Octoman
Well-Known Member
Actually, two questions. Fred (my GBTA) has not been looking so happy since Saturday. He's been about halfway deflated a lot of the time, and one side of him is a different color than the other side. But, at least once a day he looks almost fully inflated for a while. Water parameters are fine (listed below). Saturday, I did the usual water change. I put a new GBTA puree protection unit on my powerhead so the powerhead wouldn't slow down as much (the old protection sponge was clogging it so bad, it actually ran backwards...), so there is a little bit of increased flow around him but there is not any direct flow coming towards him. I also chopped a ric up into 4 pieces and its sitting in a cup in the tank now. All of the other tank inhabitants look very happy right now (except the ric...).
- Would the slight change in circulation make him that mad?
- Could the fragged ric be releasing something? (I added new carbon just in case)
- Could he be splitting? I have been feeding him pretty regularly, although I haven't fed him since he started looking bad.
- Any other ideas?
water params...
salinity 34ppt
alk 3.89meq/L
Ca 395ppm
pH 8.13
T 25.6C
I 0.05mg/L
NH4, NO2 - 0
NO3 - <10 (more like 0, but the test is hard to read)
Question 2 - Should I add a light bulb? I have 3 48" T5s with individual polished reflectors (it's a standard 55g). I could fit one more on, but I don't want to overdo it. The GBTA has been sitting happily at the bottom since I put him in (1.5 mos ago). If he wanted more light, would he have climbed up higher? Could adding another bulb be too much? I would add the light very slowly of course, an additional hour every few days.
Here's a photo of Fred, you can see the different coloration on the right side where he's a bit darker.
- Would the slight change in circulation make him that mad?
- Could the fragged ric be releasing something? (I added new carbon just in case)
- Could he be splitting? I have been feeding him pretty regularly, although I haven't fed him since he started looking bad.
- Any other ideas?
water params...
salinity 34ppt
alk 3.89meq/L
Ca 395ppm
pH 8.13
T 25.6C
I 0.05mg/L
NH4, NO2 - 0
NO3 - <10 (more like 0, but the test is hard to read)
Question 2 - Should I add a light bulb? I have 3 48" T5s with individual polished reflectors (it's a standard 55g). I could fit one more on, but I don't want to overdo it. The GBTA has been sitting happily at the bottom since I put him in (1.5 mos ago). If he wanted more light, would he have climbed up higher? Could adding another bulb be too much? I would add the light very slowly of course, an additional hour every few days.
Here's a photo of Fred, you can see the different coloration on the right side where he's a bit darker.