BTA

Question
hi i hope you can help me. i purchased a bta from my local store last week and within 34hrs it had disintegrated(exploded if you like) my water looked like milk as you can imagine and all fish, star fish , shrimps, feather duster worms were  dead. i am not an expert but felt after nearly 3 years as a hobby i knew enough to keep this creature. i change 10% of water religiously on a Sunday and chemically test my water regularly. my reef was thriving, fish active and colourfull, inverts grand, corals open and looking healthy. as you can imagine i am heart broken by this experience and my 4 yr old son also very saddened.after nearly 2 complete water changes yes 2 my corals have pulled through. i was told by my local shop that this happened as my water quality was not right, i disputed the fact that is was ok and was told that they don't guarantee marine stock.i believe that they damaged the anemone when they removed it from their display, plastic waffle looking shelf, the assistant just pulled it off. do you think that this could have killed the anemone or are they right? am so lost as what to do.

Answer
Hi Jimmy,

I'm sorry to hear about your Bubble Tip Anemone. As you know it would be hard for me to pinpoint and determine exactly what happened because of the many variables involved.  

Typically if your water parameters are good most BTA's should be okay for at least for a few weeks, before showing signs of stress like excessive shrinking and color fading.

BTA's can inflate and float around the aquarium, and they will also crawl around the aquarium until they find a spot to their liking; therefore all power-heads should have sponge guards on them, so the animal cannot get sucked up and damaged from the impeller.  

Regarding Selecting Anemones:

Best to select anemones that have not been held by the dealer for long. As long as there is no tear in the anemone, newer ones are better because they do not have time to slide into an irreversible decline or suffer under the typically inadequate lighting in a dealer tank.

Regards,
Dave

All Experts - Editor

OCReef.com - Director