New BTA - How's it look?

[Offdutyninja1]

Just got my first BTA on Sunday, not sure how well it is settling in though.
The mouth is closed, foot is intact, and as far as I can tell inflated.

But I'm surprised that
(A) it hasn't moved (firmly attached to three rubble rocks from the LFS), and
(B) though its tentacles have caught some food the fish missed (pellets yesterday, mysis and brine today) it eventually expels them and they get stuck in its tentacles.
Is any of this normal?


Image
Video

 

[worm5406]

It is still too early to try and feed it. It will eat when it is ready.

A few questions;

Lighting type
Lighting time(s)
Tank age
pH
Sg
Other inhabitants

 

[humphreyhh]

Just make sure you have enough light and good enough water quality. Give it some days it will settle down. After that, you can start feeding it.

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[Offdutyninja1]

Lighting: Marine Orbit LED, 10 hours at 100%, 4 hours of moonlight
Tank is 6 months old
pH - 8.2
Sg - 1.024

Tank has 2 occ clowns, a bangaii cardinal, a skunk cleaner, some hermits, and snails.

Woke up yesterday morning to the nem in the middle of the sandbed, and this morning it made it to the rocks on the other side. Seems alright, pretty open, about 12 in. below the light, and mouth still closed up tight.

Unfortunately, even though it has ventured into clown territory they are too busy chasing pods to care. Probably for the best, I assume they would stress the nem until it becomes more settled and larger.

 

[worm5406]

Can we get an updated pictures since it moved?

 

[Offdutyninja1]

Yes! Here's the best I can do.
Flow seems pretty low around it, but the tentacles are waving nicely. Little chunk of something brown floating in the nem... hoping it is a pellet it decided not to eat rather than expelling zoo or something bad like that.

Secondary question while people are looking: any ideas what this red growth on my LR is? Best guess is nemastoma algae - it has a fleshy texture.

 

[Offdutyninja1]

I'm afraid it may slowly be on the decline. Please help me save it!

Here's a link to a pic from yesterday http://imgur.com/dLbUlig

At the end of day 6 the nem made it up the rock, attaching itself firmly on the side. It's foot is only attached to the single rock, but it leans its body up against the coral skeleton.

On day 7, it was very inflated and expanded, in what I would think of as a hunting position. About 2x the size it was at the LFS. I fed it a small piece of shrimp, which it quickly ate then reexpanded. I watched it that evening and didn't see any expulsion of any sort, and it seemed fine.

My worry is that a few tentacles have started shrinking - you can see them in the above pic, just above the mouth. Two are now just nubs, the 3rd is in process, but looks maybe damaged at the tip. In addition, the nem is very skittish; it fully closes if the cleaner shrimp brushes it, and sometimes I watch it retract at nothing. It's hard to believe it's getting enough light, the LED documentation puts the par at that distance around 20-50.

Should I move him up? Remove the shrimp? Do more water tests? I don't have phos/calc/mag tests, but could go get the appropriate ones.

Thanks!

 

[worm5406]

It actually looks good. Expanding and bulbous. It is not a relaxed and has limp tentacles.

 

[Offdutyninja1]

Is some 'tentacle die off' a normal adjustment to new conditions aka my tank?

 

[nickg]

Looks fine in pict.

 

[Offdutyninja1]

Things are looking much worse this morning.
Very deflated. Some expulsion the color of its column. Slightly gaping mouth. Stringy mucus around the foot.
https://imgur.com/a/HXyLd

I just wish I knew what I did wrong
Anything I can do to try and rescue? A small water change maybe?
Trying to give the shrimp away today bc I blame him.

 

[humphreyhh]

When I add mine I imprisoned my shrimp in a breeding box just for the nem to settle down. But now I'm not worried about him because i only have haddoni carpet and she can get him if he gets too close"¦btw, your nem looks very stressed, don't change much in the tank unless something you are sure is too off the chart. For stressed nems, mostly all you can do is wait...

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[WatDatThing]

I don't know if it is too late, maybe you can lower your light 30 - 50%? I'm new to this, but I read that you need to lower your light intensity to let it acclimate. I have Viparspectra led, and my light has never been on 100%.

 

[worm5406]

Do a water change, yes.

 

[Offdutyninja1]

I think my BTA has finally settled in! I moved it up closer to the light, and although pretty ****ed about being moved off its rock, a week later the nem has really dug its foot into the coral skeleton. No gaping mouth again, the shrimp mostly steers clear of its new location, and here are a couple pics a few hours after eating some shrimp.

http://imgur.com/a/N4QpB

Thanks for the advice all!

 

[f3honda4me]

It looks like it bleached a lot since you first got it. :/ You really have to get your tank more stable, all that algae is not a good sign and the nem isn't going to like that environment.

 

[Offdutyninja1]

In terms of bleaching it is actually much darker than it was. When it bubbles like that it is hard to tell, but it is very dark brown from tentacle base to where it starts to bubble. http://imgur.com/a/ft8Ch

In terms of algae, that's just what grows and has always grown. If you have suggestions I'm open to them, but my understanding is that without a sump to grow a macro algae it becomes very difficult to completely eliminate a nuisance algae like this hair algae. Nitrates and phosphates are both a 0, I run GFO, and I yank this HA out almost every other day. It's deep in the coral crevices, and the pieces I can't rip out usually grow back over the next week.
Again, (my understanding, please correct) is it isn't a question of algae vs. no algae, but nuisance algae (HA) vs. more controllable algae (chaeto and the like). If I'm not growing a macro algae, can I expect to eliminate all nuisance algae?

In terms of stability I don't know what else I can do. Ph, Salinity, Nitrate, and Phosphate don't budge.

 

[worm5406]

What is your alkalinity and Mg?

 

[OrionN]

He looks OK. I would avoid feeding him until you know that he is healthy. Feeding sick anemone will cause more problem. They will do fine without feeding for a long time.

 

[humphreyhh]

He looks OK. I would avoid feeding him until you know that he is healthy. Feeding sick anemone will cause more problem. They will do fine without feeding for a long time.

I agree. I suggest to leave it alone for now.

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