GBTA Help

[Clarkross]

Hi Guys,

So bought a GBTA from my LFS last week and he was doing fine at first. He moved into a spot he liked and was all happy. His little anemone crab came with him as I didnt want to break them up.

Anyway for the last couple of days he hasn't opened and today is just looking all shrivelled and...not great.

Parameters are all good and did a 10%water change at the weekend.

I recently upgraded to some radion lighting but have it on "acclimatise" mode so I can't imagine that being the problem.

Pic attached. Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot guys!

[Dkuhlmann]

Parameters all good doesn't say what they are. Please provide a full list of your current water parameters.

How old is your tank and how did you acclimate it to your tank?

[Clarkross]

Sorry, Salinity is 1.025. PH is 8.2 Ammonia 0 Phosphate 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate .2 Calcium 420 Magnesium 1300.

Tanks is 6 months old. I follow my LFS advice, let the bag float in my tank for 5 mins, then open the bag and add water to raise the level an inch and then leave for 3 minutes and repeat the process 2 more times after.

Thanks

[aznflyfisherman]

IMO gbta are harder to keep and get it to acclimate to new tanks, at least for me. Mine came out of hiding after 3 weeks and it is looking a lot better, since i bought him bleached. I was feeding my gbta mysis every 3 or 4 days to help it regain its color.

[g_langley]

Ditch the crab;

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2602961

[jml1149]

That's kind of a weak acclimation in my opinion. Should take an hour or so. I float the bag for 15 minutes for temp. Then open the bag, stick my apex ph probe in. 10 oz water out of bag, 10 oz tank water in, every 8 minutes until salinity matches and pH is within +/- 0.05. If match from get go, then for 5 cycles.

What your LFS told you is woefully under done, especially for delicate GBTAs.

[Clarkross]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Unfortunately I'm in Manchester in the uk and we don't have that many LFS but out of the few we have I follow advice from the biggest one where the fish/corals look the most healthy. I guess in this hobby everyone has different methods and all I can do is try to follow the best for my LS.

Funnily enough I just got home from work and my BTA has moved on to the front glass, opened himself up and for the first time one of my clowns is being hosted by it. The anemone crab seems to have either been pushed off by the clown or has gone into hiding.

So amazing how they can one minute look dead and the next be a dazzling thing of beauty :D

[jml1149]

Funny enough I was just in Manchester a month or so back. Caught the Man U match against Swansea. I've never seen anything like that before in my life

[Clarkross]

We are good for our football over here. I actually studied in Boston and got to see the Super Bowl between the Pats and the Giants, that was amazing. Also dated a girl who lived in Stamford, CT and spent a summer there. We got free tickets to watch Jerry Springer. I will never get those 4 hours of my life back haha.

Anyway, looks like maybe the crab was annoying the nem and causing it to shrink up.
Hopefully now the nem is hosting one of my clowns the crab will not come back!

Thanks again for the advice.

[g_langley]

Lovely stuff. BTA's are very sensitive things and don't like critters crawling all over them.