My RBTA is still sick...help?

[ahullsb]

I've posted before but my rbta has been sick for almost 3 weeks now. It was perfectly healthy for months, hasn't moved from the spot I placed it. It's about 8-10 inches across. I feed it 2 times a week. Either silversides or krill, etc. My water parameters have all seemed fine. 1.026 salinity, 80 degrees, ca 440, dkh 7, ph 8.4, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all 0, po4 also 0.

Here is how it looked healthy.

And here is a poor camera shot now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ahullsb]

Oops. here it is now...

 

[cobra397]

well the first pics look great. way larger than mine. just a question. do the tips look torn or damaged in anyway? a few threads down i posted about a rogue hermit crab that i caught eating on my Rbta.. mines doing alot better know so just wondering if something is tearing at yours..?

 

[ahullsb]

I'll take a look. I haven't seen any near it but maybe at night? It looks darker and the tips are gone, look almost pushed in...

 

[cobra397]

only crabs i have are the blue legged and red legged scarlets. they dont bother my rbta. But i bought some chells for them and there was a hermit inside of one and he is twice as big as the others. had him about a month before he started tearing my rbta and eating pieces of it. he did it at night i believe and i caught him only the one time. but i noticed my rbta looked like something was chewing on him.. never know.. just a thought though..

 

[ahullsb]

what kind of hermit? red legged?

 

[cobra397]

the red one i think is a scarlet. and the other small ones are the blue legged ones. both of those were small and have never bothered anything. the one i have is inside a turbo snails shell. he is atleast twice if not 3 times as big as a red scarlet crab. dont mean to be confusing just trying to compare the sizes. I need to get a pic and an id on the big one i have. I really dont know if thats whats going on. does your Rbta have any spots that looked shrivled on the tentacles? mine got deflated really bad and hung down off the sides of the rock, stretched out.

 

[ahullsb]

Yes it it starting to darken, and has been deflated for a few weeks now. The tips seem sucked in, but maybe one of my crabs is getting it.

 

[ahullsb]

The only thing that is unaccounted for in my tank is my pistol shrimp. They aren't known for messing with anemone's are they? The anem is in a crevace that would be perfect for the pistol too. I just can't see in it

 

[cobra397]

any new news?

 

[ahullsb]

Nothing. It still looks all ragged and ratty.....I've got another post in reef discussion as well that I am getting some help with.

 

[ahullsb]

here is my latest post from reef discussion

That is what I'm trying to figure out! I thought it was going to split...3 weeks ago. I don't see another piece if it did in fact split, but it is tough to see behind it. How long does it take after the split for them to appear normal again? The only other things I can think of are that my temp has been higher lately, (82) and my alkalinity has been a little low (6 dkh) I have since raised it to 8 dkh. I have been using kents liquid calcium and adding trace elements of strontium and whatever the other is. (green bottle) I'm going to stop adding that since I don't test for it. Other than that I use Kents DKH builder for alkalinity after having problems with baking soda...

 

[Yinepu]

When is the last time you did a water change?...

My guess is that something is attacking it... but I have to wonder if it could be missing a trace mineral of some kind...
if you've done a recent water change though you shouldn't have an issue there...

 

[ahullsb]

Ya I do water changes every two weeks. I replace about 10 gallons every time! I can't figure out the problem. If my tank cools, and my alk stays up, I will be at a loss for answers. The kenya tree still looks wilted, but is dropping little pieces like is has on various occasions to spread it around the tank.
Here is my last ditch effort...
I have
frogspawn
hammer
xenia
anthelia
various zoas
a brain coral
favia
crocea clam
one leather coral
1 coco worm
one elegance coral (!)
purple and red mushrooms
and one wilted rbta

 

[Yinepu]

ok.... if the xenia is looking good that tells me your PH, DKH & Iodine are good... (xenia stops pulsing at PH below 8.3 & melts at dkh below 7)...

if the frogspawn looks good that tells me your temps didn't get too high... (frogspawn normally can't handle high temps)...

is there anything too close to the anemone that might be stinging it?... because looking at the pics it's either that or something trying to eat it...

 

[ahullsb]

No there is nothing close to it. Only things I have in there that I can't always keep an eye on are my hermit crabs, boxer crab, and pistol shrimp (if it's still there). I don't see anything, visually that looks like infestation or parasite. But it is darker, shrunken up, and has some bulbs but they are like balloons on top....no tips

 

[orchidsnfish]

Is that the brain on the bottom on the sand right underneath it? Could one of your LPS be putting out stingers at night touching it? It could be splitting. Some of mine will hide for up to a week or more before/during a split. That was/is one pretty rose.

It was perfectly healthy for months

This makes me think it is just splitting. They can look REALLY sad during a split but three weeks is longer than I have had them take to recover. Have you added anything new to the tank recently? It just looks too healthy in the first pics to now be dying.

Angela

 

[ahullsb]

I know it's really frustrating to me. I waited 3 months to find a healthy one. And now this...I've watched very closely and never seen them come close to touching physically. I have pushed the brain a little farther away recently just in case.

 

[Yinepu]

chemical warfare maybe?... is the water flow going from the brain/LPS towards the anemone?