Treatment Protocol for Sick Anemones

[Reefahholic]

I've noticed several threads where people were asking about how to treat their sick anemone. I know first hand how helpless it feels to have one go down. I wanted to post a thread were maybe people can refer back to for treatment info.

I didn't see a sticky and maybe you guys already have a thread. I don't know because I'm new here. My apologies if there is one already.

If not, here's the Protocol that's been very effective for me personally. A good friend of mine (Dr. Minh) put it together a while back. I've kinda tweaked it for what seems to work the best for me. Most of my experience is with S. Gigantea & H. Magnifica's. So this protocol is primarily for those two anemones. IMO, these are the two most difficult to keep and stablize. I have treated lots of S. Haddoni with it too. Also a couple of RBTA's and Sebae's. It works for just about all Nems that are infected.

So as many of you know, Ciprofloxacin is the main drug of choice. This is a very broad spectrum antibiotic. It has very good gram-negative coverage. The recommended dose is 250/mg per 10/G of water. When you dose the tank, it's best if you crush the antibiotic to a fine powder, or let it dissolve by rubbing it in front of a powerhead. I personally use a silent knight pill crusher. Dosing in the evening at the end of the daytime cycle is recommended. However, I've dosed at all different times of the day and find no difference. The main thing is to dose about every 24 hrs. After the initial dose, it's best to do a 50% WC before dosing again. All the subsequent doses are still 250/mg per 10/G.

 

[Reefahholic]

I think treating for 7 days has been the most effective for me. Usually when the deflation stops, you'll want to treat for another 2-3 days afterwards. Deflation typically stops about the 4 day mark- give or take a day. Terminating treatment early can result in a dead anemone or a drug resistant pathogen. It is my opinion that "some" wholesalers are running low-level antibiotics in their holding tanks or stopping treatment too early. This is why some anemones do not respond to treatment. It's what we refer to in the hospital as MDRO's. (Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms) Moving on...


Using a 10/g Gallon tank has been the easiest for me. I use a lot of 5/G tanks as well to save saltwater. All you need is a small heater, powerhead, and egg-crate to protect the anemone. Put the anemone on one side and the egg-crate, heater, and powerhead on the other. When you do a water change, suck all the detritus off the bottom of the HT, but do not get close to the Nem. I have sucked up more than I can count and I believe that it resulted in a few deaths. I know, it's that one piece of sand, black pellet, string hanging around the column, etc..that will bug you to death. Trust me, just let it be unless you know you can get it easily without causing trauma to the Nem. As far as discarding the water, the light breaks down the antibiotic in the 24 hour period and you can just flush it or pump it down the sink with no ill effects. When you add new water, make sure it's heated, aged at least 24 hrs, and SG matched to previous HT tank water. That's basically it. Any questions, feel free to PM me for help or opinions. Or you can ask JustinKY and Clorox who will be here shortly. They both have experience as well.


One other thing I would like to note:

Bactrim or aka Septra DS works very well too. I recommend treating with that first. Lately, we've used Septra more than Cipro with fantastic results on S. Gigantea and S. Haddoni. Cipro seems to work the best on H. Magnifica's. Septra is made of Sulfamethoxazole 800 mg and Trimethoprim 160 mg. The dose is one pill to every 10/G. However, let it be known that Gigs seem to overdose on Septra after long Treatment times. This is not confirmed, but we think that's what happens. So going forward, it might be a good idea to dose half a pill to 10/G. Good luck!

 

[Reefahholic]

Wanted to post a few treatment pics to go with the thread.

H. Mag w/Cipro

Before:



After:




H. Mag w/Cipro

Before:



After:

 

[Reefahholic]

S. Haddoni w/Septra

Before:



After:

 

[Reefahholic]

H. Mag w/Cipro

Before:



After:

 

[Reefahholic]

H. Mag w/Cipro

Before:



After:

 

[juggalogentry]

now thats what i like to see, people trying to help save these magnificent creatures, i was watching a youtube video the other day titled "how an anemone dies" and at the first sign of trouble the dude threw it in a bucket and started documenting its death rather than putting the **** camera down and trying to save it

 

[RedReefer]

Very awesome!

