BTA Problems?

[soldier0117]

I've had a BTA for few days now and it can never seem to plant its foot right, it falls off of everything including glass and rocks, and then is always upside down. Then one day it got very shriveled up. I have a condi and it gets small sometimes but never this dead looking For a little while I thought it was dead. It is supposed to be a green bubble but it is more red. I'm thinking about trading it in for a good looking ritteri because I figure it couldn't do any worse than this guy is, and my ocellaris clown will host that. So what do you guys think?

 

[scsinet]

Unless a BTA literally starts to disintegrate into little bits, then I would not assume it to be dead. I untangled one from a powerhead impeller once and it recovered fully. As long as your water quality is good enough, your light and flow sufficient, then they can recover from pretty much anything.
That said, it sounds like the foot may be damaged. It is often the cause of ... frankly... ignorant staff at the store who tear them off the rocks or whatever they are attached to. Sadly, foot damage is difficult to recover from as the anemone can't feed properly without it. You might try wedging it into a couple rocks or into a crack.
On the other hand, it may be that he just has not found a spot where he is happy. You might try giving him a bit more time.

 

[soldier0117]

Actually the guy at my lfs is very experienced and I trust him. He and his wife are the only employees there. So it is easy to get to know him. He was careful about removing it. Maybe he hurt his foot in my tank doing something. I have tried to help him stick by pushing him (but not too hard) against the side of the tank. He stuck for a day and fell. He has come back to life somewhat, but is still not looking great. And he had fallen yet again. If his foot is hurt I'll talk to my lfs maybe about trading or helping him. After seeing this I think I just might be able to handle a ritteri, because like I said before I doubt he could do much worse. I wanted a ritteri but was scared away by their sensitivity. The same lfs told me that it is a risk with them because they are not that hardy. But he said if you look you can sometimes find one is stronger than usual.

 

[soldier0117]

I just found my anemone upside down AGAIN! I fliped him over and put him on a rock. But I noticed his mouth was wide open. It was closed a little bit since I put him on the rock but it is still open a good way. I'm worried because my condi has never done anything weird like this.

 

[soldier0117]

He fell off the rock I put him on a half hour ago. He was fallen about 2 or 3 times in one hour.

 

[dude23455]

Bta's usually like to get their foot into a crevice or under a ledge. Try to wedge him inbetween a few rocks and in a low flow area where he wont get blown around. or maybe you could set him ontop of a rock in the lower portion of the tank that he cant really fall off of.

 

[mscarpena]

I think you should put him in a low flow area and see what happens. I think messing around with him will do more harm then good. Also ritteri's have very poor survival rates in captivity. Almos 0 from what I understand. Stick with a Bubble tip or long tenticle. Your clowns may eventually host in one of those. Good luck

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by mscarpena
I think you should put him in a low flow area and see what happens. I think messing around with him will do more harm then good.
Agreed. Just try to let him be for the time being. Take him in if you must, but if he doesn't disintegrate, he's not dead.
Make sure there isn't anything in your tank that has powerful suction, that can suck him in and tear him up.

 

[soldier0117]

I'll give him some time and see what happens. I'll let him move on his own because there are no powerheads or anything in my tank that could hurt him. But if seems to be close to death in a while I may trade him for a ritteri.