help me!!! Man down!!!!

[kingfish8302]

Two days ago I bought a green bta as my first in this hobby. I fed it the night that I got it and its been doing fine since then. Fully out and never moved from the place I placed it 2 days ago. Now this morning I woke up and checked on it and it sickly looking like the one below.

I have 192 watts total Compact Fluorescents ( one 10,000k & one Actinic Blue) from coralife for a 46 bow. Never had a timer for the lights and they where on for 13 hrs and the water temp jumped from 78 to 82 for the hold day. Now I have a timer and have the Actinic blue from 9:45amto 11pm and the 10000k from 10:30am to 10:15am if I remember right. I checked the water and it was a little low on salt since I toped off the night I got the bta which is right now at (1.021) Can someone tell if its dieing or just acting up since it my first bta? Does any one have any tips for me?

Oh by the way the tank is 4 yrs old too.

 

[kingfish8302]

no one wants to help me????

 

[kjohansen]

Your salt level seems low, should be about 1.023 -1.025, temps should stay closer to 80, you need stay away from big fluctuations. Need really good water movement in the tank and very good filtration.
Also your photo is the same one from another post.
You said nothing about your setup:
Lights:
Filter:
Current conditions of water:

 

[kingfish8302]

I have a furval 440 that hanlds a 100 gallon tank and a skimmer that can haddle a 75 gallon tank. The flow in the tank is good. He moved a little when i first put he in but then has stayed in the same spot since then.
The lights are 2 96 watts one 10,000k & one Actinic Blue. Th fixture is made by coralife.
i have not done a water test in a couple months i know my Nutrients are just a little high since a very small amount of brown algea just showed up in a few places.
I know i feed him the other day. You think is trying to poop?????

 

[saltwaterjunki]

Since that pic above is from my RBTA and she is now happy...
I had it in my 24g Nano that only had stock lights - I moved it to my 125g that has MH's (250w x3) that also has a pair of Maroons that WERE hosting on my LTA. Within minutes of putting it in the 125g, the female maroon was all over her - that was on Thursday morning and she has looked happy and healthy since...
Have you tested your water since it started looking like this?

 

[kingfish8302]

NO. It started looingk sick before i went to work this morning and i'm still at the office. Sorry using your since i had no time before to take and post and need a reff of some kind. THe bta was not slimy.

 

[saltwaterjunki]

No worries on using the pic! If it helps - whatever you gotta do!!
I'd test your para's and see what they say first - my humble opinion
good luck!

 

[kjohansen]

Originally Posted by kingfish8302
NO. It started looingk sick before i went to work this morning and i'm still at the office. Sorry using your since i had no time before to take and post and need a reff of some kind. THe bta was not slimy.
Definately, you need to test to see where your water is at. No one can say anything really without knowing where your levels are.

 

[kingfish8302]

ok i bought my own test kit and got home and the bta was all out again.

results:
ph 8
ammonia a less then .25
nitrite .25
nitrate 0
1.0225 or so
water temp 80 degrees
added some salt and some how a small ball of salt landed on the bta and now the bta is small again. probably the very small salt ball stressed it out. So i dont know why it was so small this morning.

 

[michaeltx]

something is causeing a mini cycle in the tank. there should be NO ammonia or nitrite present so something is causeing that. I would check the anemone if you can get it towards the surface of the water and take a wiff of it if it smells rotten get it out it is on its way out and can take the rest of the tank with it.
How are you adding salt to the tank? you say there was a salt ball please elborate on this. and how you mix your water before adding to the tank
Mike

 

[kingfish8302]

Will i did a rookie mistake and added tap water instead of Ro water to top off the last two times (mistake 1). My tank was topped off so i added a 1/2 cup of salt to get it up (mistake 2)and a Pencil eraser salt ball fell out of the cup when i was lightly pouring it across the tank.
I think the ammoina is it up becuase 4 days ago i clean my tank and rearangged it a little.

