RBTA ...what's the deal

Kizmar

Kizmar

#derpface
So... round #4 trying to keep a RBTA alive in my tank. The only reason I'm even trying again is my water params have been pristine for over a month, and I have a maintenance schedule down that I know will keep them that way.

This is the best my water has been the entire time I've had my tank (1 year + a few months). All other BTA's I've gotten have at least looked good for a few weeks before the decline started. This one immediately crawled under a rock and hasn't come out since. I had to move the rock last night just to make sure the damn thing was still alive.

I got this guy Saturday, so it's been almost a week. Is it possible that it's still self-acclimating, or is more likely that it's already on the downward spiral?

This is really frustrating...
 
does he inflate?i have a gbta and a condy the bta likes to be in the rock for some reason and comes out when he wants but eats just fine ,the condy walks everywhere im trying to give it back to the friend that gave it to me hopefully this one works out for you
 
I've seen it partially inflate in the middle of the day a couple times when I worked from home. By the time I've gotten home from work it's pretty much like a golf ball.

Even when I did see it stretch out it was hardly out in the light.
 
How strong is your lighting? Do you have clowns harassing it? It is not unusual for BTA's to plant themselves to the underside of a rock or in a crevice. Generally, you start to see tentacles rising up towards the light or stretching out of the crevice by now. That doesn't mean it is in a downward spiral since it is still hiding. Are you getting all these anemones from the same place? Finding a healthy specimen initially is a challenge.
 
I have two clowns, but they don't even know its in the tank as far as I can tell.

I have Radions that are at 70% for 4 hours and taper off before and after. All my corals are doing really well under the lighting schedule and intensity I have set.

I've only seen short windows of time where it's poking out from under the rock and getting some light. I'll watch tomorrow since I'll be home all day for once.

I'm wondering if I don't have some crazy ass worm in my tank that's pestering it. I do have one peppermint shrimp still in the tank, but it hasn't seemed to bother my rock anemones nor the two aiptasias I had to X.
 
Acclimating the anemone to your lights is very important. BTA's are one of the less light demanding anemones but if acclimated properly can live beautifully under intense lighting. The fact that it is hiding could be the lighting, it could be too much flow, it could be sick, it could be feeling unsafe or something could be bothering it. I don't think the peppermint shrimp.
 
As far as its health, I visited the LFS I got it from a few times over the course of 3 weeks. This RBTA was there the whole time and looked good. It was completly inflated each time I was there drooling over the nems they have. If its not healthy I would say its from my tank...

If my lights are too strong for it, and the water params are good, ...and there's nothing bothering it at night... Hopefully I'll see it out longer as it gets used to the lighting?

I'll update tomorrow after Ive had a chance to keep an eye on it all day.

Thanks
 
You may want to turn the Radions down for a while to help acclimate it. Mr saltwater tank recently did par readings on the Radions and many of the readings were high enough to melt corals. Try turning the intensity down and see how the anemone responds
 
How about your temperature and ph how much swing do you get with those? I have seen and even one of mine hid like yours is doing and all turned out well. So don't give up on it. You could try lowering your peak intensity for a couple days and just see if it reacts properly.
 
Temp doesn't fluctuate more than .3 degrees throughout the day. I have a ReefKeeper running and keep track of that and pH. pH is pretty stable even at night because i run sump lights on an opposite cycle.

Sounds like toning down the lights for a couple days might be a good idea.

Thanks for all the input! I was afraid the responses would be worse than they are so far. :)
 
How large was it when you got it? I read somewhere that size matters with nems, as many are not collected below a certain size and if you get one smaller then this from an LFS it usually means that it was already deteriorating. I think inflated size for healthy nems was something like 5 inches. Of course if they are aquacultured its a different story. But if you keep getting them from the same place and losing them then I would question the source.
 
The last two (or three) nems were from the same local guy that has an RTBA tank and sells them to my LFS. They've always been really nice looking at the LFS. Top shelf nems. This current one is the largest purchased so far. Fully inflated, its probably pretty close to 5". I'm pretty confident that its not the LFS / source, but I guess ya never know.

Before this one, there were specific reasons I couldn't keep them. My water quality was all over the place with #3. The first two died because I had peppermint shrimp picking at them (in addition to fluctuating water conditions).

Speaking of Peppermint shrimp, just a few minutes ago I went down to check on my trap and I've just removed the last peppermint shrimp and put it in my sump.
 
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I didn't see it inflate at all today. I can see it under the rock now though. It looks like something may have been (or is) picking at its tentacles. Hopefully it was that last godamn peppermint shrimp I had in my tank (that was removed at 3:30 this morning). If not I don't know what it would be.

We'll see how tomorrow goes...
 
Kizmar said:
Still no change...
Click to expand...

I agree with North on the lights I'd tune the down then day by day tune them up. Saddly I melted my LT Plate and Cup Coral along with my trumpets when I went Full on LED. Thats the sad thing with the Kessil A150W they don't adjust other than hight from the water. With your Radions you have the be abillity to fine tune your lighting.

So yes I'd take a few days tune the lightinh low then each day turn it up more. Never know it could be in light shock. good luck Kizmar:Cheers:
 
I dropped the lights 5%. I'm afraid to drop it much more than that as I do not want to affect the other corals. The Radions are now at 65% at the peak of the lighting cycle. The nem hasn't come out from under the rock in days, so I'm not sure keeping the lights lower than they are now would do any good anyway.

I'm fairly certain something was/is picking at the anemone. Other than removing a couple possible culprits (which I've done), the only other thing I can do is turn on the reds some night and watch.
 
Going on two weeks to the day. It's still hiding under the rock, hasn't come out at all as far as I know in several days if not a week.

It has no tentacles left... just stubs.

/sigh ... I'm tempted to yank the damn thing out of the tank so it doesn't die and hurt other stuff. Really disappointed. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
 

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