RBTA Problems

[Dan13]

Hey Guys,

I recently developed a bad case of dinoflagellates which had decided to take over my tank. Covered my sand, rocks, and unreachable parts of my glass, and no matter how much I scrubbed the rocks with a toothbrush, cleaned the glass, or vacuumed the sand, within hours it would all be back again! Up until this point, my RBTA refused to attach anywhere, even when blocked in by rocks he would always find a way to escape!

I took advice from people on different forums and decided to do a complete "blackout" of the tank for 3 whole days. I turned the lights off and covered the whole tank from top to bottom with cardboard so that not a single bit of light was coming in and the dinoflagellates would starve out.

Today I took off the cardboard and the tank looked perfect. Everything in there still alive, sand, glass and rocks completely clear of the horrible brown snot, and to my surprise, my RBTA was huge and attached to the glass! I could not have been happier!

30 minutes with the lights on, and he has decided to shrink himself down a bit, unattach himself from the glass, and is now sitting on the sand.

What can the problem be here?

- Too much light so trying to get away from it?!
- Loves the dark?!
- Does not care for the natural light coming in from outside the tank onto his foot?!
- Something else that I am unaware of?!

He is a healthy specimen, foot looks great, the water levels are great, no problems with him other than the fact that he just will not attach to anything!

1.025 Salinity
25 Degrees Celcius
8.0 pH
8 KH
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites
5 Nitrates
370 Calcium
1160 Magnesium

 

[Ludders]

I suspect it's just the change which has unsettled it. I'm not sure a black out on its own will solve your dino problem though, so it might not be the last you see of that issue.

If they do start to come back, there is a useful thread on this forum to help tackle the problem. It would probably help to understand what variety of dino's you have. A multi pronged attack on them will probably be required with a raise in tank nutrient levels to help out compete them and restore the balance.

As for the nem, you're best off just leaving it to settle back somewhere of its own accord.

 

[laverda]

BTAs like to hide there foot typicaly under an overhang or in a hole in a rock. They want a place with access to light and flow around them. I agree give it time unless it is floating around. If it is floating about you can gently hold it in a place as described. They have always attached quickly this way for me.

 

[reef lover]

Old thread....