green BTA moves at night

[reefguy210]

only at night. during the day, it stays in the place i find it in when i wake up the tank. once the lights go out, ill usually wake up and itll be in a different place. it has no problem anchoring, its bubbled out as much as it can be, doesnt look stressed. should i worry?

water tests come back good, the nitrate level is barely detectable. by that, i mean if you hold the water up to the light, you barely see a pink hue in it.

today is water change day, so im hoping itll bring that back down to 0.

if you need more info, please ask.

[apedroza]

I would definitely worry if you have strong powerheads. I lost mine the same way a few weeks back. It would do the exact same thing and move at night. They usually move by stretching themselves to a new spot, but if they detach, they can float away and get sucked up by powerheads, so watch out.

[erick]

Apedroza is right on the money!! Your BTA could become trapped in a powerhead and then its goodbye, and probably goodbye to the rest of your livestock if he kicks the bucket in your tank. If he is mobile, I would make sure all of your intakes have some sort of sponge filter on them to reduce the risk of sucking him up. Also, keep an eye out for where he is moving to, he might be looking for a better spot. I have a bta, and he moved around for 2-3 weeks before settling down. I put a small plastic bucket on top of my clams at night to protect them, you could do this for corals too.

[reefguy210]

its just stayin on the rock, and as apedroza said, its 'stretching' and moving to a different location. i have a single mj600 on my 30 which provides enough flow. the canister filter im using provides just as much flow as the mj. my gsp's and galaxia love it.

i do have sponge filters on both, but that was before i got the bta and never took em off.

[apedroza]

Yeah they like to move until they find a comfortable spot. I have a lot more flow now than before and I think it just got swept away when moving. Good luck!!

[reefguy210]

well, somehow, he still managed to get stuck to the filter floss on my canister filter. woke up to a tank thatlooked like the sand bed had been stirred up a little bit. 50% water change so far, another 50% change in 12 hours. i hope my few softies dont die over this, i have a few choice pieces i dont want dead :(

[erick]

Ohhh, So sorry! Keep up with those water changes, or you'll loose everything! Anemones that die in the tank can destroy everything...

[reefguy210]

2 water changes done. all leves are still normal. the nitrates are a tiny bit higher, but i believe one more water change tomorrow should level everything out.