Unhappy BTA

[Dsdman]

It looked like this right after the water change this weekend

 

[Bryknicks]

Looks like you have dinos all over the sand bed and rock. Dino's can be bothersome and even kill coral depending on the strain. Once you get the NO3 and PO4 test kits in post the results here. It could be a lack of nutrients in the tank causing these issues. I had a dino problem and it was due to my phosphates bottoming out when I added GFO to my system.

What is your feeding regimen for the BTA/fish? What filtration (mechanical, chemical, etc.) on the tank? Do you dose anything?

 

[Hal3134]

Nitrate= 25-50 ppm. Closer to 25.
Phosphate = 0.25 ppm

I don’t feed the BTA directly. I feed the fish a mix of frozen and Ocean Nutrition flake. Probably the equivalent of 4-6 cubes a day.

I used to dose Prodibio Biodigest every 2 weeks. Last dose was Nov 17. I stopped because I started dosing Vibrant on Dec 6. That was the first and only dose so far.

 

[Hal3134]

I’m having trouble taking a pic. Basically it looks like it’s splitting but is only a square centimeter for each piece.

 

[Hal3134]

 

[Hal3134]

 

[Hal3134]

Other BTA in the tank is withdrawn.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Try to refrain from feeding so much. Just give them one cube only every few days. And defrost/ strain the melted water. Give it a quick rinse before you put it into the tank.

is there a reason why you have to feed so much?

 

[Hal3134]

[QUOTE="chizerbunoi, post: 6813326,

is there a reason why you have to feed so much?
[/QUOTE]
Because I have a lot of fish. My cowfish eats a full cube by himself. They’d literally starve on 1 cube per day.

Cowfish
2x clownfish
11 lyretail anthias
Diamond goby
Orchid dottyback
Royal gramma
Copperband butterfly
2x yellow tangs
Flame angel
Tomini tang
Powder blue tang
Desjardini sailfin tang
Hippo tang
2x zebra dartfish
Niger trigger
Bangaii cardinal

 

[aznflyfisherman]

Dam, I don’t know what size tank you got, but you should rehome all your fish, corals bta. And work on stabilizing your tank..,from the looks of it, everything will probably die off soon...

 

[Hal3134]

It’s in the signature block.

Stabilize what? Ca, alk, and mag, temp and salinity are all in normal range. Nitrate is a little high but not horrible. Phosphate is the same. Source water is from 4 stage RO. Running Rox carbon in a reactor. Honking big protein skimmer 13 inches in diameter and 2 feet tall that is rated for a tank at least 100 gallons bigger than my actual tank.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Wow that’s a lot of fish and must be an awesome sight to see, especially when feeding.

I still think the salinity swing and temp fluctuations that caused the BTA to be unhappy. Another possibility is a bacterial infection if a wild nem was introduced and it’s spread to the others.

Since you said a water change made it happy then go back to the basics. Just do a water change and only dose your elements. Nothing else. See if they react when you slowly add one thing at a time. And slowly meaning a week between dosing some new chemical.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Did the algae start when you stopped dosing Prodibio Biodigest? If yes then the bacteria is dying off and the nuisance is overtaking. Give it time and this bacteria strain will go away in a few months.

I find this happens when I stop any form of carbon dosing

 

[aznflyfisherman]

Your whole tank is full of dino n algae!!!! Good tank if that’s what your shooting for... post a full tank pic.

 

[IKD]

Just my opinion, but I think the phosphates are pretty high. Typical want this in the .05-.10 range. Nitrate of 25 isn’t too bad. Water changes or media to reduce phosphate are options. You have a 250gallon? Media is probably easier.