RBTA 6 days in tank, dying? (pics)

[SaltyWenStirred]

Tank is 10 months old. Added a silver dollar sized (maybe a little bigger) RTBA 6 days ago.

I have a Nuvo tank with LED's. The RBTA came already attached to a small rock. I put the rock on the substrate so the lights wouldn't shock it. It was doing okay I suppose for the first 3 days. It's tentacles were out, but not huge. Then a couple of days ago, I found the foot still attached but the rest was drooped over into the sand.

I moved the rock up higher, thinking it needed more light. It climbed off the smaller rock. I laid a thin napkin on top of the tank and gave it a little bit of shade. Then the mouth turned white and got huge. I pulled the napkin off and it moved over to toward the side of the rock as it is now.

I fed it the day after I got it, live brine shrimp. I know now that's a bad option. Still not sure what to do with the thousands of Sea Monkeys my kids and I have brought back to life since they have zero nutritional value.

The more I read, the more confused I am getting. Some folks say to yank it because it could foul the tank. Others say to let the nem get used to its surroundings and this is normal. It doesn't look as bad now as it did earlier today.

Any ideas? Take it out? Leave it?

Also, I have done 3 15% water changes in the past few days.

Parameters:

Sal: 1.025
Temp: 79
pH: 7.8
Amm: 0
Nit: 0
Nitrate: 10
Calcium: 500
Alk: 10
Phos: .25

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[Anemone]

LED lighting is pretty intense. What lighting was it under when you purchased it? How much LED lighting do you currently have (and what size tank)? Is your LED lighting dimmable?

Kevin

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

92W LED. I keep the day lights on for 6-7 hours a day, dusk/dawn light for a total of 6 hours and moonlight for 12 hours.

The nem was tank raised and I got it from my LFS. Not sure what lights they had.

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

And it's on the move again, lifting its foot and about to go south.

 

[Anemone]

Your lighting is probably too intense.

Kevin

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

Thanks for that. Think it's dead? Time to yank it out?

 

[Anemone]

When dealing with a BTA (or RBTA), it's not dead til it begins to fall apart.

Kevin

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

It went into a cave, deep in the back and is really small now.

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

And it left one tentacle where it was perched last night.

 

[sjwitt]

Leave it alone. It's acclimating. It will move where it feels safe and then it will stretch out of that safe "hole" to where it can get enough light and catch food. It looks like it's a beautiful color from the pictures. I've had mine for a couple of years (four of them that are each dinner plate size) and they will shrink down to a flat blob at times. I freaked out when it first happened and was sure it was over but after a little while, it plumped back up. Just think of it as an "internal" water change.

 

[tatuaje08]

Leave it alone. It's acclimating. It will move where it feels safe and then it will stretch out of that safe "hole" to where it can get enough light and catch food. It looks like it's a beautiful color from the pictures. I've had mine for a couple of years (four of them that are each dinner plate size) and they will shrink down to a flat blob at times. I freaked out when it first happened and was sure it was over but after a little while, it plumped back up. Just think of it as an "internal" water change.

+1

Doesn't look like its dying, just looks stressed.