BTA not looking so good

[briankmarsh1980]

I had it for 5 months, its hosted by clown. (notice my pic <-----< )
any way its been shriveled for 4 days,



any ideas if its going to die?

Temp- 80 to 82 degrees
Salinity- 1.024
PH-8.1
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0
Phosphate- 0
lighting is (2) coralife aqualight 48" T5 dual lamp 28W X 2

and I'm on my second week of adding "Special Blend" by MICROBE-LIFT to try to get rid of my nasty purple sludge off my sand.

I also have a Kenya tree thats dropping limbs, don't know if that matters.
RBTA doing good

mouth has been hanging wide open

<a href="http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/?action=view&current=DSCF0493.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/DSCF0493.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[briankmarsh1980]

yeah no body will help me... alright done with this thread going back to FRAG

 

[CockyBrock]

I'll help...what size tank do you have? what are the dimensions?

 

[jdizzle707]

Don't know if this help. I keep my temp below 79 deg and SG 1.025 but it sometimes drifts up to 1.027 but never any lower.

 

[jdizzle707]

Also, any fishes or crabs pickin on it? Caught my clown nipping on my anemone when I was shriveled up. Covered him with a rock for a few days and he recovered.

 

[Toddrtrex]

If your fixture is 48" long, I am going to assume that you either have a 55 or 75 -- since you didn't state what size tank you have. While E. Quadricolors can do fine with lower light levels, you don't have enough.

Second, raise your salinity to 1.026.

Not 100% sure what "special blend" is, but after a quick google search, I would stop using it.

 

[reggiepe]

also...remember this is a BTA. They always look terrible before they split. I remember when mine did it's first split. I thought it was a goner. I was testing everything, couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. It got to the point after about 2-3 days that I took it out of the display and put it in my prop tank because I didn't want it to foul my DT water. I come home from work the next day and there are two now on the rock. Not saying this is what is happening, but don't completely rule it out.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

it's a 60 gallon tank. 4ft X 15 1/2 inches X 15 1/2 inches
have not seen anything picking on it, it's about 4:42 am and its open and clown is in it
bought a stand up fan at walmart to point at tank to drop temp

(special blend)
http://www.microbelift.com/products/home-aquarium/bacterial-products/special-blend/
I have a bad (Cyanobacteria) problem so i was told this would help

 

[BongoSolo3]

+1 on raising salinity, and +1 on no longer using this Special Blend. I tried to use red slime remover, and my RBTA looked very similar.

IMO, that it not much light either..... Could play a role, but I would lean towards the other issues first.

 

[BongoSolo3]

I had a bad cyano problem too when my tank was young. After I bailed on red slime remover, I just began sucking out the cyano with a turkey baster and doing 2 small water changes a week. 2 months later - gone.

Tedious, but worked.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

added salt last night don't know what it raised it to yet. so stop adding beneficial bacteria?

and I run my lights for 12 hrs cause of low wattage

my cyno is about to take over my tank its covering rocks plants my snails are running around with it on them

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

The clownfish is not helping the situation,try to isolate the clown until the anemone recovers,and +1 with raising salinity and more light.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

Ok how do I keep the fish out of the anemone?

 

[ADA33]

Ok how do I keep the fish out of the anemone?

You may need to put a divider like egg crate in the tank.

One thing that I notice is there is no coralline algae in the tank.

What is you ALK, Calc, Mag readings? you may have an imbalance that is causing stress to the anemone.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

I don't have those tests guess I better get them my tank is not old only 6 months its just starting to get coraline

 

[gweston]

I'm not an expert by any means.. but to add to what others say.

I keep temp at 76-78 (80-82 sounds high)
I keep salinity at 1.025-1.026 (for fish only 1.024 or a bit lower is prob fine)

Double and triple check salinity and other params.. have someone else test your water with their equipment/kits and compare against. It is easy to miss param problems if a test kit is having problems, or if your refractometer is off kilter.

If you do drop temp and raise salinity. Do it very slowly. Adjust temp by maybe a degree a day, for example. Slow is always the safest way.

I hope the RBTA recovers! Its a bummer to see any tank critter sick.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

ok put a fan facing my tank temp is now stable at 79 degrees, salinity is at 1.025 slowly adding more salt to raise it to 1.026. i can't get a good pick but its opened up for 2 days now, but today i noticed it has a couple small wounds on foot, i have 3 emerald crabs could they have been the problem? didn't notice it till tonight, and if so how do you stop them? my rose is ok.

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[gweston]

Sounds very promising if it is opened up for a few days now! If it's mouth isn't gaping, just give it some time to heal up. Not sure on the injured foot. Maybe a rock fell and it squeezed it's way out? They seem to be rather hardy though. I had a small rock land on my RBTA. It was a little bit bruised but was back to normal within a couple days.

If you suspect it is getting picked on... maybe pick up one of those plastic containers you get blueberries or other berries in from the supermarket. The ones with holes in them. Could try capping the anemone over with the container to keep it isolated. Easier said than done If a crab REALLY wants to get in there, it'll likely find a way.

I hear emerald crabs may use anemones for protection. So wouldn't expect it to harm one. But.. everything has their own personality. You could have one crabby crab.

 

[MissNano]

When i got my BTA the day after it looked like crap! So, i pointed my powerhead towards it, cause they seem to like flow. Then i shot some marine snow its way. I then moved it's rock it was on towards the top closer to the light. It picked up within an hour. Been fine since. However in the night i moved to a better fit location. hope these tips might help..:wavehand: