GBTA: A Morbid Sight and Questions

[zoozilla]

After 3 hours of acclimation last night, I finally placed my 6" GBTA in the display tank. The GBTA quickly attached itself to some live rock near the bottom of tank and its tentacles were puffed up gently swaying in the currents I watched it off and on for several hours and was doing just fine until I got up this morning. I searched the tank for a few minutes a found pieces of green tentacles all over the sandy floor. It appears that Only 25% of the GBTA was left (about 20 tentacles attached to the partial body and partial foot?) I ruled out the following: 1 damsel, 2 false percs, 1 clown goby, 1 pajama cardinal, assortment of corals, snails, and hermits as being the culprit.

I do have one Peppermint Shrimp. Since they eat Aiptasia Anemones, will they also eat GBTAs????

Will the GBTA recover even with only 25% of its body intact (some tentacles attach to a partial body/foot)???

Should I move what is left of the GBTA to my fuge???

If the GBTA dies and the Peppermint Shrimp is found to be the culprit, how do I capture/trap the Peppermint Shrimp without having to disturb the rock work???

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A Very Sad Day
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[Sk8r]

If you need to trap a pep, try rubbing your palm with frozen shrimp and putting same in tank. When shrimp arrives to feed, close hand. Repeat as needed.

 

[dc]

Are your intakes covered? I don't know if you can ever rule out a damsel.

 

[traveller7]

Have you scoured the tank for another large piece of the anemone? Newly acclimated BTAs frequently divide into two and occasionally more pieces. You may find pieces wandering in the rock work, over flows, pump intakes etc.

Although, the tentacle parts scattered around the tank floor does point to unhealthy events, I would wager your anemone divided first.

 

[nlknight]

I agree IMO it sounds like it split or found an intake. i would check all your intakes and in the rocks.