New Gig Progress/Treatment

[dbraun15]

I purchased a small Gig(approx 4 inches) from an LFS and wanted to log the treatment and progress. Please let me know if you see something or recommend me doing something different as this is my first go with a Gig.

Introduction to DT
Observations: Tight mouth, short tentacles, very sticky, attached immediatley



A few hours after intro
Observations: Mouth slightly open, tentacles still short, very sticky, moved to a happier spot.

 

[dbraun15]

Day 2
Observations: Mouth closed slightly, tentacles still short, very sticky, still folded appearance, slightly inflated, fed small piece of krill but took forever to pull to mouth


Day 3
Observations: Mouth open slightly again, tentacles still short, still folded, set up QT, waiting on water temp in QT

 

[dbraun15]

Day 4
Observations: No change from Day 3, balding appearance still evident, still folded, added to QT and first round of Cipro(250mg) added before lights out. Took it a while to attach to the bowl before flow could be turned on. This is upon entry into QT


I will do my first water change tonight and add my second round of Cipro. I will take a pic once I get home from work on progress.

 

[bairdimusprime]

best of luck! nice nem

 

[dbraun15]

Thanks...hopefully the work pays off.

 

[geckoejon]

just curious.... have you seen it deflate at all?expell it's stomach? i don't believe i read anything about that. if not, then why are you treating with cypro?

you stated that it was very sticky, attached quickly, and looks decent in the pics. i'm no expert though. just my curiosity and 2 cents...

 

[dbraun15]

I did see it expel the so called "rat poop" the first day. It hasn't deflated(at least when I've been home) that I have seen. I have also read(after intro to DT) that all carpet nems(with the exception being S. Tapetum) should be treated and that the treatment will not cause harm to a healthy nem. I'm no expert either, but am relying on others and plenty of info to guide me through this. Thanks for following along.

 

[geckoejon]

gotcha... to each their own. i have read and been told that carpets should be put in qt and treated if they show signs such as deflating. i agree that treating should not hurt. i believe that they might develop a tolerance to the meds though. if you need to treat in the future, you might have to switch to another kind such as septra. as i stated before though, i'm no expert. i have a few gig's myself, and just like to read about my critters

hope it does well for you.

 

[dbraun15]

Did you have to treat your gigs? WHich meds did you use? How successful has your treatment regiment been? Thanks for staying along for the ride, and let me know if you have any other suggestions.

 

[dbraun15]

Day 5
Observations:Still folded appearance, sticky, did first 5 gallon water change and sucked out a bunch of junk including the black pellets, added second round of Cipro.


Let me know what you think.

 

[geckoejon]

Did you have to treat your gigs? WHich meds did you use? How successful has your treatment regiment been? Thanks for staying along for the ride, and let me know if you have any other suggestions.

my first gig did not get treated. it was well established though, and came from another local reefer. my second gig looked just like yours, and i did treat it with cypro. it deflated on the first day, so i treated with cypro. after a week, i put it in my dt where it is still thriving. looking back, i wonder if it deflated simply from going into different water. my third blue gig i put into qt for a couple of days. when i got it, it was very sticky and puffy. it looked worse after putting it into qt. i treated with septra for a couple days, stopped treatment, and then placed it into my dt. currently all 3 gigs are in my dt and looking great, imo.

honestly, i think the qt / ht hurts more then it helps sometimes. the water doesn't stay as clean as a well established dt, the constant major wc's cause serious fluctuations in params, and ect... i think about people recommending drip acclimation for nems. if you perform a 50-100% wc daily, that is a far cry from slowly acclimating it to new water. just my personal thoughts

on the other hand, i will admit that i was nervous about adding a new gig to my healthy ones. there is always a risk of it passing on a "pathogen" or some such thing. i think that treatment is helpful sometimes, but i think over done in other circumstances. just my 2 cents...

i don't think i will treat any future gigs unless i see definite signs of being sick such as repeated deflation, expelling it's stomach, or expelling some serious pellets. imo, the pellets in the bucket don't look too bad. it's purely speculation on my part though....

 

[Justinky]

What color are the verracue on this anemone? It's either an S. Helianthus or S. Mertensii I am pretty sure. I can confirm with a pic or if you can ID the coloration of the verracue.

 

[Reefahholic]

Yeah, I agree with Justin, we need to properly ID this nem.

We need to see verracue pic and pic of the foot to ID. His tents look a bit funny.

I think you may have an S. Helianthus.

An S. Helianthus will have smaller brown spots. They're a smaller Nem, and usually a max size of 12 inches.

An S. Gigantea has purple/blue spots with colored foot. They grown much larger.

 

[dbraun15]

The verrucae are purple. The lighting in the Qt isn't very good and doesn't give a good representation of color. The foot is more green than anything. I'm also sure it isn't a Mertensii because the verrucue don't go all the way down the foot. Look at the "day 2" pics, you can see the purple in that pic. I will update shortly. Thanks for following along.

 

[dbraun15]

Day 6(Round 2 of treatment)
Observations:Noticed the folded portion starting to open and it doesn't appear that section has tentacles, still never seen deflation, pulled out a bunch more waste, will continue for 7 day period.


Thanks for following along and let me know if you see something that should be changed/altered.

 

[OrionN]

I am prety sure that is a Gigantea, from the pastel greenish color of the foot. S. heliantus always have brown, not pastel color column. I usually watch my new Gigantea and Magnifica like a hawk and treat as soon as I see deflation after day 1. IMO, they can deflated the first day in a new tank, but more deflation, they will get treat.
It is not the anemone that become resistant to antibiotic, it is the bacterial that become resistant to treatment. Incomplete treatment will leave the bacterial that lelf standing (which is more resistant to medication than the noe that died) to live and reproduce. Bacterial from come from this group then become resistant to that medication. This is a very basic, simple minded explaination of bacterial resistant selection.

OP,
I would not move him now but in the future I would recommend that you not put him in the bowl. This will decrease flow. If you want attach them to cup or bow, inverted it so the anemone can attach to the bottom or the side of it. This way they have more flow.

 

[dbraun15]

Thanks Orion as I have followed your treatment regimine that I have seen on other forums. Is the portion without tentacles anything to be concerned about? Also, any recommendations besides the bowl. He has been there since I began treatment and hasn't moved. Thanks for your help!

 

[OrionN]

I would not worry too much about the bare spots. These anemones are so sticky that they sometime loose tentacles. These patches recover quick enough once they are healthy.

 

[dbraun15]

Thanks!

 

[geckoejon]

It is not the anemone that become resistant to antibiotic, it is the bacterial that become resistant to treatment. Incomplete treatment will leave the bacterial that lelf standing (which is more resistant to medication than the noe that died) to live and reproduce. Bacterial from come from this group then become resistant to that medication. This is a very basic, simple minded explaination of bacterial resistant selection.

good info. thanks for sharing. that being said, would the bacteria in a gig become resistant to antibiotics, if treated without having symptoms? if someone broadcast treats a gig when first brought in with no signs of illness, would the antibiotics be as effective later down the road if that same gig did have symptoms?