Zooxanthellae Transplant for Bleached Anemones

[MnFish1]

I dont know how to edit a review - somehow mine came out with '1 star' - which was not my intent. I liked the article - and the idea! I would suggest perhaps (since you have a ton of anemones) - to do what someone else said - try doing this with 2 bleached anemones - one that gets the 'transplant' - another that gets nothing. Then repeat it a couple times. The reason I'm saying this is not to criticize - but only because lets say I buy an anemone - Its not like I have extra anemones to pull tentacles off ... Again - sorry - I didn't mean to give you a 1 star review - I'm not sure how it happened - it was actually very interesting!!!!

 

[twiatr2001]

I have seen this before, have not done a transplant myself but have supplemented with salmon/tuna along with reef roids, and it does work just takes while and a lot of patience. I imagine something as a part of a tentacle from another anemone will work better as the zooxanthellae are live and can repopulate faster, just FYI, if someone asks, if you take zooxanthellae from a Colorado sunburst and transplant it to a rainbow, the rainbow will not turn into a CSB. Just thought I would share that, the anemone will still take on its natural coloration.

 

[terraincognita]

Wow!

im So glad I found this thread.

Here is my haddons carpet, would you consider this bleached? If so it would explain why he is so temperamental.

do you think feeding coral would have the same effect?

I’d gladly feed some GSP or loose Zoa heads.

 

[OrionN]

That does not look like a Haddoni Carpet, rather, I think it is a Gigantea Carpet. Can you take better picture of the column.
BTW, he is not bleached.

 

[terraincognita]

That does not look like a Haddoni Carpet, rather, I think it is a Gigantea Carpet. Can you take better picture of the column.
BTW, he is not bleached.

Glad he’s not bleached.

I’ve been feeding him more the past 2 days and he’s doing a lot better. But he still is deflating sometimes randomly more than I think is healthy.

 

[OrionN]

If he is deflating sometime, don't feed him yet. Wait until he is healthy then you can start feeding. It will get him sicker.
Your tank is kinda new for this anemone. Hope he will be fine for you

 

[terraincognita]

If he is deflating sometime, don't feed him yet. Wait until he is healthy then you can start feeding. It will get him sicker.
Your tank is kinda new for this anemone. Hope he will be fine for you

Yeah, it was a transfer/upgrade but I probably should’ve kept him in the other tank until it got more established.

I used most of the live rock and the water as well. Didn’t calculate for the size difference definitely having to let the BB colony more than triple in size.

But then I didn’t want to disturb him again and move him back.

Finally last 2 days the water params have started to stabilize, so he’s definitely starting to get better.

So you think he’s a Gigantea?

So I shouldn’t feed him until he is back to normal puffiness behavior?

 

[OrionN]

....

So you think he’s a Gigantea?
...

Maybe. I need an in focus picture of the column to tell for sure.

So I shouldn’t feed him until he is back to normal puffiness behavior?

You should not feed him until he stop deflating.

 

[a.ocellaris]

Nice article, and thanks for sharing your method @OrionN. Not sure if this was answered somewhere, but does the donor have to be the same type of anemone? I assume same type would be the best. I have a bleached mag anemone for a couple months now. The mag eats and sticky, but it is still bleached. I do not have a donor mag to use, but I have plenty of RBTAs that can donate a tenacle. Not sure if that would cause a negative reaction, though.

 

[OrionN]

Nice article, and thanks for sharing your method @OrionN. Not sure if this was answered somewhere, but does the donor have to be the same type of anemone? I assume same type would be the best. I have a bleached mag anemone for a couple months now. The mag eats and sticky, but it is still bleached. I do not have a donor mag to use, but I have plenty of RBTAs that can donate a tenacle. Not sure if that would cause a negative reaction, though.

I would give BTA to Magnifica transplant a try. Likely it will work

 

[a.ocellaris]

I would give BTA to Magnifica transplant a try. Likely it will work

Thanks. I actually tried it last night. I put a snip of RBTA tentacle on a small piece of defrosted shrimp and feed it to the my bleached Magnifica. Fingers crossed!

 

[Tankkeepers]

Omg this is one of the coolest things iv read in 15years thank you so much for sharing

 

[Maxx]

Minh's been doing this for years.
He knows what he's doing.

 

[glascock.rebecca]

So with bta I just nip a tentacle off and feed it to my bleached bta? (That simple I know about keeping the temps the same and the salinity etc) can they regain their zooxanthellea just by adding a healthy not bleached nem to the tank?

 

[brandon429]

Orion that’s amazing good job

 

[CakeyCake]

old post, i know, but i had a question about this.
I wanted to try this out with my Gig(recipient) and BTA(donor). What kind of reaction can I expect from the BTA when i cut a tentacle? I'd love to know how it will react so that I know what to look out for if any problems arise.

Thanks

 

[kartrsu]

Is it possible to jump start zooxanthellae repopulation of bleached euphyllia by feeding excreted waste from another euphyllia? I’ve done microscope of expelled waste and it contains zooxanthellae. Thanks!

 

[ThePhoReefer]

My black widow lost its white webbing on the base. Is it alleopathy or water issue. In same tank as my rainbow bta.

 

[radiata]

OrionN... Kudos on both your experimentation and your reporting of it! You are a real asset to the R2R community. Thank you!

 

[mallorie.gaughran]

Wow! This is so neat. I had no idea this was possible but makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing!