why my bta get smaller?
- Thread starter beautycoral
- Start date
CLeadfootS
Coral Addict
Could be pooping. Give it a little time and see if it goes back to normal.
artkwan
New member
How would one know, if it was, well.., pooping? Are there characteristics to look for, say the tentacles change shape, inversion, extroversion? I'm curious as well.
Thanks,
Art
Dapg8gt
New member
Could be a host of things. Change in water quality or light being a major one. Bubbles are pretty much finicky to change in my experience. I have had them split just after bulb swaps or when I have changed parameters too quickily (adding too much kalk too fast). Could be on its way to splitting.. Also could be getting stung by something close to it.
That being said it could be absolutely nothing and in a few days it resumes it's normal size like nothing ever happened.. Just make sure your water is good and stable and it should be fine. I had a bubble breeding tank for about 4 years and with about 12-15 bubbles in it some says one or two would be shriveled up just to be normal the next day. Have you recently given it a large feeding? I noticed after I initially would feed something large ( silverside) they would puff up huge, then a few days later deflate and excrete the brown stringy stuff( maybe pooping as per the other poster)..
As long as your water is normal no spikes in nitrates or p04 and your other parameters are as usual I wouldn't worry about it at all and just wait it out. If its retaining it's color and not on the move it looks and seems happy to me. Look for the obvious like sweepers from other corals or shrimp, crabs or fish messing with it. My clowns would spawn and beat up my rose so much they would cause it to move around the tank leading me to removing it and unintentionally starting a whole other nem tank for years. That is now my frag/recovery tank.. Good luck
That being said it could be absolutely nothing and in a few days it resumes it's normal size like nothing ever happened.. Just make sure your water is good and stable and it should be fine. I had a bubble breeding tank for about 4 years and with about 12-15 bubbles in it some says one or two would be shriveled up just to be normal the next day. Have you recently given it a large feeding? I noticed after I initially would feed something large ( silverside) they would puff up huge, then a few days later deflate and excrete the brown stringy stuff( maybe pooping as per the other poster)..
As long as your water is normal no spikes in nitrates or p04 and your other parameters are as usual I wouldn't worry about it at all and just wait it out. If its retaining it's color and not on the move it looks and seems happy to me. Look for the obvious like sweepers from other corals or shrimp, crabs or fish messing with it. My clowns would spawn and beat up my rose so much they would cause it to move around the tank leading me to removing it and unintentionally starting a whole other nem tank for years. That is now my frag/recovery tank.. Good luck
artkwan
New member
Interesting... Thanks for the feedback. I've got two nems. A green BTA and a rose. They have been growing at a fair clip, yet, the bubbles disappeared within a month of owning them, which is why I was stumped.
Good parameters with no spikes, p04 at .02 - .03, Nitrates at near zero. Actually thinking about bringing my nitrates up a bit, but that is another story, based on a very long thread I saw here on the RC SPS forum.
I feed a blend of scallops, shrimp, oysters, and mussels in a frozen paste that I break off in chunks and feed with plastic tongs.
Lighting is via MH and T5's
Dapg8gt
New member
^^ the bubbles disappearing is one of those things I don't think anyone has really figured out. I have in the past gotten roses that had no bubbles only to go in my tank and develop bubbles at the tip. And also sold nems that were bubbled and after a while lost the bubbles. I have no idea why they do that. The research I have read really doesn't have any decisive info on why either. I have never had the issue so I can't say one thing or the other caused it.
I kinda miss having the nem only tank but I did keep a rainbow rose that I have sanctioned to a acrylic box that is doing great. It was a split from a Rainbow I sold a year or so ago and it seems to stay on the smaller side 3-4" and has already split once. It's clone is in a friends nano now doing great but It too lost majority of its bubbles. Still has a few smaller ones but it's nothing like mine. Only difference in the two tanks is my LEDs are way brighter than his. He even started the nano with rock and water from my frag tank. And I actually sell him my fresh salt water that I use on both my tanks. It's one of those weird things.
I kinda miss having the nem only tank but I did keep a rainbow rose that I have sanctioned to a acrylic box that is doing great. It was a split from a Rainbow I sold a year or so ago and it seems to stay on the smaller side 3-4" and has already split once. It's clone is in a friends nano now doing great but It too lost majority of its bubbles. Still has a few smaller ones but it's nothing like mine. Only difference in the two tanks is my LEDs are way brighter than his. He even started the nano with rock and water from my frag tank. And I actually sell him my fresh salt water that I use on both my tanks. It's one of those weird things.
grcforce327
New member
:jester:
