High Tide Aquatics

BTA not looking good

Alex Trevigne

Alex Trevigne

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BTA has lost all tentacles and is pale. Has been this way for like 3 weeks. Healthy BTA right above it. Anyone have any ideas what is wrong or if I can nurse it back to health. Or should I just remove it?

Tank is 8 months old
Nitrates = 5 ppm
Nitrites = 0 ppm
Ammonia = 0 ppm
pH = 7.9-8.1

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Did it split or were they 2 different nems? The one above doesnt look as bad, but doesn't really look "healthy" to me either though.
What's your alkalinity and phosphates like?
 
2 different nems. Healthier one I picked up about 3 weeks ago from another member.

Will run phos and alk test and posts results


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There's a thread about an anemone treatment I think on RC? Maybe R2R...
I'll search for some info but if you have an isolation tank that might help in the mean time.
 
Phosphates = .25 ppm
Alkalinity = 120-150 ppm

No isolation tank but thinking about setting one up.

Thanks for all help



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Basic, but is salinity and temp ok?
Last year I read about some BTAs that were losing tentacles and they thought it could have been too powerful light. What is your lighting like?
Also, are you using any additives/chemicals?
 
Salinity is 1.025
Temp is a steady 80 degrees

Did switch lighting from current marine to AI prime. But I feel like started before I made the lighting switch


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Nems get 90% of their nutrition from the sugars created by their zooxanthellae. That means the other ten percent comes from outside sources and where their fats, proteins, etc need to come from. Both of your Nems are suffering from the same thing -- lack of adequate nutrition.When a nem starts losing it's tentacles it's because it is cannibalizing itself for calories. It's eating itself. So the issue could be from either your lighting or your system itself if you're running a ULN and not feeding the Nems.
 
ULN = Ultra Low Nutrient

Test Nitrates. Nems sometimes have a tough time if 0.

You thaw the Mysys fully before feeding, right?
Do you see pieces stick? Does it close up a bit?
If not, it may not be eating any of that.

Consider a small piece of thawed shrimp, about pencil eraser size.

Watch for aggressive fish or crabs stealing food from the Nem. Common problem.
 
ULN = Ultra Low Nutrient tank. Shooting for zero Nitrates. Nems don't care about Nitrates particularly and too clean of a tank gives them zero nutrients -- and they eat themselves. The tentacles don't fall off .. and they don't really get retracted either. They get absorbed into the main body. Once they get to that point it's pretty much all over with. There's a few things you can try, but it's a lot of work and can take months. Re-reading back over your thread I'm pretty sure the issue was lighting. Current Marines are not really enough to support Nems. The fact that you have an Utter Chaos right by the dying Nem indicates that it almost assuredly was getting light starved. Enough light for a Nem would most likely cause that large Utter Chaos head to shrink. I'm also guessing that when yhou switched lights you didn't light acclimate and that may have been a final nail in the coffin for the one.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
ULN = Ultra Low Nutrient tank. Shooting for zero Nitrates. Nems don't care about Nitrates particularly and too clean of a tank gives them zero nutrients -- and they eat themselves. The tentacles don't fall off .. and they don't really get retracted either. They get absorbed into the main body. Once they get to that point it's pretty much all over with. There's a few things you can try, but it's a lot of work and can take months. Re-reading back over your thread I'm pretty sure the issue was lighting. Current Marines are not really enough to support Nems. The fact that you have an Utter Chaos right by the dying Nem indicates that it almost assuredly was getting light starved. Enough light for a Nem would most likely cause that large Utter Chaos head to shrink. I'm also guessing that when yhou switched lights you didn't light acclimate and that may have been a final nail in the coffin for the one.
Click to expand...

I tend to keep some nitrates since I have a lot of Zoas. Kind of agree it may have been the lighting. But it was doing great under the orbit marines IC. Got the AI for Father’s Day and did have lights low and used AI’s acclimation mode. Got the 2nd nem week after I got the new lights.

You think utter chaos would shrink under too much lighting? Had it for 2 months and It actually has grown two more polyps since replacing lights (less than 3 weeks). Today July 8, is the last day for AI prime light acclimation schedule. Starting tomorrow lights will be at 100% power for lighting schedule.

Will definitely try the raw shrimp feeding.


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The first one started receding about a week before I got new lights (4-5 weeks ago)

2nd one just got about 3 weeks ago. I don’t think it’s absorbing itself and looks the same as when I got it


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Again then I think it's the Currents. Nems only do that in extreme survival mode and will go for a long time in sub-par conditions (for them) before starting. Once they start it's really hard to stop. The other thing you can try is cipro if you have a QT tank.
 
Cipro is used for treating nems with bacterial infections. This does not look like it does. BTAs are usually very hardy and do not have issues with this.

Never had a nem do this before.


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