Unhappy GBTA, help needed

[natan]

Hey all,
After a long absence here, I am back. Unfortunately, it's not rely good news. Somehow, I just can't keep the GBTA alive, and would love to find the reason and fix it. The story: used to keep purple tip, grew huge and was sold. Got bleached BTA-went in to hiding under rock, than I pulled it out. Appeared relatively ok (still badly bleached), ate for a while (fed every other day) but died in 2 months got another one, DOA (nothing to do with me). No nems in the tank for 2 years. Meanwhile got P and NO3 to near zero, shrooms and sinularia grow like mad. The tank is 6 years old.Do have an issue with alk, which tends to drop. Add reef builder (carbonate alk) for that. 2 fish in the tank: an oscelaris (not hosting yet, but i know it will in a day or 2) and a small Paracanthurus hepatus. That's it. Got another GBTA, which looked good, only slightly bleached and apparently ate in the LFS. Placed it on the rock near a crevice where the purple tip used to live. It crawled in to the crevice and that it. It is obviously way too dark in there for it, so I wonder how to entice it to open up. I realize I do not have essential understanding of its microhabitat requirements:headwally:. Does it want the crevice for its foot large or small, just ig enough for the foot 2 fit and touching the walls? How much light? Got 4 T5 24W each, new, but in the LFS the thing was in full shade on the tank floor, firmly attached and looking OK. Right now it sits in that crevice with only a tiny bit of it pepping out to get enough light. Tried to feed, it lets the food go. Please guide me, as what needs to be watched, and done. I would hate to lose another nem, especially one that good looking! I am not a serial nem killer yet, and would hate to become one.

 

[Rippinfrags]

Don't try and move it, just leave it alone. Your lights should be fine, or else I do not think it would be hiding. Make sure it has plenty of flow and don't worry about feeding it, unless it continues to bleach. Maintain your water quality, if your having alk problems your probably having problems with your other water parameters as well. Can you provide us with your water parameters? And Tank size?

 

[natan]

200L
P~0
NO3~0
pH- 8.3-8.4 (constant, algae scrubber runing 24/7)
Alk is hard to tell with my tes, but probably about 1, not stable. trying to bring it up (any help with how to do it?)
Not trying to pull it, but beleave i need to create conditions for it to come out. It feels to me like something particular is wron or missing. may be its just shock from the transfer, but all the same it can kill if its side effects are not controlled, and right now i feel not in controll at all. The thing is that when lites went off, it did inflate a bit. It looks like it is repelled by the lights.

 

[cet98]

first off, do not touch the GBTA...please leave it be

as with the introduction to any new environment, your GBTA will need some time to acclimate itself to it's new surroundings. It may stay "hidden" for days or weeks until it feels comfortable with either coming out or completely moving to another area of your tank....occasionally "popping" out from time to time
do not direct any flow directly on the nem as this will only irritate and stress the nem even more.
a good moderate, indirect flow will suffice until it finds it's "happy place" in your aquarium

secondly, please supply a bit more info regarding your parameters please...ie: SG, photoperiod and temp
also, is your Alk reading 1 dkh?...if so, that is VERY low and should be raised slowly, likely best by doing moderate sized WCs every couple of days IMO

how did you acclimate the nem when you first introduced it to your tank?

thirdly, can you post some pix of your GBTA please? I'd luv to see its condition as perhaps be better suited to offer anymore advise

all the best

 

[natan]

Doing WCs 10% every other day is a bright idea, which i coexcidentally started a day before i got the nem. Will keep doing it:thumbsup:. The nem was temperature adgusted by floating a bag in a tank for 10 minutes, than drip aclimated for an hour. The temp is 26 +0.5C (the tank has a chiller). The photoperiod is 14L:10D. Tried to feed this morning, no feeding responce whatsowever. It sticks to the tenticles, than drops as soon as i turn on the flow 20 min later.

 

[nemoboy1]

You don't have much luck when it comes to nem... It's under sa lot of stress regardless on how you acclimate it... Leave it alone and keep an eye on it... I wouldn't feed it too soon until he finds it's happy place. Good luck

 

[natan]

Well, that was yesterday. Today it looks like it is considering to stick arround for awile. About 1/4 to may be 1/3 out, inflates and deflates from time to time, moving arround. As to the sweet spot, it is more or less where it is right now, at least that is where the previous seba used to stay. The WC triggered a snail spawning event, so everything in the tank ate like mad, hopefully the nem got some of it too.

 

[natan]

And here is a pic from right now:

 

[nemoboy1]

That's great news... Keep us posted.

 

[natan]

Well, it's a new day. After 3 daily 10% WCs, today it ate like a champ. Interestingly, tried to feed in the morning and nothing happened, but in the afternoon it ate. Was able to get food close to its mouth though this time, as the oral disk finally opened. Alk is now closer to normal (~2). I may be heading in the right direction this time, thinking of bringing home the quite baby sunburst :bounce3:I left behind The master plan is to have a nem wall, which in my case likely means 2 grown BTAs.