RBTA won't come out to tan... HELP.

[seattlereef]

I picked up an RBTA on 1/25. Had good color, his foot was intact and I placed him on top of a shelf rock. 24 hours later he wedges himself between the shelf rock and another rock. Another week or two later he moves to the other side and wedges himself into a pass through. Here he has some light but I kind of figure he's still finding his spot. Fast forward to 2/12 and about half his tentacles are now gray instead of red/rose, I figure he needs more light so I rearrange the rock so that he is facing upward toward the light (didn't touch him just moved the rock). That day he appeared to be getting some more color but at night he traveled back under the shelf rock toward the back and won't come out even though he's hardly getting any light there. I've spot feed him about once or twice a week with Mysis, Brine Shrimp and Cyclopese and he is eating some but not great and he's now positioned himself in the back and under a rock so spot feeding him is not practical. Anyone got any advise?

Details:
145G DT
55G Sump
55G Refugium/ATS

10% Water change weekly

Parameters
PH: 8.26
Ammonia : 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0-5ppm
Alkalinity: 145ppm
Calcium 424ppm
Salinity: 1.25sg
Temp: 79-79.9

 

[Katchupoy]

how old is the tank? What kind of lighting... Please give us specifics...

 

[itche_scratche]

Give time he will come out. If he eat, then he should be ok. Mine take almost 3 months before he come out.

 

[seattlereef]

Lighting are 3 120W ebay LED lights, tank is about 3 months old.

 

[Holygral]

Your tanks is too new to host your RBTA, it needs to mature for 9-12 months. Also not know exactly what type of lights your have, that also may not be best suited for him

 

[mcoomer]

That is a relatively new tank but I'm more interested in the lighting that you're using. I know that a lot of folks tend to burn corals when they first move to LEDs and end up cutting way back on driver power to allow the tank to become acclimated. Have you tried varying the intensity and color of LEDs to see if that's an issue? Do you have any corals in the tank? If so, how are they doing?

I also find myself agreeing with Holygral. Three months isn't much time for a tank to mature. Putting a nem in a tank that would have been two months old when you introduced it probably wasn't the best decision you could have made.

Mike

 

[jrgilles]

These guys like tons of light in my experience. Not too familiar with LEDs though. Mine like to bake under the halides all day long

 

[Sasquatch]

from the post Id have to suggest bleaching, traumatic lighting changes will kill off zoo's, they go into hiding for protection, it is a mobile invert and knows what it requires so leave it be and with luck it will recover

 

[Nitex]

My RBTA came on a small rock i got for my Nano 14g and was in from day 1.. Yeah bad idea right? wont grow or bulb or gain good color right? well... To be honest color was fantastic, and he was always nice a bulbous. I figured he was happy, especially since it split in my Nano!!

Now recently placed in my 65g with the same LED lighting i was using previously (albeit a lot more LEDs), and already now 3 weeks one of the splits is forming nice bulbs and color. The other is completely opposite, small, lacking color and size etc. I also noticed that the unhappy one is not directly in the light.

This confused me as i placed the original in a 14g at the start of my cycle and it seemed to do really well.

I am not entirely sure of my point, but i think what im getting around to is... each life form may have subtle differences. Give this one time and hopefully it will come around!

As long as your water params are in order, and your LEDs give enough PAR. I would assume your ok and just waiting for him to acclimate to its new tank. But then again who knows, its an anemone after all!

 

[seattlereef]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't change the intensity of my LED's since I didn't get dimmable. Plus my corals in the tank seem to be liking the light intensity.

Its still alive in fact it moved to a new location when I pointed a PH in its general direction to get him to move toward the front of the display. However he hardly has any red left and most of his tentacles have fallen off. Hopefully he'll rebound but we'll see. Feeding wise I haven't been target feeding him recently I've just been doing a heavy broadcast feed with Brine Shrimp/Mysis/Cyclopese. When I do this he curls up I assume eating some of the food.

 

[Nitex]

Well i hope the best for your RBTA, i think they are really cool anenome.

I came home with the intention of trying to feed mine. The happy one ate, the unhappy one did not. However it seemed to come back looking better after it closed up and back again. Im sure this is only temporary, and or just in my head.


RBTA by nitex08, on Flickr
Happy baby RBTA eating away on a piece of silver side.


RBTA 2 by nitex08, on Flickr
Unhappy RBTA after it closed and re-opened. Still in the shade, still not eating and both were placed in the tank at the same time /shrug

 

[kimberlee]

Try feeding scallop or prawns in small pieces. Make sure it's not cooked. That's what mine like. I can't get any of my to eat silverside they just spit it out. I think that your tank is still very new and he's trying to a just to all the new water. Best of luck.

 

[riemannp]

I once had an RTBA which seems to expel algae giving the bleached look, especially at the base. After some research, I learned that extra nutrician is important until the anenomie recovers, which I did with a successful end result. I feed every 1-2 days during this period and got a handle on my lighting which I assumes was the problem. I would not unilaterally assume a young tank is the problem if you are feeding them, these buggers are pretty resilient. I never try to accommodate their movements as I simply believe it's pointless to cator to their unpredictable decisions on locations / movement. However once they settle in on a place I like, I tend to feed them more under the assumption a happily fed nem will stay put (who knows if this is correct or not)