Worried about new Sherman BTA

Diane_S

Premium Member
Hi!I got a small Sherman BTA Saturday night and put him in my frag tank.  On Sunday afternoon he looked like this:View attachment 4421On Monday morning I saw that he had moved behind a rock.  He was still there on Tuesday - this is looking down at him:View attachment 4431Later at midnight I saw that he had moved over to a nearby frag rock that had a piece of red dragon caulerpa attached to it.Today he is flat and stringy:View attachment 4432The back wall didn't have all the red goo on it before -- that's him.  :(I've been Googling and read that BTA's expel the water in them and take in new water when placed in a different tank and get flat and deflated but looking at him, I wonder if he's dying.The tank is a 20-gallon JBJ frag tank that's been running for almost 2 years.  It's never had a fish in it.Nitrite = 0Nitrate = 0Calc = 460Mag = 1500Temp = 80It has an Ocean Revive T247 light (full spectrum) over it - I had turned the lights down when I put him in to let him get used to them and turned them up a tiny bit because my corals weren't looking as happy as they had before.The tank has a spray bar which I turned upward on day one so it wasn't blasting him and I had put some rocks between it and him to buffer him til he attached to the rock.  The tank has two small Koralia powerheads (one of each end that I covered in wedding veil so he doesn't puree himself) on a wave controller (not pointing directly at him) that blow across the top the front half of the tank.I have a mini refugium in the first chamber and about 15 pounds of live rock in the center chamber in the back.I know the tank is too shallow for a BTA and this was just a temporary until I set up an anemone/clown tank I've been plotting.Is he going to make it or is he a goner?Thanks!!  
 
Is your anemone showing any improvements today?  I wish I could help, but I have zero experience with anemones. 
 
Nope, he's done.  When I got home from work last night I could see his red tissue peeling off in the current - he's mostly white now so I'm about to remove him and do a big water change.  :(I've been doing a lot of Googling through this whole ordeal and found a really interesting thread on treating new anemones who are showing signs of decline with antibiotics.  Many of the posters claim they had a good success rate.  I'm just wondering at what point I should have started it if I had had the necessary items on hand - he declined so quickly overnight. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2271385
 
In my experience, waiting to take action on anything in this hobby, usually doesn't end well. Sorry to hear about your nem :-(
 
I'm really sorry about that. I know how you feel. I lost my purple firefish last weekend, and I have no idea why. Picture of health one minute, dead the next. Very depressing. 
 
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