BTA's in the Reef

[TimeConsumer]

I had a BTA at one point, and it walked places. I was able to move my few corals around to keep it from stinging them. Fast forward, my anemone got sucked into a powerhead and I haven't bought one since. My tank now has lots of corals, many that cannot be moved.

So I know BTA's are not reef safe. I know that if I put it in my reef tank it is probably going to walk around and sting my corals. What I don't know, is how much damage can I expect it to deal. Does it affect some corals more than others? How fast can it kill? If it gets to one of my expensive acro frags or zoas will they be wiped out within a few hours or a few days?

I see all these awesome reef tanks in pictures and in the totm threads loaded with BTAs right next to corals. And it makes me want a BTA again (after I fix the powerhead situation). I have a better idea of how to keep it in one place than my previous situation. But I need to know exactly what to expect before I take the leap.

 

[dela]

It depends on the corals. My gorgonians are very sensitive to my btas, while my cabbage leather has had bta all over it for months and is doing fine.

It would be good to have a list of corals that are known to tolerate btas.

Although, once they find a spot where they are happy, they will stop moving around... until something changes and the spot is no longer optimal.

 

[Dapg8gt]

I have had them do nothing to certain coral and wipe out a nice colony of Pom Pom Xenia. Like stated above it depends.

 

[TimeConsumer]

It depends on the corals. My gorgonians are very sensitive to my btas, while my cabbage leather has had bta all over it for months and is doing fine.

It would be good to have a list of corals that are known to tolerate btas.

I have had them do nothing to certain coral and wipe out a nice colony of Pom Pom Xenia. Like stated above it depends.

Exactly. I'm curious which corals are more resilient and which are more sensitive. I want to know if it lands on my nepthea do I have to cut the nepthea off the rock to save it? Or could I spend a few days enticing the BTA to move without any adverse affects? What about my LPS, SPS, etc etc.

 

[westohooligan]

I have had them do nothing to certain coral and wipe out a nice colony of Pom Pom Xenia. Like stated above it depends.

It did you a favor.

 

[BlueFyre]

Ha My BTA sit right next to my pompom xenia and the xenia does not react at all

 

[Dapg8gt]

It did you a favor.

Personal preference .

 

[Dapg8gt]

Ha My BTA sit right next to my pompom xenia and the xenia does not react at all

It took prob around two weeks of shading and stinging from a 8" RBTA. Those things grow like weeds anyways lol. I find myself having to "mow" mine down. I just cut them down when they spread too much. Put them on rubble and trade to my LFS for more ZOA LoL.

Also had a RBTA do some damage to a green Open brain. Didn't necessarily kill it but I feel that was the road downhill for it.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Also had a RBTA do some damage to a green Open brain. Didn't necessarily kill it but I feel that was the road downhill for it.

How long was the RBTA in contact with the brain? Was the damage visible/obvious?

 

[Dapg8gt]

How long was the RBTA in contact with the brain? Was the damage visible/obvious?

I got the brain from a friend who was not the best reefkeeper and it was not in the best of shape at first. But after a month or so it started puffing/coloring back up. A little while later my rose split and was under the rock work and decided to come out a hole directly next to the brain. I'm not sure how long it was on it. Lights went out it was fine, went to work ,came home rose tentacles all over brain. So that being said brain had tissue damage and was moved to sand bed where eventually didn't make it. Could have already been weak due to where I got him from IDK. Seems people have different experiences w same corals.

At the moment I dont have a rose in my main tank, I have an anemone breeder in the garage with three RBTA and soon to be a GBTA. I had and outbreak of mehano anemones that did some damage when I slacked off so had to do some serious maintenance work to the main tank. Hence rose in seperate tank to start utilizing it for monetary gain .

These are just my experiences w RBTA some others will post something different just sharing what happened to me.

 

[TimeConsumer]

So it sounds like it took a decent hit with less than 12 hours of contact. Good to know.