RBTAs, 1 hiding/1 not, both deflating

R

rcoapstick

Member
I got two RBTAs from someone who was breaking down there tank to move. This is video of them in the tank before it was broken down.
[video=youtube;iEMrGGOinmg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMrGGOinmg&feature=player_embedded[/video]
They had nice long tentacles and sat in the middles of the 125 gallon tank (23' high). The were under 3x150 W MH bulbs and 3x96W PC

I moved them into my tank and drip acclimated them. I placed them in the front middle of my tank a little higher than they were in the previous tank because of the difference in lighting.
I have a 3 bulb fixture of brand new 54 W Geissman bulbs (1 actinic, 1 white, 1 purple). They had moderate flow.

One stayed put and became very "bubbly" it looked nice
nem2.jpg

I fed it a 1/3 of a cocktail sized shrimp 2 days ago. Since then it has deflated a lot and now looks like this (its about 1/2 the size it was before)
nem5.jpg

Is nem #1 ok? it looks similar to the first picture but in actuality it is Half the size it was originally.

Nem #2 is who im most worried about. It was originally the larger of the two nems. It is now about 1/4 of the size. I placed it very near the other nem originally. the next day when I woke up it had detached itself and floated around behind my rock work in the very back and bottom of my tank. Not very much light reaches here. I was worried about it and was able to feed it 1/3 of a cocktail sized shrimp as well. it accepted it , im not sure if it ever finished the chuck though or spit it out because it is very hard to see it down where it is at. Heres a picture of it with the shrimp in its grasp
nem3.jpg

2 days later(today) it looks like this
nem4.jpg
It has been down in the dark cave shrinking and shrinking for a week. Poor nem #2 :-(

Is all this normal or should I be worried. Water chemistry all works out to perfect conditions
 
soco

soco

Well-Known Member
well how big is your tank?
How old is your tank? Most people say that for a rbt a 6 month old tank is the ABSOLUTE youngest a tank should be, but i would recommend at least a year old tank. Just because they are mature and stable most of the time at that point.
Depending on the tank size and depth you may not have enough lighting for rbt's they need a great deal of light and alot of flow.
They will "walk" around your tank until they find a spot they like. DO NOT MOVE THEM YOURSELF if their on the move its cause they are looking for their perfect spot.

What are your tank parameters?

If you feed them while they are inflated and the food sticks to them and they eat it right away that is a good sign.
Are there mouths tightly closed or gaping open? an open mouth is a very bad sign for a rbt?

Hopefully some of the info i have asked about can help others better diagnose what your issuses might be.
 
catran

catran

Well-Known Member
I think a 1/3 of a cocktail shrimp is too big. It probably isn't the reason it isn't doing goo, just a warning. You can feed it that much, just chop it up finer and feed over the course of 20-30 minutes.
He may not like the flow of water...


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catran

catran

Well-Known Member
Oh, I read it as "cocktail sized shrimp" not cocktail shrimp.


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CarmenH

CarmenH

Member
Hopefully you're right but I looked everywhere for smaller shrimps for my puffers so i could feed them whole and I couldn't find cocktail size ones raw anywhere!


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sk8rdn

sk8rdn

Has been struck by the ban stick
CarmenH said:
Hopefully you're right but I looked everywhere for smaller shrimps for my puffers so i could feed them whole and I couldn't find cocktail size ones raw anywhere!

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Click to expand...

Grocery store quick frozen shrimp should be raw. Unless the seafood department par cooks shrimp as a convince thing... I dunno for sure though. Just a suggestion.

....Salt Creep Is Everywhere!....
 
R

rcoapstick

Member
they are raw. So i just took a water sample to the LFS. they tested it. My Nitrates read as between 20-40ppm. My nitrate test kit at home was giving me a reading of zero. I was shaking it correctly and everything :-(. Had I known this earlier this would be a better situation. Now the one anemone in the back looks like this.
nem6.jpg
I did a 35% water change now and plan to do another 30% water change in another day. Hope he survives. Any suggestions to perk him back up?
 
catran

catran

Well-Known Member
I have one that hides in the back of my rock, not under the light. He's perfectly healthy too. They are animals and usually do what makes them happy, not always what we want unfortunately, lol!


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C

clownfishrule

Member
ooh now its not so great i had that same problem with the nitrate i would do a huge wc 50% then tomr or next day 25% then next day or day after 25% again that will definitly save it. make parameters close as possible though u dont wanna shock it.
 
catran

catran

Well-Known Member
Yeah, test your water parameters, especially nitrates... Like clownfish said, w/c's!


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R

rcoapstick

Member
So I have changed 30% of my water twice, 2 days apart. The first water change lower the nitrates from 20-40ppm to 10-20ppm. The next water change I did, did not lower the nitrates any more. They still read 10-20 ppm. Does anyone know what the cause of this is? I m very careful to not stir up the sand when i add the water. I put the bucket above the tanke and syphon them in so it is a gradual process that does not really disturb the tank too much.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
It's possible you just can't see the reduction.

A 30% water change would net a 30% NO3 reduction. If you started at 20ppm and reduced by 30% you'd reduce by 6PPM down to approx 14PPM. I doubt you can see that reading on your test kit.


If you do a 50% water change you might see that on your test kit but as your NO3 gets lower it's difficult to see subtle changes in our Hobby Grade test kits.
 
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