New RBTA - not looking very good

[BongoSolo3]

I posted this in the newbie forum and haven't got much response, perhaps it fits better here...

Got this off guy off off a local reefer - it looked great in his tank and good for the first week. Second week, started going downhill...

Params are:
Salinity 1.026
Nit, Nat and Ammon all 0.
pH 8.2.

The temp has recently dropped to 72 - I just realized last night that one of my heaters broke. I replaced it and I'm creeping back up to 78. Do you think the temp is what caused this?

Any other ideas?

It's pretty small, so I don't feed it silversides or anything like that just yet. I was told I should just continue to feed with phytoplankton until it gets larger.

 

[hogben]

I don't know about the phytoplankton, do you mean mysis? BTAs usually go for the meaty foods, and all you have to do is give smaller pieces to smaller anemones.

This one needs some care and could probably use more food. Turn the pumps off if it having a hard time eating. You can put some mysis near its mouth and make sure it eats it before running the pumps again.

 

[garygb]

The params you list are all fine. The temp. would be better at 78-82. However, 72 isn't going to harm a BTA. Feed small pieces of squid, silverside, table shrimp, etc. a few times a week--assuming it eats it. If it's refusing to eat, try a small piece of fresh food daily until it begins to eat.

 

[mn jeff]

Do you have a picture of what it looked like when you got it?

 

[mstng67]

It could definitely use more feeding. I second target feeding it Mysis.

 

[Toddrtrex]

As I mentioned/asked in your other thread...

What did it look like when you first received it? The sparse and stubby tentacles give the impression that it is in the process of eating itself for energy.

 

[mstng67]

The sparse and stubby tentacles give the impression that it is in the process of eating itself for energy.

Listen to Todd, this is exactly what it looks like!

 

[BongoSolo3]

Thanks everyone.

Todd - it did look pretty sparse when I got it. I'm going to get some meaty food for it ASAP...

The guy that I got it from told me that he only feeds phytoplankton when it's this small, so that is what I did. LFS guys told me the same thing - that it was too small for meaty foods and it would require too much energy to consume them.

It sounds like they were dead wrong.

 

[BongoSolo3]

I bought some mysis and fed that to the BTA - it ate it right up. This morning I went down there it was wide open.

I feel pretty stupid - basically, by going with the advice of LFS and the guy I bought it from, I was just starving the poor thing.


Next question - how often should I feed it mysis to nurse it back to health?

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

Mine looks the same way! I got it yesterday and just target fed mysis and dosed 1 tsp of phytoplankton.