GBTA Dying?

[cphelps80]

I've had my GBTA for about four weeks, he has moved quite a lot in that time up until last week where he found a place attached to the back of a rock. Today I had noticed that he didn't inflate and eventually fell of the rock, I left him to try and make his own way back, but he didn't move. I picked him up and put him back in the same position but he still didn't attach and fell of again. I have just come hom from work after about three hours and he is upside down releasing white stringy like material. I have put him onto a flat rock high up to the light, turned off all powerheads and there is more of this string coming out, his mouth is also puckered and he is completly deflated. My params are:

Nitrite/trate - 0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0
pH - 8.3
kH - 11
Calcium - 480
Magnesium - 1350
Gravity - 1.026

He is under two ho t5 - one 15000 k marine white with reflector and the other Actinic blue with reflector. I know they are not ideal but I have been told they should be fine. Any ideas on if he is dying and if so what can I do to help him recover?

 

[cphelps80]

Man, I've just taken this photo, is he melting?

 

[arkaeus]

Almost looks dead to me, does it have a smell? ever see it move? Only reason I would say its alive is because the mouth looks closed... What do you dose in your tanks?

 

[cphelps80]

No, there's no smell, I've watched him move, he can really shift, but today he has literally collapsed. I'm at a complete loss.

 

[cphelps80]

sorry I don't understand about the dose?

 

[arkaeus]

Do you dose any chemicals in the tank? Alk, cal, Iodine? How old is your tank?

 

[jeff@zina.com]

Feeding it?

Jeff

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[agruetz]

Is it white stringy stuff or brown?

 

[kissman]

what watt is the T5's? How old is the tank? I have a BTA in a 55g with 6 54w T5HO and its doing great. Anemones like 6-10w per gallon and do best in an established stable tank usually atleast a year old

 

[kissman]

if you have them on 47g tank and they are 54w each for a total 108w that gives you about 2.3 watts per gallon no where near enough light

 

[gveng]

definitely not enough lighting.

 

[cphelps80]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, I'm dosing the tank with Red Sea NO3O4-x, and Reef Energy A and B, Calcium/magnesium supplements as required and Microbe Lift all in one master supplement. It has been feeding off mysis shrimp but never semmed to be hungry (probably ate about 15 mysis over the four weeks, the rest came out undigested). It is white strungy stuff coming out. The tank is eight months old and seems pretty stable there are no major fluctuations in the chemistry. The t5's work out at about 3.5 watts per gallon, I was guaranteed that this would be enough, but it seems that my own ignorance might be to blame (never fully trust the store! Do more research!). He looks pretty sick at the moment and my hopes aren't too high for a recovery. Just a couple of quick questions though;

1. I have a boxer shrimp in the tank that seemed to be aggresive towards the nem, is that normal and could the stress have caused this?

2. The nem was always looking for a poorly lit area with low flow (Around the bottom third of the tank and well away from powerheads), is this normal also?

Thanks for all your help and keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[kissman]

Are you having algae issues? What do you mean all in one master supplement? Did you mix all that together? Or you talking about Microblift(never used it)

 

[cphelps80]

Yeah it's from Microbelift it was recommended from the store as a general supplement, I am having trouble with hair algae so I'm using a phosphate remover in the protein skimmers sump. Unfortunately though the nem didn't make it, I'm gutted, he looked good for four weeks and then just collapsed, I have had problems with him in that time but he seemed to be doing fine up until yesterday, a VERY steep learning curve!

 

[kissman]

are you using RO/DI water?

 

[cphelps80]

Yup RO for top offs and a ten % water change once a month, with reef crystals salt and an 8.3 buffer

 

[shifty51008]

i am betting it is the lighting, dual T5's don't seem like enough, especally when one of them is actinic so basically only 1 bulb is putting out the light the anemone needs. I would add 2 more bulbs and stick to around the 10-12k range.

also skip the pH buffer all that is doing is adding alk to your tank, it isn't doing much for the pH long term.

 

[BigCountry74]

take it out. it's gonna crash your tank.

 

[Clay4AU]

take it out. It's gonna crash your tank.

+1

 

[cphelps80]

Yeah he's gone, I think I slept about two hours last night watching to see what would happen with him, he finally gave up this afternoon and was taken straight out, a water change done straight away and testing params tonight