GBTA Shrink During Day

[Reef Shepherd]

Hello,

My GBTA is shrunken a lot(all day almost) during the day. Today I noticed as soon as the day lights Geismann 2X54 (12k I believe) went off, the anenome inflated and started to look "normal". Are the day time lights too strong or....? Whats going on here?

I feed half silversides once a week but might switch to something smaller since last time I fed the anenome it looked like Anaconda after it swallowed the photographer dude.

1.024 salinity
amm, nitrates, nitrites 0 or near 0
phosphates .12 (added more GFO today)
Ca, DKh, MG = 415, 9.3, 1450

 

[aydemir]

nickel for every time....
It is pretty common for btas to shrink and expand, they exchange water in this manner. Could be its acclimating to the tank (u didnt mention how long its been in the tank) and the light is stronger than what it is used to. Also, I would recommend against silversides (heard so many horror stories), try seafood from the grocery store like shrimp

 

[voidg]

New GBTA owner here, tagging along. What's wrong with silver sides?

 

[Breadman03]

New GBTA owner here, tagging along. What's wrong with silver sides?

From what I've read, the issue is that they aren't regulated to the same standards as food intended for human consumption. As such, there is an increased risk of bacterial contamination or decomposition.

 

[Offshore357]

nickel for every time....
It is pretty common for btas to shrink and expand, they exchange water in this manner. Could be its acclimating to the tank (u didnt mention how long its been in the tank) and the light is stronger than what it is used to. Also, I would recommend against silversides (heard so many horror stories), try seafood from the grocery store like shrimp

+ 1

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Thanks for the reply guys

Thanks for the reply guys

Thanks, I hope you're right.

It has been in there for maybe 4 weeks? The first two weeks it seemed to stay inflated so the fact that it's deflating more frequently concerns me. I'll try to feed it something else smaller although catching it inflated to feed has become more difficult.

I'll also cut the daytime lights an hour or so to see if that might be triggering the inflate/deflate. I just added a couple other corals I got from Sustainable Aquatics so it will benefit them as they adjust aswell.

 

[aydemir]

You could try phytoplankton (I use the KENT brand) to supplement your feedings, your anemone will love it. Also, make sure your pH doesn't fluctuate, I forgot to mention earlier (obviously make sure it is also at the right level 8-8.2). It may also be because of a bad silverside, and its having problems digesting it/is sick. Other than that, I can't think of any reasons why your bta would expand/contract excessively, they actually like nitrates (<5 ppm) and trace minerals that aren't found in RODI water (use treated tap water). But, if you don't have enough corals or macros to compete with the possible algae outbreak the tap water may cause, don't try it.
P.S. can you post pics of it not contracted and then contracted? It would be a great help

 

[567234ta]

If you are feeding it that's why it is doing that probably. Stop feeding it for a month or so and it will get its nutrients from the light. Which would mean fully expanded during lighting hours.
You can easily kill a bta by feeding too much. They are like dogs and will try to swallow anything given to them sometimes, it takes energy to digest the food and it takes energy to expand. If it has too much food to digest it can't do both.

 

[Reef Shepherd]

Thanks for responding again.

I've been dumping the entire 100g system with a <1/2 cup daily of the phyto I've been growing (DT's originally). I understand the arguement against just dumping some in, but my pods exploded once I started feeding and no algae outbreak (yet) so .... why not?

I'm dosing small amounts of Kalk and Mg in RODI. Don'treally want to change that for fear of the algae return that almost ruined this "hobby".

I backed of the daytime lights last night and today the BTA was outmore than I've seen in over a week. Maybe just a coincidence. I'll slowly add the time I took back in and see what happens.

I wasn't able to get a deflated picture today so,that's good news I guess! Maybe it was just "sick".