skyrne_isk
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- Jun 5, 2019
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So like fight club, when you think you've avoided a crisis in your reef tank, the first two rules are "don't talk about it" or as we all know - you will jinx it and it won't happen.
So now, I am about three weeks past disaster and two weeks past a crisis - so am probably far enough along that I can write about it in good conscience. But I’m still going to knock on wood.
Go back about six weeks ago, and I noticed that my mag isn't looking quite right. Not terrible, just not as robust as it usually does over the last couple of years I have had it. Here it was a couple weeks or so before the troubles began.
At the same time, there was a significant outbreak of dinos in the tank and so I chalked it up to general irritation from those guys and I turn the UV on and don't think much else of it. Over the years I have learned not to make “adjustments” when my nems aren’t looking right – usually these just make any transient issue way worse than doing nothing.
Another 3-4 weeks of looking like 80-90% of its best self and it did a half deflate cycle – which is pretty much a “never” event so I go back to basics and manually test and confirm my parameters. On a paranoid note, I order refractometer calibration solution and double check my salinity and find that I am at 1.023 and probably have been for a good 6-8 weeks. I usually aim for something closer to 1.026 or 1.027 and I am not too strict about trying to keep it perfect. What had happened is not only was my refractometer off, but I skipped water changes in February and March and probably got lazy with not topping off with NSW when the skimmer cup was changed and so the ATO just kept doing its thing. So I do a big water change, siphon out what I can of the dinos, and the next couple days its looking fantastic again.
Here is where the series of unfortunate events begin.
So the mag is looking better and I decide to give it a usual feeding along with the carpets and it eats - no big deal. About two days later, I come home to find it 90% deflated – which is a dead give away for a bacterial infection. In retrospect, it had not been doing well for several weeks and was not in any position to take a meal in. When the nem isn’t cycling fresh tank water to flush waste products out of its system, never a good idea to feed it – and yet here I was, forgetting that lesson. Into the QT tank we go and Cipro starts that day.
The day after that - between the dinos and low SG, I notice that not only did my mag deflate but so now is my other long established gig in the same tank. Now I’m short on treatment tanks – let alone heaters and MP10s so the best option (which is less than ideal) is to treat them both in the same treatment tank. Now the gig and the mag are in the same 20G cube. Did I mention the mag is a solid 20” or so across? So the tank is a tight fit, but doable.
I keep the vortechs separated from the rest of treatment tank with egg crate panel and for reasons I cannot fathom – somehow the gig managed to squeeze a good part of its oral disk through the ½” opening in the egg crate and I come down to find a treatment tank that looked more like pea soup than sea water. So I do the water change and survey the damage - the gig lost probably a third of its oral disk but is alive. The mag was looking terrible, only partially inflating and with it’s mouth still gaping.
Both anemones are still sloughing mucous every day and expelling zoo, so water changes get ramped up to every 12 hours to keep the tank water mostly clear. At day 7, the gig is good to go back into the main display but the mag is till looking meh.
The mag gets to day 9 in treatment and the next problem hits. I come down to check on it in the morning and water is unusually cloudy. So I flip on the light go to change the water and when my hand hits the tank I almost throw up inside – its roughly the temperature of bath water, at 92. When I had put the heater back into the tank the night before (at probably 10PM or so just before bed) I rushed and didn’t lay the heater flat along the bottom the tank – instead the vortechs sloshed it until it was roughly vertical – and the thermostat in the heater must have been just above the waterline and the heater was stuck on for the better part of 8 hours. Now the problem is how quickly do I lower the temp? I am guessing temp shock from dropping too fast would be just as bad as being in too warm water. So over the next hour I drop the temp down to 78 and it doesn’t look good. The anemone has no shape and has the consistency of crepe paper. For sure, it’s done for I think – but I change out all the water and dose with Cipro and I expect to find a pile of mush when I come back 12 hours later.
That night, it’s not much better. In fact when I check on it – the siphonglyphs are totally flaccid and I can actually see the rock the mag is attached to through its mouth – not a good sign. But at this point I’ve come too far to pull it and so I change 100% water every 12 hours and re-dose with Cipro at every water change. Easily a couple hundred gallons of makeup water have been gone through by now. No real change in posture until day 10, when I come to find the anemone looking like this and I am stunned.
That it had enough energy to muster up a tepid balling posture really gave me optimism for the first time that it might actually make it.
Another 4 days of treatment in Cipro and thanks to Metro and UV in the main display – the dinos are pretty much under control and back in the mag goes. That was about 10 days ago and not a single deflation since coming back to the display.
I can’t believe it survived, with all it went through it by rights SHOULDN’T have made it. When I have treated anemones (mostly gigs) in the past, usually in a day or two of Cipro they perk right up. It’s uncommon, but if they don’t bounce back after a couple of days in the antibiotic they usually don’t make it. This anemone (maybe due to it’s size) took a full 14 days of antibiotic before pulling through. My main regret is that I didn’t take more photos of how it looked in the process – but I had such little hope for it pulling through it didn’t occur to me. But there were times when it looked fully dead – and the foot didn’t appear “planted” just more “still stuck to the rock but more by accident”. So had there been any notion that it would actually make it, I would have documented by progress for all to see – but here we are.
