Sick BTA?

[surfnsun]

Good afternoon,

It's my first day on the forum, but I'm hoping to get more involved. I have kept a fish only tank until recently when I got my CAD lights 39g signature and am getting into reef keeping.

Long story short I recently got a green BTA from the LFS for a steal $12! It was so cheap because it didn't look that great and I'm wondering how or if there's anything I should or should not be doing to get it back up to its full potential? Attached are some photos I took that should explain better than I can on this keyboard. Thanks in advance!

 

[xrayjeeper83]

I think you need to get that bta into QT and cipro ASAP

 

[surfnsun]

Cipro as in a medicine? Where could I find that? Do you know exactly what that is? Any other suggestions

 

[xrayjeeper83]

Cipro is an antibotic that some have had luck finding on ebay.

My guess from what you put is that your tank is new, and the BTA is stressing out. Nems need a tank that is about 6 months old for the stability. A new tank isnt the best for a nem.

Read the sticky at the top of this section on how to treat with cipro

 

[sjwitt]

You can get Cipro in the form of Fish Flox at most LFS. If you treat you need to set up a Quarantine Tank and not treat in the main tank.

It's hard to tell from your introduction as to how old the tank is. You say you've been keeping fish only and are now getting into reef. How long has your tank been set up? What are your parameters?

 

[thabizness]

Would you normally treat a BTA with Cipro? I hear about treating other nems but never a BTA with it. I am wondering because I seem to have bad luck with GBTAs but RBTAs thrive in my tank. I really want a GBTA and thinking maybe I should preemptively treat with Cipro to increase my chances.

 

[sjwitt]

I don't see any reason why you couldn't. I think the advice is not to treat if the anemone looks good. BTAs are a little different in that they will inflate and deflate without it meaning they're sick. Gigs and Mags apparently do not regularly deflate. The gaping mouth is usually a give away except with BTAs, mine have done this without it meaning 'certain death.' Maybe that's because BTAs are a little more hearty, who knows. I would set up a treatment tank for any anemone purchase and put the animal in quarantine for a period of time before introduction into the main Display. In that time, if the animal looks bad then I'd do the Cipro treatment as outlined in the sticky at the top of the forum list.