Overfed my RFA?

[Prezpreston]

Hey guys!

 

So I am the happy owner for 2 months now of a super beautiful aquaculture RFA from Cultivated Reef, and I couldn’t be happier.

 

It took the acclimation process like a champ, settled in its initial spot nicely (before it decided to uproot itself into some rock work in the middle of my tank where there is light but I can’t enjoy it as much - but I digress), and has been happily chugging along until about a week ago.

 

I feed mysis to my tank every 2-3 days, and he gets spot fed some of that mysis, but I generally kept the amount I fed him in super small amounts.

 

Unfortunately, being in a rush the other day, I fed all of my tank inhabitants, including my RFA. But when I fed him, I accidentally blasted him with a ton of mysis (it had gotten stuck in the feeding tube and I pushed too hard). I figured he would be ok since I felt like I barely fed the tank as it was and went on my merry way.

 

Now, for the past week, he has been exhibiting really distressing behavior. One side of him has been tucked in (until today) and at some points he was completely folded in on himself - and it even looked as though the tentacles on the side of his body that was tucked in had been chewed away (and I still can’t tell if they have or not). At night when the lights were off, he was almost buried completely in the sand work, much more so than usual. Finally, I found him expelling what looked like poop quite a bit over the past few days.

 

Oddly enough, at one point at night, he was completely raised out of the sand in what looked to be a large pencil like shape - maybe trying to digest the food even more?

 

In any case, his foot and body appeared to be totally fine - except for the last day. His mouth has now been remaining open (although it’s more closed today) and there is what looks like some definite rot setting in near his mouth. However, he has opened up a lot more from where he was, and that side that he was keeping tucked in has been opening up. 
 

Aside from the little bit of rot he appears totally normal, not deflated or anything like that.

 

I’ve certainly learned my lesson as far as feeding, and I don’t know if I’ll ever feed him again after this ordeal, but is there anything I should be doing for him at this point other than monitoring him and waiting?

 

Also, is there a chance that my hermit went after him for food and/or he ate a bristleworm that didn’t agree with him? My hermit has not gone after any of my other corals and I definitely have only regular bristleworms, not fireworms.

 

Thanks for any help you can give me guys. I hope he makes it :(

 

Apologies ahead of time for the quality of photos - I’m taking those on my iPhone through bow front glass.

[SeaFurn]

It will be fine. Just give it a few days.

I drop bristleworms in mine when I find them. They eat them - no problems. 

They will generally get enough food if you are feeding your fish regularly. So spot feeding isn’t necessary in that case. 

[Clown79]

Most likely just overfed and trying to digest it all.

 

I fed mine only 1 time a week, they end up getting left over food that floats by otherwise.