RBTA Help ASAP

[mikejones]

I got and rose bubble tentacle anemone the size of a golfball yesterday in the afternoon around 6:30 pm as a trade and just aclimated it to the water temp in my tank it took about 10 mins. and then put it in the tank I looked ok it opened nice then at 9 pm I turned the lights off and it stared to move it didn't go to far about 6 inches. Today I got from work about 5 pm it looks different and was wondering if anyone could tell me what to do to save it cuz I dont want it to die cuz I really like my rbta. I post some pics to help understand my problem the first pic is from yesterday and the next ones are from today.

mike

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[FOSELONE]

hell be okay...give em some time...

 

[mikejones]

I just checked on it and it looks worst

 

[thegheco]

Did you say you only acclimated it for 10 minutes?
If so , that is the problem, it is not used to the water chemistry of your tank, just the temp, and I doubt that also.
It needed to be drip acclimated for it to get used to the water and the temp.

 

[fishybusiness]

I wouldn't be to worried. Anemones regularly expand and contranct to circulate the water within their bodies. It shouldn't last for hours on end though. Just make sure all levels like nitrate, alkalinity and salinity are in check.

 

[NYIntensity]

You've gone all-in now...but give it time. My BTA didn't purge itself (that I saw) for a few days after I bought it. When it did, it looked as sickly as yours. I understand your concern...as soon as you see it fill back up, I'd suggest feeding it. BTA's don't "up and die" from my understanding, they'll lose color and shrink before expelling. If it starts to do that though, I'd bite the bullet and remove it from the tank.

 

[garygb]

What are your water parameters? Lighting? How long has the tank been established?

 

[mikejones]

ph 8.0-8.2, nitrite 0ppm, ammonia 0ppm, nitrate 20ppm, cal 450, phos .2ppm 250w MH tomorrow Ill be getting 2 helios and gonna chage them the tank has been established since 10/06, Is it common for the anemone to have some tentacles looking ok and the rest don't?

 

[Racing1]

The high nitrates could be the problem. They like pristine water conditions.....

 

[garygb]

With water changes using a good balanced salt brand (such as ReefCrystals) should get you ph up a little--8.3-8.4 would be nice. Also, the water changes would help a little with he nitrates; however, you're going to need to do something more to keep the nitrates down--heavy skimming helps, deeps sand bed or remote deep sand bed, feeding your livestock sparingly and good water flow all help. The nitrates and the ph could explain your anemone not looking so great. Though an established anemone might tolerate it, a new one might not. You didn't mention your specific gravity, but if it isn't around 1.025, then slowly going to 1.025 or 1.026 would be a good idea.

 

[kar93]

You say you just acclimated to water temp and put him in the tank. You should drip acclimate ALWAYS

 

[timrandlerv10]

in my [limited] experience, 20ppm n'ates wont cause that type of reaction--he's just getting used to his surroundings. balancing water, chemistry, light, flow from his old world to his new world, and he'll be fine in a few days.

back to n'ates--ditto to everything gary said.

mine do well at 8.3 and 1.025 with 10-20 ppm nitrates.

correctify me if i'm wrong, but the farther away from 8.3 you get, the more impact other bad parameters will have on your livestock.

if you want more advice on how to handle that, give us more info on livestock, feeding habits, skimming, water changes. if not, just keep doing what you're doing with the nem--add a water change (heated water mixed overnight) in the next day or two and dont change the lights right away...

good luck, send pics!

tim

 

[Shewillbemine]

Eek, somebody who bought one of the more difficult organisms for reefkeeping and didn't even acclimate properly.

Good luck with your anemone and for it's sake, I hope it pulls through.

Please research your animals before you make future purchases.

 

[garygb]

Mike, there's a good chance your anemone will recover. You just want to provide it with as ideal of conditions as you can. BTA's are fairly tough customers and can rebound from some pretty traumatic mishaps. Do make sure your pump intakes are covered in case the anemone decides to go wandering around the tank.

 

[MIKE ALERS]

give it time it might be doing a water exchange.they all do when first added to a tank.

 

[mikejones]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11361346#post11361346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by garygb
With water changes using a good balanced salt brand (such as ReefCrystals) should get you ph up a little--8.3-8.4 would be nice. Also, the water changes would help a little with he nitrates; however, you're going to need to do something more to keep the nitrates down--heavy skimming helps, deeps sand bed or remote deep sand bed, feeding your livestock sparingly and good water flow all help. The nitrates and the ph could explain your anemone not looking so great. Though an established anemone might tolerate it, a new one might not. You didn't mention your specific gravity, but if it isn't around 1.025, then slowly going to 1.025 or 1.026 would be a good idea.

I use NSW when I do water changes, as for doing something with the nitrates to keep them down I put a softball of cheato in the tank to help out but it is all over the tank now as for the skimmer I have a ASM G Series Protein Skimmers (G1-X) as for the sand bed it is 2'' deep as for feeding my livestock i feed them @ 2pm twice and then again @ 6pm also twice, as for flow I only have the return line it is a Rio Hyper Flow Pump / Powerhead Rio 10 HF as for the gravity it is @ 1.026

if you want more advice on how to handle that, give us more info on livestock, feeding habits, skimming, water changes. if not, just keep doing what you're doing with the nem--add a water change (heated water mixed overnight) in the next day or two and dont change the lights right away...

Of coarse i want all the advice I can get. For livestock All I have is 1 clownfihs, 1 blue hippo and 1 ywg i feed them @ 2pm twice and then again @ 6pm also twice my skimmer is a ASM G Series Protein Skimmers (G1-X) water changes are every 2 weeks 5 gallons as for not changing the lights right away why I can't do that btw I dind't get the bulbs.

Do make sure your pump intakes are covered in case the anemone decides to go wandering around the tank

I only have the pump that the overflow box uses and its coverd
thanks

Eek, somebody who bought one of the more difficult organisms for reefkeeping and didn't even acclimate properly

I know I know but Im gonna learn from this.

mike

 

[350nine]

My RBTA will look like yours when it's getting ready to poop. Then when it's done taking care of business it'll open back up. It'll do this about every other day.

 

[timrandlerv10]

how's he look today?

lights--some nems react poorly to a large increase in light--lets say it was shipped in a box, or held at an lfs with bad lights, or you just got new bulbs or a new light.

one stressor at a time!

i think he's still balancing water parameters inside and out. not that you should, but if you ever wonder if he's dead, dead nems (and snails) stink.

i think you are currently doing many things right

longer term, you may want to increase your sump so that you can put your cheato down there with an off-cycle light (it runs at night while main lights are off). this will help keep the ph a little more stable as well as work on consuming nitrates and phosphates.

 

[mikejones]

He doesn't look ok and I think it is dead cuz it stinks and looks like it is dissolving. I have a diy 20L sump I bought it out of a local fellow reefer and it only has 2 baffles, 1 for the drain line 1 for live rubble rock and the then is my skimmer and then my return line so I have no more room for the cheato to be put in plus the sump takes all the space in mystand.

 

[garygb]

Sorry to hear that it died. If it is dissolving, of course you want to get it out of the system quickly. I'm sure you have learned a lot from this bad experience, most of us have had something die at one time or the other either because of lack of knowledge or because of an animal that wasn't in good shape to begin with, or both.