Bubble Tip Problems

[CandyCane]

So since I got my RBA in august
- it has gone from a rich orange colour with a green base
- then to a florecent red with a white base
- It also went from being happy at the top of my tank where there was flow and lots of light
- now underneith a pile of rocks on the bottom of the tank where there is no light and probably very little flow.
-it never has bubbles and barely any tenticles to speak of
-its stalk is healthy and its able to move quickly around the rocks and attach very well

I'm very concerned with whats going on and I would apreciate any tips as to what could have caused these changes and how I can caux him back into what he was.

Water parimeters:
specific gravity- 0.0252
Ammonia- 0ppm
nitrite- 0ppm
nitrate- very trace amounts

I dose the tank with:
Strontium
Iodide
liquid calcium
magnesium ions
Fuel
directly feed corals with chromaplex and coral accel

I do RO water top offs in the morning and at night to keep salt levels in check

[George]

Originally Posted by CandyCane

So since I got my RBA in august
- it has gone from a rich orange colour with a green base
- then to a florecent red with a white base
- It also went from being happy at the top of my tank where there was flow and lots of light
- now underneith a pile of rocks on the bottom of the tank where there is no light and probably very little flow.
-it never has bubbles and barely any tenticles to speak of
-its stalk is healthy and its able to move quickly around the rocks and attach very well

I'm very concerned with whats going on and I would apreciate any tips as to what could have caused these changes and how I can caux him back into what he was.

How big is your tank? What light are you using?

Originally Posted by CandyCane

Water parimeters:
specific gravity- 0.0252
Ammonia- 0ppm
nitrite- 0ppm
nitrate- very trace amounts

I hope your SG is 1.0252 BTW , what device do you use to measure SG to get an accuracy of 0.0002

Originally Posted by CandyCane

I dose the tank with:
Strontium
Iodide
liquid calcium
magnesium ions
Fuel
directly feed corals with chromaplex and coral accel

I do RO water top offs in the morning and at night to keep salt levels in check

Do you measure any of above parameters? especially strontium, Iodide? Fuel (amino acid) may not do reef tanks any good.
Back to the RBTA, does it have any tentacles left? Are the tentacles sticky (i.e. when you feed it food, does it stick to the tentacles?) If they are still sticky, try to feed it. If it doesn't eat and hiding in a place with little light, your RBTA is no hope. I suggest you getting it out and giving it to a more experience reefer. my $0.02.

[dc4]

Originally Posted by George

How big is your tank? What light are you using?


I hope your SG is 1.0252 BTW , what device do you use to measure SG to get an accuracy of 0.0002


Do you measure any of above parameters? especially strontium, Iodide? Fuel (amino acid) may not do reef tanks any good.
Back to the RBTA, does it have any tentacles left? Are the tentacles sticky (i.e. when you feed it food, does it stick to the tentacles?) If they are still sticky, try to feed it. If it doesn't eat and hiding in a place with little light, your RBTA is no hope. I suggest you getting it out and giving it to a more experience reefer. my $0.02.

I agree, try to move it from under the rock or flip the rock over if nothing else is on it. After that, try feeding it, not sure how big it is but my nems love blood worms and krill.

[ScubaSteve]

Feed it and feed it well. That's the key to a happy nem. What light are you using?

Ask BlazingArrow how he keeps his RBTA. It's amazing!

[Money pit]

Its bleaching, thats why the color change went from a nice orange to a florescent red, Im betting its getting close to a pinkish color. The white base is a dead give away. Don't know what caused it to bleach but if it went from on top the rock to under the rock, its hiding from something. Like what was pointed out by other posters, try feeding it. If its not sticky anymore or wont take food, the only other thing you can do is up your nitrates, get them up between 5-10. If there are any SPS in the tank they wont like this, but LPS, Zoas and softies should be happy with it. With higher NO3 the Zooxanthellae
{ algae that gives it color ) will absorb it as nourishment and hopefully be enough to let the BTA pull through. Ive kept BTAs under regular florescents using this method, plus feeding. Good luck, this may take some time.

[Bloodasp]

Does it have an aggresive clown living in it?

[CandyCane]

Okay so yes I meant 1.0252 the .ooo2 just a guess with my eye's. I've got a coralife deep six hydrometer.

The tank is a 20gallon tall with about 20lbs of live rock and 2" of fine live sand.

10gallon sump with rubble for a bio filter along with some small corals living in it, tuns of filter snails, a hermit crab, and cheato. Also have some carbon and purigen to keep any chemical warfare down.

The light is a wave point 4 bulb fixture with:
-2 white 10,000k bulbs
-1 actinic
-1 blue wave
I tried flipping the rock once and thats when it moved from the top of the tank to the very bottom.

I've got a stupidly aggressive little maroon clown thats about 2". The BTA when spread out in the biginning was 3" across. I fed the BTA krill this morning and it ate some so its still grabs onto food! The tenticles have also come out a lot more since feeding.

I have some corals in the tank that would probably die from a nitrate increase as well as a sensitive blue tang.

[Bloodasp]

Yeah, i had an issue with an aggressive maroon and a bubble tip which all the tentacles shrunk and got so pale a couple of weeks after introducing the clown, it got so aggresive to the point where it would pull so hard on the tentacles that it would rip it off and it would eat it. It took a couple of months for the anemone to recover after taking out the maroon. A tomato clown lives in it now which seems to be working great for both the clown and the anemone.

[CandyCane]

Well the clown just protects it and sleeps near it now, it can't actually bug it anymore since the BTA is upside down. Silly clown just freaks out at me when I touch HER corals haha I got bit this morning for adjusting my frogspawn!

[yellowworld]

I have the same problem with my RBTA losing colour. this is what it looked like a month and a half ago



and this is what it looks like today



my maroon isn't as aggressive as yours but it still have lost a lot of colour, and size, but its still very healthy and eating and hasn't moved an inch. If I could help you get yours back on track I would but I can't seem to get mine to colour up