RBTA deflated

I picked up a RBTA on Tuesday. I put him in the tank and he started moving around, he ended up hiding out under the ledge of the rock. He looked ok this morning, not great but I figure he is still adjusting. The wife just called and said he is completely deflated and looks pretty rough. I am hoping he is either doing a water change or pooping. I have a reef breeders Photon 48 and it starts it's cycle at 7a and ends at Midnight. It ramps up to 50/50 around 2p and then stays there for 2 hours then ramps back down. I checked parameters the other day and Salinity was at 1.024 Nitrites are 0 Nitrates are at near 0 (really really low using a Salifert kit) Ammonia is at 0 and the temp is at 78.6 degrees. I did a water change last weekend of about 10% which I normally do every weekend. Do you thin the lighting isn't enough, should I try running them a little higher? I will try feeding him some mysis shrimp tonight.

 

I too have a real nice, large RBTA.

Rarely, it's deflated to the size of a half dollar, when normally it's about 7" across.

I think it's chilling, getting aclimated, etc.
I would not change your lighting. These creatures self adjust by moving, right?

If everything else is pretty good param wise.

Give it time, it should be OK

*Edit, unless it's already starving, they also do NOT need much spot feeding. they to have zoanthellae and catch microscopic particles, etc.

 

Your best bet is to just leave it be for now. since you just added it recently the deflation is just the nem acclimating. You'll find that Deflation happens every now and then, usually from pooping, though sometimes its a water exchange thing.

I wouldn't worry too much. How are the foot and mouth looking? They will be your give-a-ways if the nem is in bad health.

Personally I wouldn't spot feed just yet, wait for it to look better and find a spot it likes.

 

+1^^ to the above advice

 

It was partially inflated when I got home. I move the rock he wad partially hiding under so I could get a better look at it. His mouth was open wide and he has some stringy crap coming out of it. I put my lights to 100% so I had more light and without the rock cover and the full intensity of lighting he inflated up pretty quickly. It still has a large chuck of the stringy crap coming out of his mouth. He has a real strong foot hold though. I had my pumps in the feed mode while feeding the fish and when they started back up his tentacles were moving around pretty good but he held on with no problems.

 

Pics would help, sounds like it's working its way back to healthy-ness

 

I ran the lights at 100% for about 2 hours. It's mouth is closed again, and it's fully inflated. It looks great again. I adjusted my lights to run up to 75% max. I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days. Thanks for the help.