Why did my RBTA die

M

Marchillo

New member
ive been reluctant to try any corals or anything non-fish but took the dive and failed at the expense of a poor RBTA.

I'll try to give all info.

40g w hob refugium - cheato

Skimmer and canister filter cleaned weekly 40# live rock 60# sand

Tank been running since November. Moved everyone over to a bigger tank and got two GS maroons who have been in for 6 weeks. But as stated all rock etc for almost a year.

Been dosing a couple weeks. Parameters are 1.025 sg (same as the source of the RBTA), alk between 8-8.5, calcium 410-420, mag 1335-1400. No ammonia, nitrite, or noticeable nitrates and I tested those yesterday.

I guess acclimation could have been an issue. I floated for 15 temps were exact. I read a lot of differing opinions between throwing it right in the tank to drip acclimation. I poured a fair amount of water in after temp acclimation. Then 10 minutes later put in more which double the water and 5 minutes later I put him in.

He attached were I put him and moved slightly about an hour later. Lights for

were full go just like the seller. He was only in tank for 2 hours before 4 hours of moonlights came on. I woke up at around 1:30 am and checked him. He hadn't moved and looked great. My mp10 he is closest to was on night mode - 20%. Went and checked on him this morning about 20 minutes ago and it was shriveled up dead on the sand bed and skimmer cup was full of waste. I assume he spent about 75 minutes in the bag total. Seller packing him, driving to meet me, and then my acclimation.

Ok so couple questions - what did I possibly do wrong

Will my clownfish be ok. It's hard to tell if they are impacted his they are sleeping at the bottom of the tank and appear ok. I added a little prime in case there is ammonia issues. I have an ammonia badge and it's still yellow.

Only other thing is I manually dose alk, calcium, and mag. Last night at 8 - when he was 2 hours in I did my dosing. 5 ml of alk, and calcium and 20 ml of mag. It's not slow as I pour it in. Though I try to pour it in slow.

Id like to try again. I'm not in a rush and the combination of money and killing creatures does not make me happy. More the latter.

Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Also I use RODI water. Between my two tanks I have 7 fish and have not lost a single fish in the year I've been in the hobby.


Thanks - Steve
 
Or did I flush him and he wasn't dead? I thought he was dead bc at 1:30 he was great and 5 hours later he was shriveled on the sandbed and the skimmer cup was full. I emptied it yesterday. Did I panic. I just feel terrible. I was afraid I was gonna hurt my tank leaving it until 8 pm tonight.
 
Shriveled up doesn't mean dead for a BTA. Do you still have it? It was probably just deflating all of the water out of it. They do this from time to time, especially when placed in a new tank. This can happen several times over a few days even.
 
Sorry to say that yes you did panic and acted way to hastily. It's always better to ask here first before doing anything drastic.
 
It was a timing thing. I am on the road. When I picked it up it didn't move. I was afraid to poison my tank. I've read stories but I think I panicked. I'm upset now. I am not happy with myself. Ugh
 
I'm sick to my stomach over this. No one is harder on me than me. I take pride in doing as much research and not killing things. I haven't had a fish die and been at it for s year 7/7. Makes me not want to try another RBTA or any other corals.
 
I'm sure you are upset but there is no sense in beating yourself up over it. By all means go get another anemone. It's the proverbial falling off the horse thing.

Make sure you get a healthy one from the start, one with good color and looks healthy. Remember that BTA's don't always bubble so that isn't an indication of a healthy one or not. Good color and overall good appearance along with a tight closed mouth are signs of a healthy BTA.

FYI when one dies they appear to melt like snot jelly and they smell to high heavens.

Remember we all learn the best when we learn from our mistakes. Also the biggest mistake in this hobby is doing things too fast, making decisions too fast fits right in there.

So go find a new BTA and make sure it's a healthy specimen with good color. Same with corals make sure your parameters are good for the species you are wanting to put in your tank. Good starting ones are any leathers and for LPS get hammers, frogspawn or torch all species of Euphyllia. Duncan coral is also a good beginner coral. The most important thing to remember for everything in your tank is stability!
 
It looked healthy with great color. It attached, moved an hour later and stayed put for the next5 hours. Flowing great with lights off and mp10 on night mode. Then at 6:30 a full skimmer cup and it was in the corner shriveled in the corner looking bad. Bad planning on my part. I should have gotten it on a day Id be home the next day so wouldn't have to make I quick uninformed decision.

Let's say it was dead and I left it for the day. If I added a cup of prime to control ammonia would I be ok for the day? I was nervous reading stories of tanks nuking.
 
Can you also comment on my parameters and acclimating if I do try again? The acclimating was a cross between dripping for hours or throwing right in. I usually don't drop anything. I usually pour some water in. In this case I did two rounds of pouring. I know there is more than just sg and temp but those matched exactly.
 
Yes it was shriveled, lights were off. I wasn't as concerned about that as being in the corner of the sand bed and the skimmer cup full of waste. The skimmer has been a little more sporadic with dosing but it was full in less than 12 hours and there was some slimy stuff in there.

I'm not trying to argue he was definitely dead. But the reasons I panicked. Also if I made any other mistakes Id like to know before I try again in case he was dead.
 
He was fully attached right away and moved slightly. Probably to get out of direct flow. 2 hours full light, 4 hours moon light, 1.5 hours no light and still looking fantastic (1:30 am) and when I checked at 6:30 it didn't look good at all. In the corner looking shriveled and almost deflated in a heap. And I picked him up and no movement. I should have tried the lights? Would it react immediately?
 
Id like to learn from this stupidity. I kept this tank to have maroons and a BTA and nothing else. So other advice is also welcomed.
 
You should see mine when it shrivels up. It can go to the size of a quarter from being a little smaller than a cd. When the lights turn on, it usually opens up fully in about 15 mins. If it was dead, you would see it melting away with the flow and it would smell.
 
They react pretty quickly to lights most of the time. But what you have to understand especially about a BTA is they will make you think they are dying even when they poop. They shrivel up to almost nothing fairly often, most of the time it happens at night. Your anemone coming unattached doesn't concern me at all since it was only in your tank for a few hours. They move either by walking or letting loose and going with the flow to wherever they end up.
 
Great thanks for the advice. Sounds like I was doing ok until this morning. I've been checking params twice a day for a few weeks to get my dosing perfect and felt everything was ready to go. It's been established for a year and waited purposely not to rush it.

So just to clarify. If it had died (which I now don't believe happened) and I left it for 14 hours what is the risk? I put prime in anyway to neutralize toxic ammonia - which I thought might happen.
 
I've got to ask what is all in your tank in order for you to have to dose anything? I've got several LPS and softies and my water changes take care of anything that I would have to dose.
 
I have low levels. Might be the salt I have. When I use it up I'll change it out.

Inexperience and the fact I wasn't gonna be home today were the biggest issues. My dosing regime has kept things stable.
 
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