HELP! GBTA wont fully open

RayReefer

New Member
My GBTA (named Green Lantern) doesn't seem to be doing very well, he was moving around like crazy for about 1 month and last week one of my condy's (Named Pinky) crashed and i got her out of the water before she did too much damage. The GBTA finally settled down and found a spot near the return pump inlet. but he seems like every day he completely deflated and opens his mouth, looking like a meat mass. Is this normal?

Parameters are as follows...
Nitrate- 0
Alk- 11 dkh
Calcium- 500
Phos- 0.25
Ammonia- 0.5
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Please tell us more -

How large of a system do you have?
What is it's filtration and Skimming?
What is it's Lighting?
How long have you had it set up?
What livestock do you have in it?

What exactly do you mean by "last week one of my condy's (Named Pinky) crashed"? Did it die?

An anemone looking like that is not a good sign, but they sometimes recover. Could you post a picture?

Any ammonia reading at all indicates a serious problem. Look for something dead or a tank not fully cycled. Please test your nitrite reading also. This may help.

Make sure your anemone can not get into the return pump inlet. That can do a lot of damage.
 

RayReefer

New Member
Please tell us more -

How large of a system do you have?
What is it's filtration and Skimming?
What is it's Lighting?
How long have you had it set up?
What livestock do you have in it?

What exactly do you mean by "last week one of my condy's (Named Pinky) crashed"? Did it die?

An anemone looking like that is not a good sign, but they sometimes recover. Could you post a picture?

Any ammonia reading at all indicates a serious problem. Look for something dead or a tank not fully cycled. Please test your nitrite reading also. This may help.

Make sure your anemone can not get into the return pump inlet. That can do a lot of damage.

I have a 40 Breeder DT with a custom 30 tall sump (newly acquired) mechanical filtration with Clear FX pro Bag. Custom lighting but as you can see by other pics the condylactus likes it, so i assumed the gbta would like it too. Tank has been up since june and have had the condylactus in it since the 2nd month. other than that I have some nuclear zoas and a grooved brain (both are doing well). Pinky was one of the other 2 condylactus that were in the tank. She started deteriorating so I removed her as a precaution and placed her in a different more established take where she later passed
.IMG_4251.JPG IMG_4255.JPG IMG_4256.JPGIMG_4261.JPGIMG_4259.JPG IMG_4260.JPG IMG_4262.JPG
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
First, I want to say that I'm not trying to beat up on you. Everyone was new at this once. However, you do have some serious problems with your system, if you want it to house anemones.

Looking at the second picture, you tank does not have nearly enough live rock. Typically you want about 1 pound of rock per gallon of water as a minimum. I can see just by looking at it that your not even close. In a typical SW reef system LR is the biological filtration system. Failure to have enough is going to result in low quality water.

Looking at the first picture. It's tough to really tell, but it looks like your lighting is not enough for an anemone. The tank just doesn't seem bright enough. Typical lighting I'd like to see for an anemone in a tank this size would be four T5 florescent bulbs, or two serious LED fixtures such as two AI Hydra 26's. These are typical examples, similar lighting from other manufacturers would be fine. Keep in mind that " nuclear zoas and a grooved brain" are low light corals, and require far less light. If you do increase the lighting, up it slowly, don't do it all at once.

I don't see any kind of skimmer on the system. Yes, it is possible to maintain a system without one, but I consider a skimmer so "highly desirable" that I would not want to run a system this size or larger with out one.

Your system is also far too new for an anemone. You usually want to have the tank running for about a year and stable before you even attempt one. Let me guess a little on this one the guy at your LFS said you'd be fine adding the anemones. Am I right?

The good news is that once you correct those issues, and wait until the tank is stable, there is no reason you can't keep an anemone.
 
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