Here she is as of today a little bleached and faded, but not too much the worse for wear.
Thanks for the read!
So now, I am about three weeks past disaster and two weeks past a crisis - so am probably far enough along that I can write about it in good conscience. But I’m still going to knock on wood.
Go back about six weeks ago, and I noticed that my mag isn't looking quite right. Not terrible, just not as robust as it usually does over the last couple of years I have had it. Here it was a couple weeks or so before the troubles began.
At the same time, there was a significant outbreak of dinos in the tank and so I chalked it up to general irritation from those guys and I turn the UV on and don't think much else of it. Over the years I have learned not to make “adjustments” when my nems aren’t looking right – usually these just make any transient issue way worse than doing nothing.
Another 3-4 weeks of looking like 80-90% of its best self and it did a half deflate cycle – which is pretty much a “never” event so I go back to basics and manually test and confirm my parameters. On a paranoid note, I order refractometer calibration solution and double check my salinity and find that I am at 1.023 and probably have been for a good 6-8 weeks. I usually aim for something closer to 1.026 or 1.027 and I am not too strict about trying to keep it perfect. What had happened is not only was my refractometer off, but I skipped water changes in February and March and probably got lazy with not topping off with NSW when the skimmer cup was changed and so the ATO just kept doing its thing. So I do a big water change, siphon out what I can of the dinos, and the next couple days its looking fantastic again.
Here is where the series of unfortunate events begin.
So the mag is looking better and I decide to give it a usual feeding along with the carpets and it eats - no big deal. About two days later, I come home to find it 90% deflated – which is a dead give away for a bacterial infection. In retrospect, it had not been doing well for several weeks and was not in any position to take a meal in. When the nem isn’t cycling fresh tank water to flush waste products out of its system, never a good idea to feed it – and yet here I was, forgetting that lesson. Into the QT tank we go and Cipro starts that day.
The day after that - between the dinos and low SG, I notice that not only did my mag deflate but so now is my other long established gig in the same tank. Now I’m short on treatment tanks – let alone heaters and MP10s so the best option (which is less than ideal) is to treat them both in the same treatment tank. Now the gig and the mag are in the same 20G cube. Did I mention the mag is a solid 20” or so across? So the tank is a tight fit, but doable.
I keep the vortechs separated from the rest of treatment tank with egg crate panel and for reasons I cannot fathom – somehow the gig managed to squeeze a good part of its oral disk through the ½” opening in the egg crate and I come down to find a treatment tank that looked more like pea soup than sea water. So I do the water change and survey the damage - the gig lost probably a third of its oral disk but is alive. The mag was looking terrible, only partially inflating and with it’s mouth still gaping.
Both anemones are still sloughing mucous every day and expelling zoo, so water changes get ramped up to every 12 hours to keep the tank water mostly clear. At day 7, the gig is good to go back into the main display but the mag is till looking meh.
The mag gets to day 9 in treatment and the next problem hits. I come down to check on it in the morning and water is unusually cloudy. So I flip on the light go to change the water and when my hand hits the tank I almost throw up inside – its roughly the temperature of bath water, at 92. When I had put the heater back into the tank the night before (at probably 10PM or so just before bed) I rushed and didn’t lay the heater flat along the bottom the tank – instead the vortechs sloshed it until it was roughly vertical – and the thermostat in the heater must have been just above the waterline and the heater was stuck on for the better part of 8 hours. Now the problem is how quickly do I lower the temp? I am guessing temp shock from dropping too fast would be just as bad as being in too warm water. So over the next hour I drop the temp down to 78 and it doesn’t look good. The anemone has no shape and has the consistency of crepe paper. For sure, it’s done for I think – but I change out all the water and dose with Cipro and I expect to find a pile of mush when I come back 12 hours later.
That night, it’s not much better. In fact when I check on it – the siphonglyphs are totally flaccid and I can actually see the rock the mag is attached to through its mouth – not a good sign. But at this point I’ve come too far to pull it and so I change 100% water every 12 hours and re-dose with Cipro at every water change. Easily a couple hundred gallons of makeup water have been gone through by now. No real change in posture until day 10, when I come to find the anemone looking like this and I am stunned.
That it had enough energy to muster up a tepid balling posture really gave me optimism for the first time that it might actually make it.
Another 4 days of treatment in Cipro and thanks to Metro and UV in the main display – the dinos are pretty much under control and back in the mag goes. That was about 10 days ago and not a single deflation since coming back to the display.
I can’t believe it survived, with all it went through it by rights SHOULDN’T have made it. When I have treated anemones (mostly gigs) in the past, usually in a day or two of Cipro they perk right up. It’s uncommon, but if they don’t bounce back after a couple of days in the antibiotic they usually don’t make it. This anemone (maybe due to it’s size) took a full 14 days of antibiotic before pulling through. My main regret is that I didn’t take more photos of how it looked in the process – but I had such little hope for it pulling through it didn’t occur to me. But there were times when it looked fully dead – and the foot didn’t appear “planted” just more “still stuck to the rock but more by accident”. So had there been any notion that it would actually make it, I would have documented by progress for all to see – but here we are.
Here she is as of today a little bleached and faded, but not too much the worse for wear.
Thanks for the read!
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