Bleached anemone

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Rmckoy

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Mar 23, 2013
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So went away for the long weekend and came home to see apparently my timer wasn't working properly .
My lights ended up staying on all weekend causing 2 corals ( hammer , challace ) to die and my beautiful anemone that was so huge and pink is now white / yellow .
What is the cause and is there a cure to get her color back ?
Ill attach a picture
 
Is this bleached? How can I fix it ?

image-2200741606.jpg
 
yes it is bleached, but you said it was pink before, it should have been red or green, if it was pink then it was already patricianly bleached. I dont think leaving lights on for 2 days did it, something else is wrong, not enough lighting, water conditions, stability of parameters, ect. More information on your tank and set up is needed.

Bleached Anemone:
The lost of color or “bleaching” is a result of the loss of an anemone’s zooxanthellae. This can happen for a number of reasons such as excessive temperature changes, excessive lighting, insufficient lightning, physical stress, excessive salinity, etc.
Just like corals, anemones use their zooxanthellae to feed on light. The other part of their nutrition comes from meat. Unfortunately, they cannot survive solely on captured prey as their primary source of energy. An anemone without zooxanthellae is usually on the brink of death so:

Bleaching can be reversed, but it takes commitment and time. First thing to do is to is to provide excellent water quality and optimal lighting. If you fear your light is too strong, you can simply reduce the photo period and increase the time slowly over a couple of weeks. This will allow the anemone to addapt. When the light is too strong, the anemone will usually hide from it. The anemone should also be feed in small quantities on a regular basis (3-4 times a week) until it’s color recovers. This will keep it from starving since it dosn’t have it’s symbiotic algae to help out.
 
3-4 times a week imo is a bit much , it takes a lot of energy for a anemone to digest food so imo that much food will not be good feed it once or twice a week and monitor your parameters ....
 
yes it is bleached, but you said it was pink before, it should have been red or green, if it was pink then it was already patricianly bleached. I dont think leaving lights on for 2 days did it, something else is wrong, not enough lighting, water conditions, stability of parameters, ect. More information on your tank and set up is needed.

Bleached Anemone:
The lost of color or “bleaching” is a result of the loss of an anemone’s zooxanthellae. This can happen for a number of reasons such as excessive temperature changes, excessive lighting, insufficient lightning, physical stress, excessive salinity, etc.
Just like corals, anemones use their zooxanthellae to feed on light. The other part of their nutrition comes from meat. Unfortunately, they cannot survive solely on captured prey as their primary source of energy. An anemone without zooxanthellae is usually on the brink of death so:

Bleaching can be reversed, but it takes commitment and time. First thing to do is to is to provide excellent water quality and optimal lighting. If you fear your light is too strong, you can simply reduce the photo period and increase the time slowly over a couple of weeks. This will allow the anemone to addapt. When the light is too strong, the anemone will usually hide from it. The anemone should also be feed in small quantities on a regular basis (3-4 times a week) until it’s color recovers. This will keep it from starving since it dosn’t have it’s symbiotic algae to help out.

When I finally got home Monday .
The water was very warm , I'm thinking the light being on is what caused the water to get so hot , that being the cause .
In earlier post I have posted pictures of how big and happy it looked .
I don't think light is a problem though .
Is was good up till now ,
I changed 15% of the water and all parameters are good .
Nitrate and saline are the only ones that are slightly off .
Nitrate is : 5 ppm
Specific gravity : 1.023
I'm going. To do another partial water change tonight .

I'm leaning closer to 25% or more .
I have been feeding it scallops and shrimp chopped up .
I tried feeding it last night but the clown fish picked allot of it .
 
Nems have to have stable water conditions, stable salinity, (auto top off), stable temps, (some type of controller with heater and fans regulated) and stable parameters, swings in any of those and they will bleach and are normally very hard to keep alive when they do.

What kind of lighting do you have?
 
I'd say temp swings and salinity swings depending how bad can effect the anemone.But most important they need a mature tank some say at least a year old .As for the auto top off it definitely makes the tank more stable and life easy ,but it is not required to keep anemones or any marine life alive .They are a gadget to make things easier and salanity swings less frequent ..How much do you feed the anemone ?
 
The water temp that heated up when your light was on continuously during the long week end is most likely the contributing factor and the last straw of nem bleaching. Just by looking at the pic you posted, your light seems insufficient for nem.
 
Nems have to have stable water conditions, stable salinity, (auto top off), stable temps, (some type of controller with heater and fans regulated) and stable parameters, swings in any of those and they will bleach and are normally very hard to keep alive when they do.

What kind of lighting do you have?

I have 6 T5HO bulbs
3 blue and 3 white
 
I'd say temp swings and salinity swings depending how bad can effect the anemone.But most important they need a mature tank some say at least a year old .As for the auto top off it definitely makes the tank more stable and life easy ,but it is not required to keep anemones or any marine life alive .They are a gadget to make things easier and salanity swings less frequent ..How much do you feed the anemone ?

I feed her 1-2 small scallops 2-3 times a week .
One week ill feed scallops the next ill feed the same quantity but shrimp
 
Nems have to have stable water conditions, stable salinity, (auto top off), stable temps, (some type of controller with heater and fans regulated) and stable parameters, swings in any of those and they will bleach and are normally very hard to keep alive when they do.

What kind of lighting do you have?

I nem has been bleached for over a month now. It has cloned itself three times during that time and none of them have moved from their spots. I have lowered the light intensity and have been adding a zoothanthellae supplement. The tips are starting to come back. Salinity swings I believe is what did it.
 
I nem has been bleached for over a month now. It has cloned itself three times during that time and none of them have moved from their spots. I have lowered the light intensity and have been adding a zoothanthellae supplement. The tips are starting to come back. Salinity swings I believe is what did it.

Splitting is usually a survival mode when conditions are not right, unfortunately a bleach nem is already weak and splitting makes it weaker as it takes a lot of energy when it does. Not sure about any zoothanthellae suppliment being more than snake oil, but clean pristine, stable water conditions, proper high end lighting and small once a week feeding is the best thing you can do for them in a bleached state
 
After being bleached is it normal for her to come from the highest rock in the tank and want to go lower in the tank?
 
After being bleached is it normal for her to come from the highest rock in the tank and want to go lower in the tank?

There are no rules, everyones tank and equipment differs, my oldest nem (8 years old) was my first and mildly bleached, tank was set up for a year or more and using MH lighting. But now at this point my 6 nems are less mainteance than my fish, lol its all about water conditions, stability and lighting.
 
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