BTA tentacles won't expand

[lanesreef]

I have a BTA in my 40 gallon reef tank. I have had it for maybe 5 months. At first it was great with big flowing tentacles and good color. he found a good spot to live (moved about 3 days after i put him in) and has an ocelaris clown who is always nearby.

however in the past 3 weeks he has not been looking good. I thought he was dead numerous times as he would shrivel up, then look like he was turning inside out, etc. Now he is pretty full in the body but his tentacles are not puffing up or flowing. it is like they are all stuck together on the side of this body. It has been going on for a while now.

I think he is getting good light and the water quality is excellent. I have tried feeding him (mysis) and even tried some light spray on his tentacles to try to 'free them up'

any suggestions on what he is doing/what happened?

[lanesreef]

I thought a photo might also help to see what is going on. The BTA is just sort of limp on its side and if you look closely you can see the tiny tentacles. Not the greatest picture but maybe it will help.

[CarmieJo]

Hi lanesreef,

:welcome: to TR. My BTA shrivels up and and takes all of its tentacles inside itself on a regular basis but it alwys returns to normal in a few hours. Has anything else changed in your tank? Have you tested for everything? Even the things that you may not test for regularly in a more mature tank like NH3 and NO2? What are your water parameters? Could a powerhead be clogged and your flow is reduced? How old are your bulbs? Sorry for all of the questions but the answers will help us to help you.

[lanesreef]

Carmie,

He has been doing this inside out thing on and off and I found this is pretty reguar per some other discussions.

Nothing in my tank has really changed. My last water test (about 2 days ago) was as follows:

Salinity - 1.023

Calcium - 410
Ph - 7.8 ( a bit low but has been adjusted. I do have a lot of up and down readings between 7.8 & 8.2. I usually have to add some more buffer to adjust. Could this be part of it? I do have hard water)

Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite all at 0

Temp - 78

Powerhead is good and filter is good.

thanks

[CarmieJo]

pH fluctuates with lighting and with CO2. This is why people run their 'fuge on a reverse lighting cycle from the DT. I have heard of people keeping their pH up just by opening a window a crack especially if it is low when the lights have been on for a while. How quickly are you raising the pH? To rapid of a fluctuation is hard on everyone in your tank, especially an anemone that is mostly water.

[Rob]

have you increased, decreased, or modified its feeding in any way?

[lanesreef]

I have not really altered how i treat him. I had not really been feeding him until he recently started this 'false death' thing. Since i try to place a peice of mysis shrimp in his mouth every few days.

As for the Ph i try to keep it stable but have found it keeps dropping. I use a buffer (pH 8.3 seachem) which i thought should raise pH and maintain it. however the maintain is posing a problem. I do usually check it after the lights have been on...mabye an evening or morning check would reveal a different reading.

anyway back to the topic he does look a bit better today and has opened but the tentacles are still flat. I have put up another pic so you can see...if you stand back a bit you will get an idea.

thanks for the info.

[lanesreef]

well despite several efforts the BTA is dead. I found it this morning hanging off the rock. The last photo shows it sort of sideways. I got home and it was flopped over deflated and detached from the rock. It was very slimy also. I took him out :( R.I.P.

I guess we may never know exactly what happened. Thanks for the help anyway.

[CarmieJo]

Hi Seth,

Sorry for your loss.:( Be sure to check your parameters to make sure there wasn't an ammonia spike.