Is this anemone bleached?

[Weboh]

I got a rainbow BTA and have had it for about a week. He seemed to be hiding from the light for too much of the time, which I eventually learned was because of light acclimation. So yesterday put in a a screen of 3 sheets of parchment paper between the tank and light and now he's reaching for the light again. But he doesn't look very brown to me. Has all the zooxanthellae died? Is there anything I can do? When do you think I should start removing some of the sheets of parchment paper?

http://imgur.com/a/DjuJ2

On a related note, he doesn't seem healthy enough to sting the cleaner shrimp when she climbs across him; he just retracts his tentacles instead. Is this normal? Also, when will the cleaner shrimp leave the BTA alone? When I got the BTA, the shrimp changed her station to be on the rock over the BTA and still bothers the BTA from time to time. I haven't even fed the BTA yet, so I don't think she's going for food (except maybe plankton that the BTA catches from the water? Do cleaner shrimp eat that?).

[Tripod1404]

It is bleached and stressed, if cleaner shrimp is showing too much attention to it is likely dying. They are scavengers and only pick on dead or dying stuff.

[aznflyfisherman]

Yes looks bleach to me from the picture. What lighting are you using? If hes reaching for light i would remove atleast one shet for now n monitor it if hes still reaching move another after a day. Without good lighting it will stay alive n you can feed it once it settles in, but from my experience it wont be successful longer term.

[A sea K]

Yes the new looks bleached but it does'nt look like a BTA to me, it looks more like an LTA. Anyway I would remove the shrimp till the nem recovers as I'm certain the shrimp crawling on him is adding to the stress at this point. Another issue is the shrimp will steal any morsels of food from the nem before he can ingest the food further adding to the stress and irritation.
If he is already reaching for light then I would remove one of the pieces of parchment paper and then another in 4-5 days and so on as long as the nem is reacting positively. As for feeding I would avoid direct feeding of any large pieces of food, if you feed small pieces of mysis or brine shrimp than possibly a small squirt when feeding your fish every 4th or 5th day till he fully recovers. So long as there are small pieces of meaty foods being fed to your fish with regularity then no direct feeding should be required once he fully recovers.

[Tripod1404]

How old is the tank?

[Weboh]

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

It is bleached and stressed, if cleaner shrimp is showing too much attention to it is likely dying. They are scavengers and only pick on dead or dying stuff.

Well, she did that when I first got the anemone too, when he looked really healthy.

Originally Posted by aznflyfisherman

Yes looks bleach to me from the picture. What lighting are you using?

A Zoo Med Oceansun 10,000K flourecent bulb. I'm pretty sure it's enough for him but he was hiding from it for too long since he needed to be acclimated.

Originally Posted by A sea K

Yes the nem looks bleached but it doesn't look like a BTA to me, it looks more like an LTA.

His tentacles had bubbles when I got him and now he has out his longer sweeper tentacles. I haven't fed him yet though, since I've heard that can add to the stress.

Originally Posted by A sea K

Anyway I would remove the shrimp till the nem recovers as I'm certain the shrimp crawling on him is adding to the stress at this point. Another issue is the shrimp will steal any morsels of food from the nem before he can ingest the food further adding to the stress and irritation.

I don't have a hospital tank or sump to remove her to. Putting something like a strawberry container over her would proably work right? And it should probably from organic strawberries to make sure there's no chemicals on it?

Originally Posted by A sea K

If he is already reaching for light then I would remove one of the pieces of parchment paper and then another in 4-5 days and so on as long as the nem is reacting positively.

Thank you. Just what I wanted.

Originally Posted by A sea K

As for feeding, I would avoid direct feeding of any large pieces of food, if you feed small pieces of mysis or brine shrimp then possibly a small squirt when feeding your fish every 4th or 5th day till he fully recovers. So long as there are small pieces of meaty foods being fed to your fish with regularity then no direct feeding should be required once he fully recovers.

So the BTA just needs microscopic bits of the food left over to filter feed on? I've been putting plankton in the tank every 2 days or so. Is that helpful to the BTA? I already have frozen copepods; would that work for now? And I should feed him some (liquid?) brine shrimp directly every 4 days or so?

Originally Posted by Tripod1404

How old is the tank?

6 months. The parameters are all good (0 ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite, 8.3 pH, 1.025 specific gravity) and stable and have been for awhile.

Thanks for all the advice you've all given so far. I don't want the anemone to die on me.

[WatDatThing]

If it came out and reaching for light, then you can try feeding it. Just give it 1 mysis shrimp and see how it react. If it takes it, then give him 2 the next day. After that I would give it 2 every other day or 2 days and hope that it will recover. Just keep an eye on it. If it is not happy, you will know.
Good luck with catching the shrimp