Help: BTA disappeared. cut up in the pump?

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

Hi gang,

I had a pretty decent size BTA in my reef tank. A week and a half ago, I adjusted the rockscape and the BTA pictured wasn't quite happy with its new location... so it really started moving around a lot the last several days.

The picture taken was it's location yesterday as it moved higher up on the rockwork. Today I got home after work and the BTA was gone. I noticed a few super tiny specks of it in the substrate and different corners of the tank.

Was my BTA shredded up from the mp40 or IceCap 4k Gyre?
I can't imagine it getting this disintegrated...

There's only a lawnmower blenny and CUC in the tank in terms of fish.

cshouston · Oct 1, 2020

Those things are much smaller than you’d think when they’re deflated/dead. The exact same thing happened to me once. I had a rose BTA that was being hosted by a cinnamon clown for the first time and overnight it disappeared. The only unguarded device was my gyre so it must have gone walkabout and been sucked in. All I ever found was a couple of tiny specks.

fishguy242 · Oct 1, 2020

hi ,keep looking,looks like just tips,start fresh carbon,watch other corals for distress

fishguy242 · Oct 1, 2020

btw:
hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun...
hope you find it

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

fishguy242 said:
btw:
hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun...
hope you find it

Thanks! I've been lurking around reading thru stuff. Lol

KrisReef · Oct 1, 2020

Sump surfer?
Welcome to Reef2Reef! I hope the nem is still alive but those tell tale bits are not promising.

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

KrisReef said:
Sump surfer?
Welcome to Reef2Reef! I hope the nem is still alive but those tell tale bits are not promising.

Thanks!
Checked the filter sock. Empty. I don't like those bits either.... but at least everything in the rest of the tank seems to be doing fine..

fishguy242 · Oct 1, 2020

what size tank is this?

dan3949 · Oct 1, 2020

Every time I have seen that happen, I got cloudy water. I agree with the sentiment that the bits are a telltale sign the nem was sucked into the pump.

jwilliams860 · Oct 1, 2020

I've seen rainbow btas drop their tips like that before. Generally, from my experience, if that get sucked into a power head out will shred the tentacles and usually the foot is still on the outside of the guard. Also, when this happens, usually I've seen loss of fish as well because the nematocysts get spread into the water column and can get in the fish's gills. If it was shredded completely I would think you'd have more evidence of that.
My guess would be that he has pulled back into the rock work and you just aren't seeing it. I have a bta that is maybe 16" across during the day and at night you have to look hard to find it on the back side of the rock.

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

fishguy242 said:
what size tank is this?

90 gallon. my first reef tank

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

dan3949 said:
Every time I have seen that happen, I got cloudy water. I agree with the sentiment that the bits are a telltale sign the nem was sucked into the pump.

I just changed my carbon a couple days ago... perhaps that cleaned up my water that quickly?

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

jwilliams860 said:
I've seen rainbow btas drop their tips like that before. Generally, from my experience, if that get sucked into a power head out will shred the tentacles and usually the foot is still on the outside of the guard. Also, when this happens, usually I've seen loss of fish as well because the nematocysts get spread into the water column and can get in the fish's gills. If it was shredded completely I would think you'd have more evidence of that.
My guess would be that he has pulled back into the rock work and you just aren't seeing it. I have a bta that is maybe 16" across during the day and at night you have to look hard to find it on the back side of the rock.

checked the outside of the guards and didn't find anything. My friend was warning me about it nuking the tank, but I guess it's a good thing I only have the lawnmower blenny. How did you clean nematocysts from the water column?

Got it. I'll look around again after work today.

cshouston · Oct 1, 2020

Pandora_Reef said:
checked the outside of the guards and didn't find anything. My friend was warning me about it nuking the tank, but I guess it's a good thing I only have the lawnmower blenny. How did you clean nematocysts from the water column?

Got it. I'll look around again after work today.

When my nem got chopped by the gyre, I just threw carbon in my sump. I never got cloudy water, and it never negatively affected the tank. It wasn’t a huge BTA though, and yours didn’t look very big either. I think you’ll be fine. It just sucks to lose the investment. If you decide to try again, there are 3D printed anemone guards for gyres available online.

Pandora_Reef · Oct 1, 2020

cshouston said:
When my nem got chopped by the gyre, I just threw carbon in my sump. I never got cloudy water, and it never negatively affected the tank. It wasn’t a huge BTA though, and yours didn’t look very big either. I think you’ll be fine. It just sucks to lose the investment. If you decide to try again, there are 3D printed anemone guards for gyres available online.

Good to know! Idk how big BTAs get, but this was one of the largest I had. I rehomed the tank, and it was loaded with BTAs. Only kept the largest two, so I still have one left.
I'll look around for those 3d printed guards! Thanks for the tips