RBTA Help

[MarkLW]

We just got home and our RBTA looks not so good (Small with tentacles all small). We checked our Kh and it went way down to think she said 10. Are we off to the store for a new one? Granting we get the tank back to the proper setting that is?

:(

[BA]

not for a while......get evrything good,then wait...make sure everything is stablized, find out, and understand what caused the drop, and figure out what you did wrong, so it doesn't ahppen again

[MarkLW]

is there a possiblity it can be saved? it still has a good color, just all scriveled up, one bulb looks alright and the clown is all over it?

[BA]

hey! i have heard of btas coming back from being sucked into powerheads,anything is possible

[MarkLW]

I really hope so, cause this morning it looked great, were shocked when we came home. put some superbuffer in it for the kh and also this stuff called liquid reactor all by kent... trying to be safe about it cause have a ocellaris clown also and looks like the ph also dropped to below 8 due to the kh drop... working hard to get it back, guess just have to wait and see... I am wondering though, since we are still new at this... is it harder to maintain ph/kh in a 10 gallon tank?? will it be so difficult when i get my 120 up and running??

[BA]

well as long as you have a well established tank, i think the PH pretty much stays the same, i have a 110reef tank, and NEVER add Ph buffer in any way, and it's always around 8.3,i don't know how the size of the tank would play in, maybe others can answer, i do know smaller tanks are harder to manage, b/c it's so small that if anything happens, it's ALL over the tank and hitting hard, just a Q, what kinda lights do you have???

[MarkLW]

think they are power compact, 80 watts for the 10... still waiting on the geissemann i ordered for the 120 gallon, been over 2 months!.. once i get that and figure out how to build the sump with my 30 gallon tank i should be good to go... was also wondering if i have a sump and protein skimmer; we shouldnt need a refug?

[BA]

well 8 watts per gallon isn't too bad, for a rbta

[MarkLW]

he ate fine the day before yesterday and looked great this morning.. came home and it was scriveled up with all teh tenticles looking deflated... now some of the tenticles are filling up slightly with water or whatever again.. stuffed some krill in the center.. not taking it yet but hope he will soon!! hes to pretty to die

[MarkLW]

kh is back to 12 so now can only hope and wait, thanks guys for the help:)

[RobertG]

Anemones do this, they shrivel all up & expell the water to take on new. I would'nt be worried just yet. The lighting is also a concern for me. You could really use more. If it has been fine & just did this I think it will be fine. Unless you see tissue floating around it, then it might be on the way out.
The KH is not an issue, at least I would'nt think. Mine is at 12.2 w/ salifert test. Need to do a water change though. 10-11 is normal for me.

HTH

[MarkLW]

Man glad we didnt give up;)) He is back and looks good.. Never knew they do that to fill up with new h20, thanks for the info:) How

[GaryP]

Anemones do a "water change." That's basically how they expel waste. Its not unusual at all. They will also do that if they are getting ready to split.

Gary

[MarkLW]

We will do a water change tonight. I am attaching a few pictures of what the tank looks like this morning. I want to do a 2G water change. Is this 2 much, not enouph or just right from what you see that we have in the tank?

In the second picture you see a close-up with the RB in the background with the fish, does anyone know what that stringy stuff is and what if anything can we do to control it or even better stop it?

We would like to thank everyone for your help in saving our RB...hopefully we will not lose it and we have learned at bit more from all this. Think we will test our water more often and study up on habits of our inhabitance.