BTA raising a white flag?

dscheideman · Jan 26, 2021

New to forum. New to green BTA. 48 hours in tank. Seemed to be adjusting well, then it relocated dramatically and spent some time upside down. I flipped it over, with help from his porcelain crab friend, and it's behaving rather strangely. It has some structure sticking out and I'm curious what it is. (See image) My wife is afraid it's dying. I'm thinking he's just needs some time to settle. He is still reactive, just kinda flat and apathetic.

Any thoughts?
Thanks for your insight!

xxkenny90xx · Jan 26, 2021

That nem doesn't look too happy. Has it attached to the rocks yet? If you offer it food does the food stick to it's tentacles? How did it look in the store? Or was it shipped to you? How long has your tank been set up for? Any other nems or corals in the tank? How are they? What light are you using? Can you test all of your parameters?

xxkenny90xx · Jan 26, 2021

Oh and welcome to the club!

secret handshake fist bump GIF by TipsyElves.com

Brandon3152134 · Jan 26, 2021

I'd put it in low flow. I was moving my nems from my main reef to a new nem only tank and did the unthinkable and riped a peice of the foot. Left it in the tank and it was better in a week.

dscheideman · Jan 27, 2021

xxkenny90xx said:
That nem doesn't look too happy. Has it attached to the rocks yet? If you offer it food does the food stick to it's tentacles? How did it look in the store? Or was it shipped to you? How long has your tank been set up for? Any other nems or corals in the tank? How are they? What light are you using? Can you test all of your parameters?

A couple of small soft corals frags who are doing fine. We've had a purple tipped (?) Nem for close to a year and 'she' is fine. Spritely as ever. As to the water, Slightly above trace ammonia, trace nitrite and nitrate( I'm now a couple of partial changes in and levels are staying mellow). pH ~8.1 and stable. SG 1.022 PPT. 76.8°F.

The green nem is looking more depressed today, but she's still reactive to stimulus. Low flow where she's at. The crab does seem to try to pull her around occasionally. She did wander over between a rock and shell I stuck in there to keep her of the sand. A lot of conflicting info floating around on how to proceed. We are having a light with better reef specs shipped in, it should be here tomorrow. And she came from a local salt water specialist. So not shipped, and not a chain store.

Okay. Attached photos of the sad green and perky purple.

Phil D. · Jan 27, 2021

hmmm, not good, think it's dying due to innards sticking out.

Jilly92 · Jan 27, 2021

dscheideman said:
A couple of small soft corals frags who are doing fine. We've had a purple tipped (?) Nem for close to a year and 'she' is fine. Spritely as ever. As to the water, Slightly above trace ammonia, trace nitrite and nitrate( I'm now a couple of partial changes in and levels are staying mellow). pH ~8.1 and stable. SG 1.022 PPT. 76.8°F.

The green nem is looking more depressed today, but she's still reactive to stimulus. Low flow where she's at. The crab does seem to try to pull her around occasionally. She did wander over between a rock and shell I stuck in there to keep her of the sand. A lot of conflicting info floating around on how to proceed. We are having a light with better reef specs shipped in, it should be here tomorrow. And she came from a local salt water specialist. So not shipped, and not a chain store.

Okay. Attached photos of the sad green and perky purple.

How is the flow?

xxkenny90xx · Jan 27, 2021

dscheideman said:
A couple of small soft corals frags who are doing fine. We've had a purple tipped (?) Nem for close to a year and 'she' is fine. Spritely as ever. As to the water, Slightly above trace ammonia, trace nitrite and nitrate( I'm now a couple of partial changes in and levels are staying mellow). pH ~8.1 and stable. SG 1.022 PPT. 76.8°F.

The green nem is looking more depressed today, but she's still reactive to stimulus. Low flow where she's at. The crab does seem to try to pull her around occasionally. She did wander over between a rock and shell I stuck in there to keep her of the sand. A lot of conflicting info floating around on how to proceed. We are having a light with better reef specs shipped in, it should be here tomorrow. And she came from a local salt water specialist. So not shipped, and not a chain store.

Okay. Attached photos of the sad green and perky purple.

Looks like the purple nem is climbing up high in search of more light. Glad to hear you ordered a better one.

Something doesn't seem right here. A tank that's been up for a year shouldn't have nitrite and ammonia present. What test kits are you using? Do you have live rocks?