GBTA Health Help

[dvara78]

<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve had a GBTA for several months and after a recent lost battle with ick and losing all my fish the GBTA doesn’t seem like it’s doing too well. </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The tank went approx 5 weeks with no fish in it and I did 15% water changes each week. I recently added 2 small clowns to the tank and everything is doing well - all other corals (SPS, LPS & softies) and inverts apart from the GBTA. All my parameters are in check. The only thing I’ve been battling is tank temps with the heat. </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">He’s been shriveled up for a week or so now and does inflate partially, but mostly stays deflated. I’ve tried feeding small diced pieces of shrimp and it just rejects them. It’s mouth has been open and his just hanging on to a new rock that he moved to recently. </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What can I do to get it do it eat? </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Has anyone had success nursing a sick anemone back to health? </span>

 

[lilrobb]

Light, light, light and more light

Once I swapped to my new T5s again - all my nems came back in no time...

 

[jead85]

after i dropped my t5 4x39w cheap. to a 250x2 my nem seems 100x happier.

 

[dvara78]

It lives under a 150W Radim 20K bulb at the moment. I was planning on trying to move it but don't want to stress it out anymore.

Is there a way to get it to eat more - since it won't eat the cubes of shrimp i directly feed it the only food it gets is the mysis shrimp that is floating around during regular fish feedings.

 

[jennm]

I have a customer who was experiencing similar issues and lost a couple of anemones - one he'd had for several years, another he bought somewhere and brought it to me to try to revive after a couple of weeks (it didn't make it), and he bought a third and it was starting to exhibit the same behavior.

All the params I could check were good - I'd asked him about temperature, and he said temp was fine (75 - cooler than I prefer)... he wasn't using fans this year like he used to, so I questioned that.

Turns out his digital thermometer was on the fritz and reading 10 degrees low ... his tank was really 85. He got out the fans again, cooled the tank and the anemone perked right back up.

So it's quite possibly temperature. What is your tank running at right now?

Jenn

 

[dvara78]

According to my digital thermometer the tank is at 77 in the morning & at 80.5 when I come in the evening after the lights have been on for a good 4 hours. If i dont turn the fans on during the day then the temp will head north towards 82.

Maybe i need another temp guage to make sure the temp is actually what it says it is. I'm using the basic coralife temp guage.

 

[jennm]

It was a Coralife thermometer (digital) that was wonky for my customer.

Use a good old fashioned thermometer or a calibrated probe to check.

If those are the correct temps, then things should be fine, but as we found out the hard way, those CL thermometers can lie.

Jenn

 

[skriz]

Dvara78;542599 wrote: According to my digital thermometer the tank is at 77 in the morning & at 80.5 when I come in the evening after the lights have been on for a good 4 hours. If i dont turn the fans on during the day then the temp will head north towards 82.

Maybe i need another temp guage to make sure the temp is actually what it says it is. I'm using the basic coralife temp guage.

Dil, that coralife temp gauge is absolute and total garbage. I'm willing to bet that your temp is much higher than you think.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a controller. The AC Jr is pretty cheap as o the RK base model. Those are all you'll need for now and you can always expand them.

Don't worry about feeding the anemone. Just make sure the temp is good and he's getting good light.

R

 

[dvara78]

I'd like to thank everyone for the input...turns out it was my Coralife thermometer. Raj, I just ordered the RK Lite so i'm looking forward to using that.

I think this could explain my recent loss of all fish since the temp may have been too high, which stressed them and in turn led to the ick outbreak.

We will rebuild!

 

[jennm]

My customer who had the same problem was just in a few minutes ago and I was telling him that someone here was having the same issue. His anemone (the one that made it) is doing much better, and he's noticed the overall health of the tank is improving also. He'd noticed some stress in the fish (he's had them all for probably 5 years and more), and that has subsided now too.

Do you know what the actual temperature was?

Jenn

 

[dvara78]

Hey Jenn,

There was a 6 degree difference between the coralife temp guage and the RKL....crazy difference!

Needless to say, the CL temp guage is in the trash!

Thanks again for your advice (you too Raj)

 

[jennm]

Hope the anemone bounces back. Glad to share what I (and others) have learned... the hard way

Jenn

 

[fener103]

Hope everything works out for you, I sure love my GBTA and clown combo. When I got my Reef Keeper Lite several weeks ago there was a disparity from my cheapy thermometer and the reefkeeper's temp probe. Do they need to be calibrated?

 

[dvara78]

I don't think they need to calibrated, but i just got my unit today so i'm no expert on the RKL.

Unfortunately the GBTA didn't make it, so once i get the system set up and temp under control i'll try another one.

sucks to have learnt the hardway and lose livestock! But just proves that the cheapest way isn't always the best!

Hope this acts as a warning to others who use the CL temp guage

 

[fener103]

I am sorry to hear that. The only good thing is you might have figured out why you lost your fish as well. There are too many times in this hobby when things die and all of our parameters are in check. Best of luck with the new one. Maybe a RBTA this time?