Is my RBTA dieing?

[Freemason1970]

I have had my RBTA for a little over two months now. It was doing great until this past week. The day I put it in the tank it moved a little bit and it stayed where it has for the entire time I have had it. There hasn't been any big changes in the perameters over this time. I do water changes every two weeks at about 15% of water changed. The only changed that had happened last week was I started up my Woodburn which raised the tank temp from 80.5 to about 82. It has since steadied out at 81.
I am afraid it is dieing. Can anyone help?
P.s. my tank in running for about 2 1/2 years.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

What are all of your water parameters?

 

[Freemason1970]

Dkh - 10
Calcium - 475
Mag - 1400
PH - 8.3
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.05
Nitrate - 5
Salinity - 1.025

Note - the perameters have been relatively the same for the past two months.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

It doesn't look too bad to me. They all do that from time to time. It should perk soon. The warmer water may be the cause. Try floating a frozen bottle of ice in the sump to cool it down some.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

How long has your tank been setup? You shouldn't have any Nitrite. Are you dosing anything that would give you a nitrite reading?

 

[Freemason1970]

My tank has been going for about 2 1/2 years.
I dose (when needed) baking soda for Alk and calcium (powder form).

 

[justthewife]

Do you feed it? You can try giving it some thawed out frozen squid. I did that when I had mine and it loved that. They get in moods from time to time. I ended up having to give mine away because it got way too big and started stinging other corals. I really miss it. There was one time mine went under a rock and no matter what I did, it wouldn't come out for like four months. I spent months thinking it was dying. They are a good water chemistry indicator as well. When something isn't right, they will tell you about it :lol: I think they are hardier than they appear to be.

 

[justthewife]

Also, when a BTA is dying, it's mouth is not tight and is very open and slack looking. Another thing to look for is very very short stubby tentacles spaced far apart that never extend. Or...stringy tentacles, or lack of color. These are indicators of lack of light or food. Some people never spot feed, others feed. If you feed, they get huge in my opinion but its so dang fun to do :lol: Sometimes too much light will cause them to go underneath a rock. It could be your temperature change. Keep an eye on it and don't worry just yet.

 

[Freemason1970]

Thanks for the help.
I haven't fed it in the 2 plus months that I have it. I have heard so many different thoughts on feeding and my last RBTA's I tried to feed didn't turn out so well so I was scared to do so.
I did try to let some thawed out mysis shrimp hit it when I was feeding the fish. A few pieces did fall on it but it didn't take the food in. Not sure if I should feed it another way or with different types of food.

 

[Freemason1970]

Where can I get frozen squid?

 

[justthewife]

Local fish store has it.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

I just buy it at the grocery store. Squid, oysters, salmon. But it fresh then freeze it yourself.

 

[Freemason1970]

Thanks

 

[g_langley]

Fresh is better than frozen as you can make your own high quality food with a blender and then freeze in a flattened freezer bag and chops bits off when needed.

I threw the kitchen sink at my recipe;

Scallops
Prawns
Squid
Nori
Mysis
NLS Pellets
D&D Clam & Filter Feeder
Phytoplankton

This caters for the fish and inverts. I get a turkey baster and gently introduce a small portion into the BTA's mouth a couple of times a week max.