What to do with Gig?

[386reeftrader]

I have a Gig thats been showing signs of stress on and off, and I'm sorta at a cross roads on what to do next. I posted in another thread that my clowns had discovered the Gig and go back and forth between it and my Mertensii. Seems ever since they started doing this the nem has shown signs its not happy. Symptoms are stubby tents (only near the mouth) and mouth staying open some days, but not gaping or showing any internal filaments. It never deflates, and upon first glance it looks relatively happy and healthy, long flowy tents for the most part, good color, sticky and reactive to touch.

I don't want to pull the nem to treat unless absolutely necessary. I have another small gig in the tank that is very healthy and never shows any of the above symptoms but my clowns never go into it. So I'm wondering if it's just purely stress due to the clowns jumping back and forth between nems or if there's an infection present in the nem. I guess my next step would be to separate the mertens and see if things get better, but I also do not want to procrastinate if the Gig is needing treatment.

I'm curious if it's ever been attempted to soak food (mysis/brine) in cipro and feed the nem, and if so what effect it would have vs standard QT treatment?

 

[OrionN]

Pictures would be helpful.
Anemones unlike land animals will not be able to keep medication inside itself. Shortly after ingest medication just defuse out to the rest of the tank because the cavity of the anemone is actually expose to the water. Because of this reason for treatment, medication level must be high enough in the aquarium water.

 

[D-Nak]

I agree with @OrionN that Cipro needs to be at a dose that matches the aquarium volume. Anemones are balloons filled with water, but these balloons have holes in them so the water flows in and out all the time. I would be concerned (albiet just slightly ) that "feeding" Cipro by hiding it in food might lead to the anemone ingesting a concentrated dose that could lead to other issues/side effects (we just don't have enough information about this, so I always err on the side of caution).

By what you're describing, it doesn't sound like the gig is infected and doesn't require treatment.

Having multiple Stichodactyla specimens--be it the same species or different--sometimes leads to observations that can't easily be explained. For example, I have two tanks, each with multiple gigs, and both tanks have what I consider a "dominant" gig, that's very large, and smaller gigs that, no matter how much more I feed, always remain smaller than the dominant gig. I don't know why or how it happens; I can only guess that there are chemicals that the gigs excrete and detect. What's interesting though, is that if it was a defense or territorial mechanism, then we could assume that the gigs would be on opposite sides of the tank. But in both of my tanks they're touching one another.

I've never had a mertensii long enough in my tank to notice similar behavior, but I can only guess that what I described with my gigs may be what you're experiencing in your tank, and it might be made worse since the clownfish are moving between your merts and gig. I know it's not much help, but it's just my long-winded way of saying that what you're describing is not abnormal, but should definitely be carefully monitored (sounds like you've got that under control) until you're confident that the gig is not slowly declining in health, just simply doing its best to live in its current environment. Moving the merts--like you mentioned--is the logical next step, but I think you can observe for a couple more weeks and maybe the gig will stabilize.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Do you run carbon? Or have you refreshed it recently ?

 

[386reeftrader]

Pictures would be helpful.
Anemones unlike land animals will not be able to keep medication inside itself. Shortly after ingest medication just defuse out to the rest of the tank because the cavity of the anemone is actually expose to the water. Because of this reason for treatment, medication level must be high enough in the aquarium water.

Here’s some photos of it today. It’s hard to get a good pic of the mouth the way it’s positioned in almost a crevice, but you can see it’s slightly open. The tents closer to the mouth also stubby.

 

[386reeftrader]

Do you run carbon? Or have you refreshed it recently ?

It’s been a while since I’ve ran carbon on this tank. I have a scrubber but haven’t replaced the media in a long time

 

[dvgyfresh]

It’s been a while since I’ve ran carbon on this tank. I have a scrubber but haven’t replaced the media in a long time

I run heavy carbon on my 20G tank , in order to stop any chemical warfare ( no idea if it’s working) but may be worth a try . I change mine out every month or 2. I have experienced what you are talking about with green and red BTAs only CIPRO could save them once I noticed
It happening. So I’m going to prevent that all together by constantly running carbon - is my thought

 

[OrionN]

How about more flow. I always find my Gigantea do better with more flow.

https://www.reef2reef.com/data/video/4210/4210110-423478803f694153ed036c07dac15e79.mov

 

[386reeftrader]

Mine is getting a pretty good amount of flow, imo. It’s sitting right in front of an MP40 on 100% pulse.

I'm almost certain that this is being caused by the clowns going back n forth between the nems. Seemed the following day after I noticed the clown in the Gig it was looking a bit irritated. My worry is that if it's possible this irritation can lead to an infection? I will monitor for another week or so, but I'm thinking separating the nems might be the best solution, and will at least eliminate that factor

 

[Ocellaris123]

Hows the gig

 

[386reeftrader]

Hows the gig

It's ok, honestly hard to say because I know it is not what I'd consider happy but also not doing poorly either.. My next step is going to be removing the Mertens to another tank and see if that changes anything. I have no doubt that the Mertens is affecting the Gig in some way, it takes up nearly 1/3 of the tank now. The clowns going back in forth doesn't make things any better.

 

[D-Nak]

It's ok, honestly hard to say because I know it is not what I'd consider happy but also not doing poorly either.. My next step is going to be removing the Mertens to another tank and see if that changes anything. I have no doubt that the Mertens is affecting the Gig in some way, it takes up nearly 1/3 of the tank now. The clowns going back in forth doesn't make things any better.

I think that's a good course of action. Sometimes anemones simply aren't compatible. With any relationship that's not working for whatever reason, there's no need to force it. I'm glad you caught it early.