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View Full Version : RBTA issues.... Some expertise needed.


ajcanale
05/27/2012, 06:02 PM
Okay I know there are people out there who insist on knowing parameters, so here goes:

Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate: 0
Specific Gravity: 1.025-1.026 (ATO swing)
PH: 8.4-8.65 (24 hour range)
Alk: 9.5-10 dKh
Calcium: 420ish
Mag: 1300ish

Tank has been up and running for 5 months, all LR, 1/3 total water, and many of the inhabitants were from my prior 4 year old 46g system. Tank was run for the first month with prior sump/rufugium, which contained live rock/DSB/Macro.

My tank is now set up as an SPS dominant mixed reef. There are 10+ sps colonies, another 5-6 mounted frags, Lots of LPS, and some zoa's.

So I got a RBTA from someone locally who pretty much farms them.
First three months were prefect. Upon acclimating, I placed it under where I ideal wanted it to perch or whatever. We'll that's exactly where it ended up... and stayed, and hosted my clowns.

Fast forward three months (3 weeks ago). I get home from work, take a look at my tank, just as we all do. We'll one of my Radions is off (the one closest to the anemone). After some troubleshooting and dealing with Ecotech Customer Service (who were nothing short of excellent), we determine that the unit is inoperable from a fan failure. They end up overnight shipping me a new unit, which ends up taking an extra two days because of delay.

After speaking with Ecotech, I notice that the anemone was stretching out towards the other light. So in an effort to balance things out I mounted my old 20k MH, and balanced out the spectrum and output as much as possible. Things progressed smoothly into the next day.

Well I came home from work to see that it had moved up towards the halide, nearing some of my nicer SPS colonies. Not knowing exactly what to do I gently removed it's foot and placed him back under his original settling spot. It ended up staying there for a few more days during which I got my replacement Radion. We'll over the course of the past 8-10 days he has been moving all around the left side of my tank, somewhat in a figure 8.

The GOOD news: I have seen him up against 3 sps colonies (1 monti, 1 Acro, 1 Stylo), my zoa garden, and my Acan garden. While they were all irritated, there has been no necrosis or even any tissue damage. This has brought a lot of peace of mind.

Problem is, it's still wondering, and in all the same places. I'm worried that it's health might be compromised if it doesn't find a place to settle soon. I'm 99.9% sure that this has nothing to do with water quality or anything similar. I believe it to only be a reaction to a sudden change in lighting.

That said, I can only think of four options that I have:
-Continue to wait
-Feed (was feeding mysis or fresh shrimp every other week) in hopes that it will settle in place.
-Move him back to original spot and hope it will settle.
-Move, then feed, in hopes that it will settle.

Anyone with experience have any suggestions? Sorry about being so long winded, just wanted to make everything clear.
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bradleym
05/27/2012, 10:54 PM
I had one that didn't settle for weeks. It would hide in the rocks and then pop out for a few days in a different spot. I tried to leave it be but it started to fade away. I tried to position it but it moved again. Finally I just fed it every time it came out. It eventually found a place and settled in.

So my advice would be to increase the feedings and hope it settles down.

lanceiswaiting
05/28/2012, 06:22 AM
Leave it alone. It will settle. I blew the ballast on my halide and some of my BTA's (at least 10 of them) wandered everywhere for weeks and split repeatedly after I got it replaced. It took me about 2 weeks to get around to replacing it while I had fluros on the tank. Now 2 months on, all are fine and I can't get them to move from their spots.

Whip316
05/28/2012, 07:37 AM
It's moving to find the lighting it had before. If it doesn't stick itself to the rock food then I would continue to keep moving it. If its real stuck on the rocks then I would stop cause you could damage the foot. Try putting it where you want and surround the foot if you can with some small rubble. It should stick.
I bought a few rbta's from Anthony Calfo and he told me to try this trick. Worked for me every time.


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ajcanale
05/28/2012, 10:43 AM
Thanks for the replies. Glad to hear that others have taken time to settle. I am going to wait and see what happens for another week, if its still moving around I will feed it, then see what happens for another week. If it's still moving in the same pattern I will move it back to it's original spot and maybe feed again.