Dying BTA?

[njudson]

Had this BTA for about 12 days. Its been moving around and inflating / deflating a lot. I've been trying to be patient and wait for it to adjust. Today it seems like he is looking a bit worse. (although it could definitely just be that I am usually at work now and not used to seeing it in the morning before my lights come on)

Its the white around the mouth that seems bad to me. Is it time to give up and get him out of the tank? Or should I just keep waiting and hoping?

Tank params -
sg 1.026
Ca - 460
Alk - ~8.5
Mag -1420
Nitrates < 5.0

Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[Johndoe0336]

When was the last time you gave it some food and what was it?

 

[Fibinotchi]

Doesn't look good, you may want to remove it, and at least smell it. Did you acclimate it to the light? what kind of light are you using.

 

[steelhead77]

Yeah, that one doesn't look good. The gaping mouth is a giveaway that it's in distress. If it detaches and begins floating around or you find it upside down on the sand, then remove it. Keep a close eye on it, however, I would not remove it until it detaches from the rock it's attached to. When it does detach, get it out quick; they can foul a tank pretty quickly, especially a small tank.

BTW, if it survives, those zoas around it probably won't.

 

[njudson]

He actually looked a good deal better yesterday after the lights came on. and I realize that it will likely kill anything it walks over, I knew what I was getting into when I got the bta. These zoas actually were fine though when it move to the side of that rock. I've tried to feed this BTA PE mysis but I haven't seen him eat any. Will try that again later tonight.

 

[Fibinotchi]

Pieces of raw prawns are a good easy feed. Just stick a piece in their tentacles.