What's wrong with my BTA?

[andyaz]

Ok, I thought he was a goner earlier today as it looked like he was puking his guts out. Looks a lot better now, even sucked down a few krill and Prime Reef flake that the smaller clown gave it. Anyway, here's the background. He was a BTA for the first few days, then he stretched out (was much bigger than I thought from getting him at the LFS) and never really bubble-tipped again after that. Ok, no prob, he attached to an unidentified hard coral (funny, didn't look like there was a good foothold, but he's on it good), and the clowns started hosting him after about a week. Everone was happy, until the cyanobacteria started. We got rid of it ok, then the floating algae started and made pea soup out of the tank water. I couldn't see the BTA through the algae, and did everything I could to clear the water. Nothing worked until I got the UV sterilizer, which cleared the water in about two days. When I could see the BTA again, he looked pretty bad. Most of his tentacles were now shrivled and discolored, kind of a bluish-green, and he spent a lot of time curled up. Occasionly he would open a bit, but he really looked stressed. Today, his mouth was puffed up and translucent, and had some stringy goop streaming out of it. Looked like he was losing his foothold, too, I was pretty worried. I got home, and he looked a little better but his mouth was still all puffed out, so I dropped some krill in and turkey-basted it into his tentacles. Slowly, he sucked in two of them. I fed the clowns some Prime Reef flake, and he got some of it. Looks a bit better now, his mouth looks closer to normal now (can't get a clear enough picture of it) and he's somewhat opened up. Still about 50% of his tentacles look bad, but the rest look closer to normal. Anyway, here's some pics, some with the clowns making a cameo appearance.

 

[swlover]

Well I'm no expert by any means but it sounds like he was just probably pooping. It's hard to tell from the pics can you get any closer shots? Stop feeding him for a couple of days and see what happens. The more you feed him the more he will poop, is the stuff brown & slimy? He may be producing too much waste. Plus the clowns are probably feeding him as well, so yea sounds like too much food. I would do a water change, clean your filters and maybe get a powerhead down there by him to get that water flowing. Like I said I'm no expert, but thats what it sounds like. Let us know how he is doing

 

[clown123]

tanks lookin a little cloudy that is one reason and then it can be ur ammonia test levels and do water change

 

[andyaz]

Originally Posted by clown123
tanks lookin a little cloudy that is one reason and then it can be ur ammonia test levels and do water change
That's more a symptom of the camera and my not being able to get a good exposure. Practicing on getting good shots of the tank, better exposures and focus. The water is actually crystal clear right now, ammonia and nitrites are always at zero. My nitrates are usually between 20 and 40, and after some other discussion on the board I'm thinking that might have something to do with the crushed coral bed. Setting up a new tank now with live sand so that should help in the future.
The lights haven't come on yet in the tank (usually around noon, so I've got a couple more hours), and the anemone is pretty much completely curled up into a ball. Once the lights come on and he opens up, I'll try to get some better pictures up here.
[edit]
Turned the lights on, and this is what he looked like as he started opening a little. Still a little blurry, working with my macro settings to get some good shots, but can see his mouth distended like I talked about before.

 

[andyaz]

Well, he looks about the same today as he did yesterday. He got a little better yesterday as the day went on, but overall still looked pretty sad. He spent the night fully curled up. The lights have been on for a little over an hour, and he looks pretty much like the pictures I posted yesterday. Is he a goner?

 

[lbaskball]

Originally Posted by AndyAZ
Well, he looks about the same today as he did yesterday. He got a little better yesterday as the day went on, but overall still looked pretty sad. He spent the night fully curled up. The lights have been on for a little over an hour, and he looks pretty much like the pictures I posted yesterday. Is he a goner?

I wouldnt say his a goner. Make sure your salinity is at the proper levels and check the ph. Do you have enough lighting and how about the water flow?

 

[andyaz]

Originally Posted by lbaskball
I wouldnt say his a goner. Make sure your salinity is at the proper levels and check the ph. Do you have enough lighting and how about the water flow?
Water flow is a little low today, as I've moved my powerheads into the new 55 gallon setup where all my live rock is now. I hope to have it all up and running today, and move everyone over next week after it's had some time to level out. Looking at it right now, the SG is 1.022. ph is low, 7.7, what can I do to bring it up to proper levels? Lighting is power compact, 2x96w (one 12k and one actinic), and he looks like he's getting enough of it where he is.

 

[thomas712]

Check your calcium and alkalinity and give real test scores.
As it stands your salinity is low as well as pH. I'd also call 196 watts on the low end. From the pic it looks very stressed. that mouth is gaping really wide and has me concerned. From the looks of things this is a downhill event taking place. Sorry.
Check cal and alk and get back with me, and we will do something with that pH.
Thomas

 

[andyaz]

Been a while since I've posted on my anemone, but he seems to have made a nice recovery. He still has his moments when he looks a bit like the pictures above, mouth wide open, tentacles kind of discolored and shrivled up. But, I came back today from some errands, and here's how he looks (taken just a few minutes ago). Please forgive the drips you can see on the front of the tank, spilled a little bit fishing a ball our 2 year old threw in for the fish to play with and today is clean up day. I think he's looking forward to the new tank