .... After 5 years of keeping anemones myself, I will never, never put more than one into the same system anymore. I can't prove the chemical warfare theory but there was enough circumstantial evidence in my case that I do beleive there is something to this...

[jchump5415]

Thanks everyone for the advise. I also have been keeping anenomes for 5 years and just have never had a problem with them until now. I will probably be moving one soon. I do have a blue carpet and another bta in my propagation tank and they are doing great so it looks like I would have to set up a whole other tank:( Thanks again!