 

[Reefahholic]

now thats what i like to see, people trying to help save these magnificent creatures, i was watching a youtube video the other day titled "how an anemone dies" and at the first sign of trouble the dude threw it in a bucket and started documenting its death rather than putting the **** camera down and trying to save it

I love these animals, especially Magnifica and Gigantea. I hope that one day we can figure out the bacteria that isn't responsive to medication. Perhaps it's just MDRO's created from wholesalers. I do not know. Either way, Minh or myself plan to culture one of these gig or mag and find the right antibiotic to treat it with. We both work in the hospitals and have the connections to get it done one day. I've also tried Kflex, ampacillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, zithro, and the list goes on. They could be gram positive or anaerobic or aerobic, or even both. One thing is certain, there are a lot of gram negative.

An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth. It may react negatively or even die if oxygen is present. An anaerobic organism may be unicellular or multicellular. For practical purposes, there are three categories of anaerobe:

Obligate anaerobeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obligate_anaerobe- are harmed by the presence of oxygen.

Aerotolerant organismshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotolerant- cannot use oxygen for growth, but tolerate its presence.

Facultative anaerobeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facultative_anaerobic_organism- can grow without oxygen but use oxygen if it is present.

 

[xtlosx]

Here is a Magnifica that I saved a bit ago. This absolutely should be in every single anemone keeper's cabinet (cipro & HT)

At LFS. They were ready to throw it away as it looked bad in the display.

After a week of cipro per the protocol and in new home

 

[Reefahholic]

Very nice! Great job my brother!

 

[reefwiser]

Thanks for putting this together I am sure it will be helpful for those that love our animals.

 

[Reefahholic]

Thanks for putting this together I am sure it will be helpful for those that love our animals.

I sure hope so. I have to see dying Nems. Very helpless feeling for everybody. :-(

 

[javierbatista]

need help please

i need help with my baby anenome i did the treatment for 7 day already but it haven progress much what can i do next i really dont want it to die this its the pic i treat it with Ciprofloxacin

 

[Reefahholic]

What kind of Nem is that? It looks like a Magnifica.?

The nem in the picture looks fine. It just needs to acclimate.

Any current pics for better assessment?




Ohh, and sorry for the double picture posts above. My PC was having a moment that night.

 

[javierbatista]

that was a pic from today but her mouth still very swollen you think if i drip acclimated for like 6 hours and then put it back in my dt wil be okay

 

[Reefahholic]

that was a pic from today but her mouth still very swollen you think if i drip acclimated for like 6 hours and then put it back in my dt wil be okay

We need to know what kind of nem that is first.

I would drip for 45 minutes and put it back in the DT and update us in the am with pic. When I get up I'll check the thread. Hopefully it will do well.

 

[javierbatista]

its a magnifica anenome well that what the lfs said and it look like one too i got it last September
so it over a year in my tank and this its the first time looking like that

 

[Reefahholic]

Seeing a better pic now the nem is bleached and the mouth is open.

It looks deflated too. How big would you say it is normally?

How long has it been like this? I know you said you treated 7 days already.

If you previously treated with Cipro, you can treat again with Bactrim.

He may respond to that antibiotic better since it looks like cipro wasn't that effective.

Keep my updated with all the details and I'll help you best I can.

I'm definetely a Magnifica lover and addict. I hate when they die.

 

[javierbatista]

she normally get around 10 in in diameter it been like that for the pass 4 month at first i was thinking she was doing anenome thing "wired stuff" but then i said it no normal and start doing online research and i found you so it on the my dt tank already i will buy the bactrim now tomorrow and how i do the treatment with bactrim it the same as cipro