BTA Movin on up :(

TOURKID

TOURKID

New member
good morning. I woke up this morning and my bta has moved to the very tippy top of the tank stuck to the glass.. It was moving nightly but the past 3 nights stayed in the same place. I woke up to see this. and of course.... its water change day, AND silver slide day.... its so high up that when the waters wavey it peaks up into the air!
I had a wave maker blowing on it for a half hour. i have to leave and its to close to the maker for me to feel safe while im gone...

do you think it will stay till tonight?
is it ok that its tenicles are touching air when its wavey?
should i feed it where it is, or wait till it finds a better spot?

was really looking forward to this water change I just bought a gravel cleaner. Its like they can sence these things!
 
don't hesitate to go ahead and change your water. He can support his own weight with his foot and will simply move down if he doesn't like being in the air for a few minutes.
 
After last night coming home to my 90 gallon tank with only 6" of water, and my two BTA's all dried up, I can assure you they can handle being out of the water for a water change. I have no idea how long mine were out, but it was long enough that the 6" of water that was left droped 9 degrees. Since last night one BTA split and looks great shows no stress related signs from being out of the water. The other BTA is in the process of splitting, but taking it's sweet time doing so, but it also looks great. They absolutely amazed me.
 
Thanks dantodd

Everything seems to be showing some sort of life again. Some better than others. It's been a rough two days, but I'm so thankful, could have been a lot worse. My husband is still a little, no, actually really upset from the 3 rooms that got flooded, but he'll get over it, I'll tell him to go golfing sunday, he'll forget all about it. LOL
 
I had no idea. I thought it was very important to always keep em in the water! no worries it is now in the back of the tank in a very hard to reach spot *ha! thats what i get for complaining!) but I can change the water now, just have a hard time sliding him that silverslide...

He seems to move every night. he stayed put for 3 nights total since i got him :( but like i said, very healthy. kinda worried about my lighting, I asked the guy at the store what they were and he just said 'compact lighting'

there is 4 bulbs, 2 blue, 2 white.....
 
He is just looking for a spot he likes. I had one move for the first 2 nights then found a place and has been there for almost a yr.

Lori
 
Tourkid, it is still important that they have water, as far as how long, I have no idea what is safe and what will cause stress. I would have felt the same way you did before I found mine out of water and near death. But after my experience I can say they are amazing creatures and a lot hardier than I thought.

reverendmayndard, we are still looking into what caused the flood, the best we can come up with at this time is a plumbing failure. We had lost power while we were gone, and power was restored before we came back. I've turned off the power many times with no problems. But the best we can think of is that there may have been a reverse flow that overflowed the sump. I'll have lots of time to play around with it and figure things out and test and retest, and test some more before any livestock is put back in. My initial response was to get things in water, then clean up. Now that the cleanup is about done, I can focus on the cause.
 
It sounds like lighting may be an issue. Post a little bit more about your tank. How long have you had the BTA, what size tank, what shape/size are the PC bulbs (look here http://www.innovativelights.com/ for shapes that PCs come in) What else is in the tank, how long has the tank been set up, what are your water parameters, how much circulation do you have and anything else you think might be useful in figuring out is keeping your BTA on the move.
 
dantodd.. Id love some help! This bta is very healthy and I am a 'newbie' so I worry alot!! and... its acting kinda strange today.

Its on the back side of the tank connected to some LR, it was normal this morning, i gave it a silverslide (cut in 2, it ate both halves one then the other) Right this moment it is so extended Id swear it was gonna blow up ive never seen it this big!

Anemone first:
Got the BTA almost two weeks ago. It was connected to a rock when i got it, so i easily transfered it to my tank after drip aclimating.
Every night for 6 days it would move around a bit as SOON as the lights went off and would settle around 5 inches away from the spot it picked the night before. It is hosting a maroon clown. Very aggressive, thought it might kill the bta at first, but they get along great now. It eats everything the fish feeds it (It feeds the bta before itself!!) and I feed it a silverslide every 3 -4 days.
It picked a spot and stayed for 3 days. then it started moving agian. this lasttime all the way to the top of the tank almost out of water, and today, halfway down, middle of the tank, in the back.


The tank is called an 'odyssea' Ive looked on the net for it and can't find it.. but I bought at my lfs and it came with the pump and lights and a stand.

