Help RBTA VS water change

[twilliard]

Hey all.

Well a while back I had a big ol 8" RBTA that made its way into my CL Dart pump.
I thought it was dead (hundreds of little pieces of him)
Well part of him survived and now is growing and about 2" around.

Here is my catch. He has managed to stick himself at the top of my water line on the side of the tank.
I need to change my water today and the water level WILL drop below him for about 1/2 hour.
Will he be ok there? I did my last water change and noticed him there all hanging but got lucky and didnt die. I do not want to do that again.
What should I do? He is happy there, eats well and grows. I have never taken one off and tried to get it to stick to a rock. Can I even touch one?

 

[Jan]

I would definitely not expose him to air during a water change. Sounds like you're going to have to move him. You can do that by slowly and gently putting a plastic card under the edgue of his foot and gradually loosening him. Wear your aquarium gloves of course before handling him. Other people have tried using an ice cube touched to his foot, or directing a power head towards him. I have only used the plastic card approach. Then put him where you want him; he should grab onto a rock with the edge of his foot. If he won't grab onto anything you can put something over him like a plastic seive/colander (not metal of course).

It should all be okay.

 

[twilliard]

Thanks Jan for the card advise! I will try that approach.

 

[jesshimom]

You can easily peel off with your fingernail also especially when on glass. I did it tons of times. Once it gets started it just will come right off. I had better luck that way.