Dead BTA?

[Wilioli]

I recently got a RBTA -- it was hiding under a rock/in a rock's crevice for ~1 week... It then came out only when the lights were on -- not 100%, but almost all of it... then just recently (~2 days) its gone into hiding and just came back out today. It looks pretty shrivelled up, I see its mouth, but the 'bubble tips' look more like stubs (as its shriveled up) and a greenish color, as opposed to the red/orange.

 

I'll try and get a pic when I'm home -- at work now -- but how can I tell if its dead? I have a shrimp anemone that's still all up on it -- not sure if that means anything or not...?

 

temp:79

salinity: 1.025

ammonia/trites: 0

trates: ~10

alkalinity ~10

[Wilioli]

blah im not gonna bother with a pic -- this thing looks like its on its way out

[Wilioli]

any opinions on this shrimp anemone? it's still all up on the 'dying' anemone.. thoughts? opinions?

[Fsarmien]

id like to see a picture for future reference sorry to hear man.

[jlbzixxer]

Silly question but figure i ask did it look healthy when

You first bought it?

[Singlefin]

Did it have a torn foot?

[gulfsurfer101]

If it's still attaching then it's not dead but if it's just floating around with the current across the substrate of your tank then it is most likely dead.

[Wilioli]

Silly question but figure i ask did it look healthy when

You first bought it?

 

no , just question -- yes it was healthy -- it was eating, it was in a solid tank. When i bought it and brought it back, after like 5 days it came out when the lights were on, tentacles almost completely out -- some of it was still in the rock.. then it moved again, and its the way it is now...

 

 

Did it have a torn foot?

no idea...

 

If it's still attaching then it's not dead but if it's just floating around with the current across the substrate of your tank then it is most likely dead.

interesting -- i've read a lot of posts where they claim death and its still attached, and tough to get out cause its attached etc.... so thats not that?

[jlbzixxer]

Interesting is your lighting different from the tank it came from?

So is it still alive or is it a goner ?

[Wilioli]

Interesting is your lighting different from the tank it came from?

So is it still alive or is it a goner ?

slightly but not quite -- the tank it came from had reef brite led's 50/50.. mine are just blue.. and the tank it came from did not have t5's... mine does...

[chrssprngs]

When they die they pretty much turn to mush very rapidly. Don't quit on it too early. A pic would be nice.

[fretfreak13]

I had a BTA go through an entire tank crash. It was once 8" across, and it shriveled up to the size of a quarter. I tried to do what I could for it but it never got better. Once restarting the tank, and recycling, I had it for a whole year the size of a quarter and stark white. It. Would. Not. Die.

 

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want it to die. What I'm trying to get across is that they are pretty hardy (or at least mine was, good God!). In fact, people sometimes have them fall into their powerheads, get chopped up, and then regenerate into new anemones! Give the little guy some time. +1, we'd love a picture.

 

Also, nems 'poop'. They'll shrivel up, expell some nasty lookin gunk, look like they're dying, and then perk back up again. Any chance yours is doing this?

[Wilioli]

A pic would be nice.

 

Also, nems 'poop'. They'll shrivel up, expell some nasty lookin gunk, look like they're dying, and then perk back up again. Any chance yours is doing this?

No idea -- haven't watched it long enough maybe?

 

 

So I don't have a fancy camera -- just my phone, and I tried my best taking tons of pics -- all of them are looking the same.. So im showing three that I thought were the best -- one with flash.. the flash one is pretty useless (to me) .. but here they are.. hope its ok:

 

 

There's one pic without the shrimp -- it went off when I fed the tank, and then went back.. didn't see it carrying food back, but what do I know?! lol

 

I'm not sure what the green is -- it never had that color when I first got it. Thanks again everyone

[Maverick986]

I had a BTA that decided it was a good idea to climb into a power head, and got chopped to what I assumed was a sure death. I turned the power head off, and took it apart, leaving the nem in the tank to see if it was/would die, and it disappeared for a week or two. I had assumed it was dead, when it came out about the size of a nickle, the tentacles looked similar to what you got now, except it had maybe one that seemed to have survived its adventure. It has now close to doubled in size, and looking strong. I've just started to feed it pieces (very small) of shrimp again and its taken a few (2-3) to get it to this point.

 

Morale of the story...I say keep your water parameters in check, give it decent light (my day lights run about 4 hours) and it will probably make it.

[jedimasterben]

It looks more green shriveled up because the color is not spread across a larger area like when it is inflated.

 

there could be any number of reasons that it would be shriveled up, but time will tell. Keep a close eye on it and report back with your findings.

[Wilioli]

cool, thanks guys...!

[xelanem]

My nem took at least 3 or 4 weeks before he started acting "normal" they can go thru various different shapes and sizes over the course of a week. It definitely sounds like your nem is still kicking and from the pictures it just looks like he is shriveled up expelling waste. maybe the shrimp is stressing him out, If he hasnt been in the tank that long and the shrimp is all over him it may be too much for him to deal with! He may want a little quality alone time to get his bearings before entertaining neighbors!

[Wilioli]

He may want a little quality alone time to get his bearings before entertaining neighbors!

hnmmmm -- well said -- this shrimp needs to be banished to the AC110... lol

[19jeffro83]

I had a BTA go through an entire tank crash. It was once 8" across, and it shriveled up to the size of a quarter. I tried to do what I could for it but it never got better. Once restarting the tank, and recycling, I had it for a whole year the size of a quarter and stark white. It. Would. Not. Die.

 

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want it to die. What I'm trying to get across is that they are pretty hardy (or at least mine was, good God!). In fact, people sometimes have them fall into their powerheads, get chopped up, and then regenerate into new anemones! Give the little guy some time. +1, we'd love a picture.

 

Also, nems 'poop'. They'll shrivel up, expell some nasty lookin gunk, look like they're dying, and then perk back up again. Any chance yours is doing this?

I have almost an identical situation going on now. Tank crashed nem disappeared, I ran and tried to. Lean it up and them just decided to transfers what was left to another tank and restart. Well after a year a tiny quarter sized rbta with the tiniest tanacles appears about two weeks ago. I've been feeding it since and is starting to regrow. Hope I can save it.

On another note, that glass nem shrimp is harassing the bta. Mine was always fine with a porcelain crab but hated when I tried a nem shrimp with it.

[DaJMasta]

Keep the shrimp away from it and see what it does. My guess is that the shrimp's presence is irritating it, as they're not exactly commensals and aren't well tolerated when the anemone is small. While the shrimp live in anemones, they really don't offer anything too the nem, so it has to be reasonably large before it can tolerate the irritation from a shrimp and still survive.

 

I'd say quarantine one or the other and wait a good long while, from the current size of the nem, even if you feed it several times a week, it will take months to be big enough to host that shrimp.

[Wilioli]

i think the nem might be done -- the glass shrimp is now on the mini carpet anemone (recently purchased).. I didn't see the bta for a good week.. thought it was done.. then it popped up in a completely 'random' part of the tank, this time shrivelled but with white all around it, instead of the colors in the pics... then disappeared again and its been a week... -- when it reappeared the shrimp was all up on it.. now the shrimp is back to the mini carpet ..... :S

[xelanem]

What happened to removing the shrimp?

[19jeffro83]

Take out that shrimp and you'll solve a lot of the problem.

[Wilioli]

tryin to figure out where to put it -- i don't have a sump.. i was joking about my ac110.. but scanning through people's threads i see some do actually 'banish' inverts there? thoughts?

[xelanem]

if it isn't too much flow and he isn't just flopping back out the return return don't see why not.