Is there such a thing as a natural white Long Tentacle Anemone?

[gobes]

So I purchased a LTA from my local LFS yesterday and it is perfectly white. I've had a rose BTA in the past and this current tank has been established for over a year now, so I felt pretty comfortable dipping back into the anemone swimming pool. The LTA seems fine but I did a little brushing up on anemone care and found a lot of mention about bleaching. I'm starting to suspect (or realize) that this is probably just a bleached LTA that is fairly sick....and not a "white" LTA.
Is this most likely the case or do healthy white LTA's actually exist? Thanks!!

 

[btldreef]

Honestly, that looks like a bleached anemone to me, interested to see whether it does change color or not.
This looks like a fairly new aquarium. Are you aware that anemones don't usually do well in new setups?

 

[aquaknight]

An anemone technically can not be white and be "healthy." The zooxanthellae algae that normally shares it symbolic relationship with the anemone, provides pigmentation for the anemone (it's color). That's what happens when an anemone, or a coral for that matter, bleaches. It sheds it's zooxanthellae algae, and then only has pale white flesh left.
If the anemone is still healthy (the mouth is still closed, it's not gaping, and if the tentacles are still sticky) it can recover, and the zooxanthellae with return naturally.

 

[gemmy]

See how white my sebae was when I got it. See how it now has a brown tint.

 

[flower]

It's a bummer that the white color means it's not healthy...it sure is prettier white. The good news is it takes a while for one to recover so you can enjoy the white for a while.

 

[jstdv8]

I like the color of the rose bubble tips when they aren't well, prettiest pink. Sadly they don't tend to hang around long after that.

 

[convbmw]

As GORGEOUS as it is, it appears to be bleached. I got one back in the day that was yellow. It was beautiful but yeah, no so much. LOL

 

[reefkprz]

Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaKnight http:///forum/thread/386008/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-natural-white-long-tentacle-anemone#post_3388039
An anemone technically can not be white and be "healthy." The zooxanthellae algae that normally shares it symbolic relationship with the anemone, provides pigmentation for the anemone (it's color). That's what happens when an anemone, or a coral for that matter, bleaches. It sheds it's zooxanthellae algae, and then only has pale white flesh left.
If the anemone is still healthy (the mouth is still closed, it's not gaping, and if the tentacles are still sticky) it can recover, and the zooxanthellae with return naturally.
agreed.
you can help it recover by making sure it has enough light and supplement its diet with high quality food at regular feedings to provide it with nutrition until some of the zooxanthellae recover. there are of course no guarantees that it will recover, but like Aqua mentioned if its not showing the signs of gaping etc you can still save it.
some good foods for the LTA for recovery are larger zooplankton (cyclops or rotifers are great though rotifers are a bit small they are very nutritious) pureed fish meats (smaller chunks are easier to digest, homemade fish foods are great for this) and if you have a vitamin supplement like selcon use it on the food. one thing to remember is the anemone has to eat and defecate from the same orifice so don't feed too frequently make sure it has time to defecate before the next feeding you you don't trap already digested food in it under new food. if the food is small enopugh I would feed it once a day no more, and once it starts regaining color you can dial back the frequency quite a bit.
Note: this is just what I would do to try and save it there are no guarantees.
good luck hope this helps.