HELP BUBBLE TIP

[steve20]

my anemonies look very stringy my water is good and i have 200 watt on a 54 gallon bow front. just want to know if there could be something i am missing. my bta is the main consern it just wont bubble looks more like a Lta than a bubble tip. Please Help

[FishinInTheDark]

Firstly: Welcome to CF! I hope you like it here!

Secondly, that anemone doesn't seem to be in dire straits. What are you feeding it and how often?

BTW, good job posting a pic with your question! That sure helps things a bunch!

[steve20]

i feed frozen squid 1 time a week and fresh shimp 2 times a week. ive hade it about 3 months and its never bubbled once

[FishinInTheDark]

Some just don't. I think you're doing just the right thing with that anemone. It really looks fine to me.

[steve20]

is it normal for bubble tips to shrivle up alot. i had a currly sue for 5 yeares an it just died last week and she was huge it showed no sign of being sick i am baffled every thing elce looks great.

[FishinInTheDark]

I know they do water changes on themselves, so to speak. They shrivel and reinflate from time to time. I'm going to give a shout to our moderator, IceReefer, who has had more success with RBTAs than anyone I've ever seen. We'll see what he has to say. . .

[BoldAsBrass]

It looks good to me. I have two bubbles that actually go away completely, and then come back even stronger.

[icereefer]

Hi steve and welcome to the forum.
I can't tell but how High up on your rock is your RBTA?
well for one if your BTA is not bubble tipping , it's because it doesn't need too. the only time BTA bubble there tips is when there getting to much light to there foot they'll bubble up there tips to help shade there foot. and some times they'll just do that ,but the main reason they do is because they have a very thin foot and in so call can get a sun burn on there foot.
to me she's looking pretty good, it looks like in your picture it's a little thin but it could be your picture too. but if it is a little thin in color, if the lighting is not enough for it you might try and feed it, higher fatty acid foods to make the zooxanthellae happier.
what I'll do if my RBTA's get a little thin in color is soak Krill in vitachem and Zoe or Selcon, both or high in fatty acid.
and too do you have good water flow over it? and mine too shrivel up usually more just after they split or just before.
and some times just because. it could be from a hermit cleaning around it's area or getting ready to exspell waste.
but if you notice the edges of it's foot starting to get loose or it's not taking any food then I would start to get worried.
hope this helps a little and keep use posted on your progress.
oh yeah one more thing I run 300 watts of VHO's in my 37 cube and usually my RBTA will only really bubble there tips for the first month to 2 months after changing my bulbs.

[steve20]

thanks for the info i am alot more confident that she is ok. i am about to get a new light at least 240 watt halide which will make a big different i hope. my long tentical looks great but a little thin i will try feeding them like you said. i love advice. oh and she is about 8 inches from the light she climbed that high in about 2 days after adding her to my tank.

[steve20]

got it

[icereefer]

I noticed onthe bottom of your glass along your sand edge that red color is the same on your, Rock above the RBTA.
is that Cryano? if so that could stress out your RBTA. and if you have a lot in there you might want to up your water flow and tone down a little on your feeding.
:-D Jim

[steve20]

i only feed my fish 2 times a week. i am not sure what that stuff is i was told at the local fish shop that it was red alge is there a way to get ride of this without hurting my fish or inverts. i ve had my tank 5 years but untill resently i havent done much or even paided much attention to it low on fund if you know what i mean. i had a very discourageing expiriance my little sister turned my tank temp to 98 and killed everything about 3500 worth of stuff.

[icereefer]

ouch , I'm sorry to here. you using RO/DI water are Tap water?
if it's cyanobacteria. your phosphates might be high, are like I said your water flow could be low, and if your feeding every 2 weeks more then likely that's not your problem in less theres a lot of left overs? can you get a better pic?

[steve20]

can i remove pics i dont want to post too many at one time.

[steve20]

is there an easier way to lower your phosfates mine are alittle high and i got one of the media bags but it realy hasent been working

[icereefer]

I don't know from your pic's your RBTA looks pretty good, and you could edit your photo's or if you want I could?. that red looks like coraline algae, still cant tell from your photo's. but if you can rub off the red algae real easy, more then likely it's cyano, and if you have a mechanical filter you might want to add some carbon and some phosphate media.
and do some small water changes and get some more water flowing in your tank. but if it's hard algae, I would say just keep doing what your doing and check your parameters every once in a while make sure every thing is at par if some sit back and enjoy.
Jim

[steve20]

kool thanks for the help it makes me feel better to have someone elces opinion that has some expiriance.

[FishinInTheDark]

Is that lava rock in the tank? Lava rock is comprised of many metals and elements that can leech into the water and upset the chemistry. It may be part of the problem.

[icereefer]

if your right on the lava rock, good call connie I never even thought of that, :-D
if your right I would have to agree with connie.

[steve20]

i never thought of that either its definetly good to know

[steve20]

everything looks great i dont understand my bubble tip still look ruff it eats three times a week plenty of light and thing out is the alkalinity is at 3.5 almost sea water but would that make such a difference all of my other stuff looks great. any sugg.....

[Ocean Singer]

just noticed that your clarkies look exactly like my sebae's... hmm, arn't A. Sebae an offbranch of the species A. Clarkii?

[Sugar Magnolia]

IMO, that looks more like an LTA than a bubble tip. Where did you purchase it from?

[steve20]

they came that fish place that pet place in lancaster PA . the lta looks great but the bta right behind it just never looked good and i have had it for about 2 years.

[steve20]

today

[FishinInTheDark]

The BTA still looks fine to me. They just seem to change their moods a lot: big to little to short to long, etc.

Your tank's looking good!

[steve20]

every outher day it shrivels up into a snot ball and looks great that night. the lta always look huge.

[gman0526]

By the location of it have you thought that maybe the LTA could be bothering it somehow? Other than that it looks healthy to me too.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Ahh, I didn't see the other anemone. I'd have to agree with George. Maybe the LTA is a bit too close. What's surprising, is if that's the case, you'd think the bubble tip would wander off to a safer place.

[steve20]

yeah i would think it would move but nooo on top of that my lta loves the MH and is getting out of control it has doubled in size in the last week.

[Sugar Magnolia]

You're going to have to move that BTA away from that LTA. Aim a powerhead at it's foot and it should let loose for you.

LTA's have the potential to reach 3 feet in diameter. I had to get rid of mine because it had gotten so big.

[steve20]

thats so big i would have to get rid of mine too. if the bta looked better like it could support boath clown fish the i would just keep that one.

[khrone]

hey just wondering how you guys feed your bubble tip, i try to feed mine 1/2 a fresh muscle but my tomato clown makes it impossible, she picks it up in her mouth and chucks it out! whats really annoying is after a few times she get really annoyed and dumps it in area of the tank i cant get to, makes me worry that it will rot!
thanks all

[FishinInTheDark]

You can make a cover to put over the anemone until the food is inside it. Try cutting the bottom off of a 2 liter bottle and sitting that on top.

Shrimps are also notorious for stealing anemones' food. This can work for that too.

[khrone]

thanks i will try that
yeah i have to watch my cleaners too!!

[Doctor_Reef]

I hate that when that happens!!! :) The cover really works well...

[steve20]

my clarkies are very good with my bt and my lt they feed them as soon as food is presented