Is this GBTA dying?

[ReefGirlSara]

It's very flabby. The lights just came on and it seems to be getting slightly flabbier. It is very very inflated, and floppy. I've had it for about 2 months, and it's never looked like this before. The tank is about 4-5 years old. Water parameters are good.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Wouldn't say it is dying, but I have seen them look better. It could just be doing an internal water change. Though its tentacles look a little short, how often do you feed it and what type of lights do you have?

 

[ReefGirlSara]

It's tentacles are always very long. I have a 175 watt MH, 14,000k w/ one month old bulb. I feed it one or two lance fish once a week, but yesterday instead of the lance fish I gave it a bay scallop and a piece of a shrimp from my grocery store's seafood dept. I ate the same stuff for dinner- except of course mine was cooked. I rinsed the scallop and shrimp before I fed it.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Hmm interesting. There could be a chance that it wasn't too happy with that food.

And if it was bad, you cooking it would have killed any "bugs" in it. Rinsing it wouldn't have helped it was "funky" only cooking it to above 140*.

For now all I can suggest is to keep an eye on it, and it wouldn't hurt to do a water change if you have the time. But hopefully it will just expel its internal water and will be none the worse for wear.

 

[ReefGirlSara]

now it's shrinking way down, and it's tentacles are ugly colors- dark green and brown and purple, and it looks terrible. Maybe you're on to something with the internal water change idea...

 

[Toddrtrex]

And that is why I suggest a water change and running some fresh carbon. Want to try to get that stuff that it is expelling out of the water. Granted it will be diluted so it won't be that bad.

Think about how you look and feel when you eat something bad, that is what I feel it going on with your BTA.

 

[useskaforevil]

when mine ate too much it would do that, every once in awhile it would do that for no reason. it lived for about a year and a half until eaten by crabs

 

[boomsticks]

Yes they do every once and a while. They also preform "water changes" of their own. My bta will darken and deflate to a stumpy disc and then refill.

 

[erendon]

What are your paramiters? When you feed your BTA don't give it large pieces. I usually but wild cought squid from Thailand and feed most of the body to my Golden Moray and a small tip of the tentacle to my RBTA.

 

[ReefGirlSara]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11026254#post11026254 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by erendon
What are your paramiters? When you feed your BTA don't give it large pieces. I usually but wild cought squid from Thailand and feed most of the body to my Golden Moray and a small tip of the tentacle to my RBTA.

Where do you buy that? Is it expensive?

 

[erendon]

Any fish market, or check your local supermarket that sells fresh sea food. The later MIGHT have them. ( I get it for the moray), I try to get babies if they have them but a larger size can be chopped up aswell. I usually get wild cought if they have them. Freeze in a vitamin soak..........BUT bare in mind, they will eat any small pieces of frozen food that you feed it. I also do the frozen cubes in a vitamin soak.
With all that said and done....check your paramiters to.

 

[ReefGirlSara]

what do you use for a 'vitamin soak'?

 

[erendon]

Vitachem. (I think that this is how you spell it) but you can always find different names out there. I also use selcom. but again, check your paramiters. What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[kar93]

www.karensroseanemones.com - that is a good website they recommend feeding silversides every 3 days and they look great!