RBTA splitting?

[firewill65]

3 days ago my RBTA got too close to a nano powerhead I had in my smaller tank and I immediately unplugged it. It did suffer a tiny slice near it's foot but has looked and acted fine.

Today I come home and find it doing all kinds of wierd things like maximum inflation then deflation...at first I thought it was just moving somewhere but doesn't seem to be the case.

Could the injury have caused it to want to split? I can't even see the tiny slice anymore...kind of like it's healed already. Anyhow, if this does split...does this mean one half will survive and the other is going to die?

Any advice would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks!

 

[tallreefguy]

It could have triggered it to split. Damaging the anemone would have induced stress, which is a reason for BTA's to split. The rest of your tanks' parameters are good, I assume? Temp, nitrates?

The last time my RBTA split, it didn't move around too much, maybe a little bit, but it looks sad (deflated & small) for 1-2 days. Make sure you don't see its insides coming back out.

My guess is that its not dying, because if it was it would have shown after the incident, but I'm no expert. Both halves should survive. But keep the powerhead off! They'll usually wander after it splits. I've never seen a BTA split and then both halves stay close.

 

[demonnite57]

Cover up the powerhead with some mesh or something of some sort that won't restrict the flow but will restrict the RBTA's from getting sucked inside. Basically with the RBTA splitting it's cloning itself, and both RBTA's should survive. As tallreefguy said, the stress from the cut would have caused it to stress out and possibly split. My RBTA's when they split don't look deflated, but they do shrink a little bit and then start the splitting process.

Also as said above, all your parameters are good, etc.?

 

[firewill65]

Thanks all, must have been a false alarm. Today it was in a different location attached to a rock. I guess all that inflating was it's way of trying to move around the tank. I've seen it move before but it was never this drastic. I gave it a tiny piece of silverside tonight and it appears to have eaten it. I guess I got lucky...the power head is tiny, used for a nano tank