Its a 45 gallon bow front.
Ive had the tank up since december
It has in it :
50 or so pounds of LR
2 peppermint shrimp
20 or less hermit crabs
6 snails
4 different species of polp's
2 hitchhiker crabs (ruled these out as a problem for the bta, thought this might be why it was moving, but it isent)
1 maroon clown fish

just did a water change this morning, did tests before and after.

salinity - 1.025
temp- 80 (i have the heater unplugged, but it remains this temp, may drop to 78 at night sometimes)

i have one of these 5 in one test strip things and i dont like it, going to invest in better eqip. soon. I do have a real ph tester tho from milwaki witch reads
ph: 7.8
test strips reads
nitrates 20 "ideal range"
nitite 0
total hardness '400's "very hard"
alkalinity 200ish
calcium - 400 i add kents calcium every morning.


** Can you recommend a way to lower nitrates? just did a water change and it is higher than usual!!!**



ok as for the lights..


the blue set says 'odyssea 65 watt blue' and the white one doesent say anything but is the same size as the blue...
my sane bed is about 2 1/2 inches high or so....

now im more worried *sigh* I love this hobbie, becomeing an obbsession :)
 
UPDATE!!

I went to petsmart and picked up a test kit that tested for a few things i dident have (amonia being one) anyway i came home and was testing ph when i noticed a large hermit population under the anemone. It seems that they were all tearing apart a piece of a silverslide...

Im guessing thats why the bta was so super expanded, it was spitting it back out? the second piece (the head) i dident find and im assuming the anemone kept that one down.... does this ever stop? (all the non stop drama i mean.. its always somthing..... at least im noticeing i guess)

get back with test results.. but my nitrates are thru the roof now
 
PH seems pretty low. Are you running a skimmer? If not, aeration with an air stone should raise the PH. 8.2-8.3 would be better.

I think you should cut down on the size of the food. 1/2 a silverside is too big for most anemones. I would go for pieces that are no bigger than 1/4" on a side.
 
i agree with the ph, i used a dose of kentsuper buffer dkh. i have had it awhile but never used it till today. i used less than it stated but i dident like the cloudiness of it.

no skimmer, but know I will be getting one. went to the store with 50 bucks having no idea what they even looked like.. i need to figure out how im going to get it in my tank, i have a fully enclosed lid, lights attached to lid.... and they are bigger than i thought

why does an air stone raise ph?

I dident know an air stone would do this, i have one handy...
 
Glad you have a better test kit now. Aeration and buffer are your friends right now. You may have low O2 levels too, the airstone and a powerhead near the surface will help.

Get this running for half a day or so and then re-measure. I suspect that your water is not in terribly good shape right now. That would explain why the 'nem isn't settling in. Also, an aggressive clown and being relatively new in the tank are also reasons that they'll wander. My LTA took months to settle in.
 
Once Alk reaches normal SW levels (2.5 meq/l) or higher (which 200ppm is high enough), the PH of the water is controlled by the amount of CO2 dissolved in it (absent any dosing that raises or lowers PH like Kalk (raises) or Calc reactor(lowers)). In a tank with insufficient gas exchange, or if the tank is in a room with high CO2 levels, the PH can be quite low due to high CO2 levels. Aeration should equalize the CO2 levels with that of the atmosphere, which with normal outside air results in a PH of 8.2.

Buffers can be used to raise or lower PH, but the effect is temporary. Eventually CO2 levels will return to their previous levels and so will the PH. If aeration fails to provide the boost, it is likely you have high CO2 levels in your tank room, a pretty common occurance in modern homes in the winter. Try taking a cup of water outside and aerating it, that should result in 8.2.

Any further inquiries on this subject should probably be posted to the chemistry forum, as the resident chemistry expert, Randy Holmes-Farley, will answer any post in there. You can also look through the stickies at the top of that forum. There are articles about PH, and specifically, what to do about low ph.
 
I left an air stone in the tank over night and did some buffer, ph is up to 8 - 8.2 hard to tell with color charts

i got r/o water this morning and did a tank change and the nirates are lower, about an even 20. Ive never used anything but tap water and im starting to suspect this is a culprit

also by getting oxegen in the tank does this require air bubbles? ive been trying to reduce bubbles in the tank.. could this be why?
 
Not necessarily bubbles, but surface agitation. Powerheads aimed slightly up so they disturb the surface water should help. Also, a skimmer will aerate the water well. They are usually designed to keep the bubbles in the skimmer and out of the tank.

Do you have any problems with surface scum? Tanks without overflows often do, and this can inhibit gas exchange quite a bit.
 
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