 

[michaeltx]

always allow the salt to completely mix before adding it to the tank. I think what might be happening is that when you top off like this you are getting a swing in salinity that droppong to the bottom of the tank. to see what I am talking about take a small cup with a little bit of water in it. tilt the cup to the side and slowly start to pour while looking into the tank you will see a wave kinda like what you see over a hot road coming from the cup if this drops into an area of the tank that has corals or stars in it then they can get a massive swing in salinity.
Mike

 

[kingfish8302]

I use a 5 gallon water bottle to mix salt and water all the time but not this last 1/2 cup of salt. Thanks for the help. She coming around now very slowly. I'll wait till she out all out tonight and get a pic of the tank and pic of her. I want my clowns to host but that a lottery in it self and they are both tank raised too. They hosted some decor on the other of the tank. So i'll see if they move to the bta as a new home.

 

[michaeltx]

if you can find a picture of another clown hosting and can tape it so it looks like it is in the BTA sometimes it will trigger the clowns to host.
I would wait until the anemone is back to its full health before doing it though so they dont stress out the anemone by over hosting in it.
Mike

 

[kingfish8302]

Or i could some how sexy up the bta for the clowns to ge them over...

.. I'm just going to leave the tank alone and the bta now. I hope it fully recovers before i leave next thuresday for a tripe.

 

[kingfish8302]

here a pic of my tank. The green fake thing on the left is what my clowns are hosting

. Not the brightest fishs in the tank. Right at this mitue this is what my bta looks like. Much better then a half an hour ago and getting better.

 

[rod buehle]

Nitrates??
I am assuming that you are using some type of bio filtration on that tank since I dont see much live rock. If thats the case, you will need to keep an eye on your nitrates.I am assuming that they are at least at 20ppm, because most of the bio filters are designed to produce nitrates.
Anytime you have oxygen rich water passing over a filter media, (like in thefluval) aerobic bacteria (oxygen rich) will colonize. Aerobic bacteria is great for fish only tanks because its superior at converting ammonia to nitrite, and then the nitrite to nitrate. Thats where it stops and the nitrates climb, unless youre doing massive water changes. Hence the term nitrate factory.
Live rock harbor Anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria colonizes in low oxygen areas like within live rock and in deep sand beds. Anaerobic bacteria will also convert the ammonia to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate, and then goes one step further by passing off the nitrate into the atmosphere as a harmless gas. .. De nitrification!
Both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria are consuming the same food source. Nitrogen (ammonia). IMO, if both are competing for the same food source, neither will ever colonize to their full potential. Thats why you always hear people saying to remove the bio balls, or bio filter and to let the live rock do its trick.
Before pulling sort of filter media from your tank, be sure that you have enough live rock to handle the nitrogen cycle, and also get yourself a GOOD skimmer.

 

[kingfish8302]

I clean my fuval every month really good and the skimmer i have is desinged for a 75 gallon tank. My tank is only 46 gallons. I like to go a little or double the size of everthing to just make sure i dont have any problems in my tank. Like today i'm going to change the carbon and clean off the bio balls in the fiilter. I do a 10% change of water once a month when i vacume the sand for unwanted waste and food. I'm going to add just another 15lbs of lr when i save enought money for it. YOu can see from the last posts i did a test yesterday night. The nitrite is a little up becuase i moved stuff around my tank and took some stuff out to give room for some live rock. Any thing els i need to do????

 

[rod buehle]

Originally Posted by kingfish8302
I clean my fuval every month really good and the skimmer i have is desinged for a 75 gallon tank. My tank is only 46 gallons. I like to go a little or double the size of everthing to just make sure i dont have any problems in my tank. Like today i'm going to change the carbon and clean off the bio balls in the fiilter. I do a 10% change of water once a month when i vacume the sand for unwanted waste and food. I'm going to add just another 15lbs of lr when i save enought money for it. YOu can see from the last posts i did a test yesterday night. The nitrite is a little up becuase i moved stuff around my tank and took some stuff out to give room for some live rock. Any thing els i need to do????
Actually the nitrates are up because your filters are doing exactly what they are designed to do. Produce nitrates (aerobic bacteria will not denitrify.)
Most skimmer ratings are heavily skewed by the manufacture to make their skimmer sound better. Can you give a brand name?
Your salinity is low. Natural sea water is 1.025-1.026
You tank is set up fine(great) for fish only tank, but to keep inverts I think a little more research is needed
Good luck

 

[kingfish8302]

If i take out the bio balls from the filter will that stop the nitrate production???