New RBTA killed by Plate Coral

cmart28

New member
I added a RBTA to my tank on Sunday; he was around 5 - 6 inches. I drip acclimated it and put a small piece of rock in the bucket that he quickly attached to. After I added it to the tank it moved a little, to an area of less light and less flow, it stayed there for over an hour. I then left my house and came back fours hours later. My house smelled awful and I noticed my tank was cloudy. I look in the tank and can’t find the RBTA. I am thinking it crawled out of the tank, but I couldn’t find it. My night lights were on in my tank and with the cloudiness you could not really see anything, so I turn all my lights on and notice small pieces of the RBTA on my long tentacle plate coral and throughout the tank, my plate coral was also covered in slime. There was no sign on the RBTA, only a few small pieces, the entire RBTA was gone. I am guessing it moved again and was stung by the plate coral, but I have no idea where the rest of the RBTA is. I can’t imagine the plate coral eating the entire RBTA in that short amount of time and it was too big for the snails and the hermits to consume. There is not any place in my tank that you can’t see, the entire RBTA was gone. I tested the ammonia and it was zero, I did a 15% water change yesterday and tested all my levels and everything is perfect. Nothing else was harmed and my plate is still alive. Anyone ever experience or hear of anything like this before. I am still in shock. I would eventually like to get another RBTA, but I am going to try and sell the plate coral first.
 
Powerhead Plates will die from an anem sting, not the other way around. Your BTA walked itself right into a powerhead and got sucked through, piece by piece. Sorry for the loss.

Do more water changes...
 
At first I thought that was the cause and I also knew that the Plate would die from the RBTA sting, but I checked all powerheads and I did not see any signs of the RBTA, but that makes sense because of the small pieces, I just can't believe the RBTA could fit into the powerhead. How many more water changes should I do?
 
BTA's are 70% +/- water, then can look very large and yet be squeezed/sucked through many things... :(

protect your nem's in the future by applying some needlework (available at arts and crafts stores) around the intake!
 
I'd say definitely until you can't see any cloudiness left. Maybe a 10% water change every day for a week. You could do 20% every other day for a week, also. This should definitely clear it.

Then again, that might be more than you need. it is very much up to you. Tank size, BTA size, tank hardiness, etc. are all factors in this decision. Don't take my words as gospel, really just what I would do.
 
I am waiting to get my Tunze 6055s, is there anything I can apply to them to prevent this in the future?
 
the nano streams are tough, they are rounded, so I'm not sure how you'd apply the guards... needlework might be able to be applied with some success... i haven't tried it.
 
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