Reef Discussion

[Priscacara]

Hi ppls, as some will know my bta has been in trouble since Tuesday having its foot damaged and being unable to hang on to anything. It has been hanging upside down like this for about 36 hours holding on in 2 small spots. It can move a little and keeps getting close to the bubble coral even when I move it out of the way so it has taken damage from fighting with it (the blue marked area). The bta reacts to touch readily but seems unable to eat, grasps the food but never eats it and it is now getting skinny.

Those that have kept nems and have some experience with them, should I take it out or let it try to recover and maybe pollute the tank when it goes? I need to make the decision by tonight for disposal purposes in case it pollutes the tank.

 

[MagicJ]

Bubble corals have pretty potent stings, and long sweepers, so I would definitely be moving it away from the current position - gently remove the two remaining spots where it is still holding on - use your finger to prose it off the rock without tearing it. My guess is that it will come off fairly easily.

From this picture, the nem looks generally OK - I would put it in a container of some sort (breeding cage etc) and let it recover for a while.

How was the foot damaged?

 

[Priscacara]

Tx for the input Tuesday night it was still in the nano and had fixed itself to the side of the tank under the hob filter and spread out to its maximum size (I think!) but next morning it was face down in the middle of the tank. I'm guessing it got its foot over the edge of the filter and was pushed off.........................although rated at 750lph I find it hard to believe there was enough force to rip it off the side but it is my only logical explanation for it. It was pushed all over the nano and then all over the 3 footer its now in so it has taken a battering then fighting with the bubble has of course made it even worse.

Will see what I can come up with for a container.

 

[Priscacara]

Ok nem is in a container , I drilled holes all over it so hopefully it is enough flow through and it recovers.

 

[Clownfishy]

From the pictures, it does not look too bad. You need to ensure you get good water flow around the anenome. Personally, I would put it back in the tank and allow it to go whereever it wants and keep moving the corals that get in its path. Anemones know best what is right for them. Also try waving some food in its tenticles to try and keep it feeding.
Hope some of that helps and keep us posted with its progress.

Regards
Clownfishy

 

[Priscacara]

Tx @Clownfishy ! It has improved a bit being in solitary, if it managed to get itself upright I would be a lot happier.

 

[Clownfishy]

Try and get a piece of rock in there if you can as it will want to bury its foot at some point. With enough flow to its foot, it looks to me as it would recover. Its amazing what these things can get through, even the slicing them in half as a way to force propagation. The key is flow, oxygenated water, food and obviously light.

Good luck

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[chrispc66]

BTA or any anemone usually ends in disaster in any mixed reef. They grow to huge proportions and start splitting, wander everywhere, sting everything, then go through the powerhead.

It's a common ending. Sure, they're cool to keep, clown fish look nice in them, so set up a dedicated nem tank c/w clowns. It's the only way to avoid the likely nem disaster.

The behaviour of your nem is typical when its annoyed, its detaches and floats off to avoid battle damage. Straight into the powerhead normally.....you've done the right thing with it, my recommendation is don't put it back in your reef, sell it, give away or set up a dedicated tank without internal powerheads or sump, just a weir feeding a closed loop system.

Good luck, I hope you don't become a victim of the anemone disaster.

 

[Priscacara]

Update time. The Bta is still in its plastic container, was always face down so last night I took the lid off and flipped it over. I decided to leave the lid off so this morning it is right way up and still in container.........................with the cbs in there with it! They lived together in the nano so guess they like it that way. After a few days if things continue to be fine I will remove it from the container but in no rush to do so, not sure if it will climb out itself or if they need a lot of flow to wander properly. Before I turned it over the foot definitely looked a lot better so I have high hopes it will get back to normal and start to thrive.

 

[MagicJ]

Try and get a piece of rock in there if you can as it will want to bury its foot at some point.

I like this idea - if it grabs hold of the rock then it will be easy to relocate.

 

[Priscacara]

When I put the container in I put a chunk of rock in the container to hold it down so fingers crossed it might climb up on it.

 

[Priscacara]

Lol ok I fell for it again, the cbs in the container with the bta is a shedding. I wondered why it stayed in the open when it was light, it is safe under some rocks again.

So as not to hijack Luke's tj , I am still deciding on what to do with this tank. There are minimal corals in there so a good time to decide what to do. I would like a nem dominated tank with a couple of maroons as 1 idea for it as per another thread on stocking it but my intro to nems has been a bit rocky. Another idea would be a softy dominated tank and various fish (flamehawk!) but I don't plan on putting a cover over it so need to be wary of jumpers. Sps would work well too I think.

 

[Fishy]

Hows that nem going?

 

[Priscacara]

Hi @Fishy , it seems to be getting better. It is the right way up in the plastic container with the lid off and has eaten today, no sign of it wanting to climb out but not in a hurry for it to leave. Still a mystery as to what happened in the nano but looking good for a recovery now.

 

[Fishy]

Hi @Fishy , it seems to be getting better. It is the right way up in the plastic container with the lid off and has eaten today, no sign of it wanting to climb out but not in a hurry for it to leave. Still a mystery as to what happened in the nano but looking good for a recovery now.

@Priscacara well thats good! I am going to upset mine tomoz, rescaping the right side of the tank where its resided since coming home.

 

[Priscacara]

Oh yeah, it will get pissed for sure :)

 

[Fishy]

;)

 

[Clownfishy]

Glad to hear it is eating. Keep feeding and at some point it is going to want to move to find less / more light.

Good luck

Regards
Clownfishy

 

[chrispc66]

Oh yeah, it will get pissed for sure :)

Maybe cut back on the vodka dosing......come to think of it, those photos do appear to be a inebriated anemone.....:)

 

[Priscacara]

Lol Chris, it can't even stand on it's own leg so yep I bet it found my booze!

I would be hopeless at vodka dosing, 1 for me 1 for the tank, 1 for me 1 for the tank, 1 for me......bugger the tank I'll have the next one too.