Rose BTA concerns

[jaxteller007]

We added a rose BTA and the first day or two it's tentacles were fully expanded and long/wavy. For the last week they have been pulled in. I'll take a pic after work today. It moved to it's current location on like day 2 and has stayed there. It opens and closes, isn't bleached or anything. I have seen some kind of long string substance come out of it once or twice, no idea what that is.

 

[Tmm87]

We added a rose BTA and the first day or two it's tentacles were fully expanded and long/wavy. For the last week they have been pulled in. I'll take a pic after work today. It moved to it's current location on like day 2 and has stayed there. It opens and closes, isn't bleached or anything. I have seen some kind of long string substance come out of it once or twice, no idea what that is.

The long stringy thing is usually waste.

 

[rkpetersen]

Your bta may be responding to the change in environment from where it was compared to where it is now. If the lighting level is lower and/or the nutrient levels are lower in the new tank as compared to the old, the nem may find itself with more zooxanthellae in its tissues than the new environment will support. If so, it may start to bleach, mildly or even severely, and expel the excess (and frequently dead/dying) zooxanthellae algae from its mouth as brown stringy material. Frequently other inhabitants of the tank, shrimp and some fish, will eat this stuff, as it still has nutritional value.

When a healthy bta in a stable environment occasionally expels material, this is the normal waste consisting of undigested remains of previously eaten food mixed with old zooxanthellae.

 

[Tmm87]

Amoo recently helped me out with one of mine. Turns out for me it was a spectrum issue, once it was cleaned up the bta made a big turnaround.

Here are before and after pics.

View attachment 20180628_175543.jpg

 

[Radman73]

@Tmm87 What was the spectrum issue?

 

[Tmm87]

I had it cranked up way too high. The coral were all fine with it but the nems were angry. He had me switch it up to be closer to the AB+ and everything in the tank seems happier.

 

[Radman73]

I had it cranked up way too high. The coral were all fine with it but the nems were angry. He had me switch it up to be closer to the AB+ and everything in the tank seems happier.

Intensity or spectrum? Mine looks almost identical to your before photo. What kind of light are you running?

And thanks!

 

[Tmm87]

Intensity or spectrum? Mine looks almost identical to your before photo. What kind of light are you running?

And thanks!

Both. I'm running a Maxspect Razor X. So it's got 4 channels. I had them cranked up way too high (due to my LED ignorance since I've always run T5 previously).

 

[Tmm87]

Intensity or spectrum? Mine looks almost identical to your before photo. What kind of light are you running?

And thanks!

I went from this:

Channel A - Roayl Blue & Cool White - 100%

Channel B - Royal Blue & Light Blue - 75%

Channel C - Deep Blue & Violet - 100%

Channel D - Deep Red, Cyan, & Warm White - 20%

To this:

Channel A - Roayl Blue & Cool White - 30%

Channel B - Royal Blue & Light Blue - 100%

Channel C - Deep Blue & Violet - 80%

Channel D - Deep Red, Cyan, & Warm White - 15%

I've slowly increased Channel A to 45% and that's when I noticed the color change on the nem. The phone camera does it no justice. It's a very nice peachy orange color and the striping is back on the bulbs and the tips have taken on a blue/purple hue. I don't have any pics under white light but I'll see if I can grab one when I get home from work.