Gigantea foot tears help...

[Swayze27]

My new gigantean was doing fine other than arriving slightly bleached. I had to shut the pumps and powerheads off briefly and it immediately began sagging from the rock it was on and the mouth began gaping slightly. It literally went from good to bad in seconds. Perhaps this was going to happen at any moment anyway. When this occurred I noticed several small spots on the underside of the foot where it appeared that very small amounts of tissue was coming out. The mouth closed back up however its now not wanting to attach. I have removed it from the tank and have started cipro in a qt. Am I wasting my time and effort or can gigantea recover from foot tears?

[pfan151]

It can definitely recover if it's not too bad. I'd just run it through the cipro treatment and hope for the best. Does it stay well attached to the rock it is on?

[Swayze27]

It was attached nicely until I shut the pumps off, it was strange how everything transpired. But after that, he was attaching but not as well and when I noticed the foot, I prepped the qt and placed his foot into a small bowl in the qt. It looks like 4-5 little pin hole tears with small pieces of tissue coming through.

[pfan151]

It was attached nicely until I shut the pumps off, it was strange how everything transpired. But after that, he was attaching but not as well and when I noticed the foot, I prepped the qt and placed his foot into a small bowl in the qt. It looks like 4-5 little pin hole tears with small pieces of tissue coming through.

If it came off the rock easily when you put it in QT that's not a good sign. Just have to hope for the best and keep up with the treatment.

[Swayze27]

I have began treatment on my new Gigantea and haddoni. Both started out fine in my display tank and then out of nowhere typical signs of infection started, deflation, discharging black pellets, etc. The Haddoni is in my opinion in much better shape than the Gigantea but there is hope for both in my opinion. I will try to update with daily pictures and info, wish me luck. This isn't stressful by the way....
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[Swayze27]

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[OrionN]

In your previous thread, he looks good. For now, just treat him and hope for the best. Good luck.

[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

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[pfan151]

Tough to tell. Are you sure that's not just mucous and sand?

[Swayze27]

pfan151, I hope so but you don't know me........I ain't that lucky. Pretty sure that's tissue coming through, but tears look much better already since this morning. But I know not to get my hopes too high.

[Swayze27]

About 20 hours into treatment. Haddonni mouth is not as tight as I would like it to be but at the same time he has yet to deflate since cipro was added. Gigantea foot is looking better and he is actually attaching to the bottom of the bowl. Mouth looks good and body is more rigid this morning compared to when I removed him from display. I have been siphoning discharge out and tested for ammonia this morning, tested 0. I will do a 5 gallon water change after work and add display water. I will try to add pics soon.

[OrionN]

You should do 100% water change. It is unclear how much med is still active after 24 hrs. The amount of active med undoubtedly related to the intensity of light.

[Swayze27]

What method are you using to change 100%?

[Swayze27]

And should I do 100% each day?

[Swayze27]

I have them in a 20 gallon now but I have a spare 10 gallon, should I just alternate tanks each day with fresh water from display and new meds?

[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

having issues uploading gig image

[pfan151]

You can swap back and forth between tanks if it is easier. I usually just siphon all of the water out and refill but it may be beneficial to use a totally sterile new tank for each waterchange.

[Swayze27]

Are you leaving nems exposed to air ?

[pfan151]

Are you leaving nems exposed to air ?

They can be exposed to air for a very long time. Just keep them in the cup when you move them.

[WatDatThing]

Are you leaving nems exposed to air ?
You should check out the "How rare is this" sticky.

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[OrionN]

I leave my anemone in the HT, just make sure it have support when I drain the tank of water and fill it back with tank water. If after a few days of treatment, there are algae growth then I just switch the tank and switch the divider, since I have multiple of these. You don't really have to have absolutely 100% new water, but just close enough. I don't sterilize the tank and equipment between days or anything like that. Just clean and keep them dry in between treatment.

[Swayze27]

3-23-2017 the morning after 100 % water change (removed a lot of junk) and second dose of Meds and I'm becoming optimistic, but I know there's a long way to go. Used the spare 10 gallon tank and dosed cipro at 25mg per gallon and transferred nems and there bowls to it. Both nems stayed inflated all night and appear to be holding their rigid folded appearance. Mouths are also tight, especially the gig. It's mouth has always looked decent, the haddoni on the other hand was deflating and turning its mouth inside out in the display but has maintained a semi closed mouth since treatment began. I will try to post photos from this morning.

[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

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[WatDatThing]

With it's foot being injured, I would not move him from tank to tank. Just let it rest and heal.

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[Swayze27]

Foot is now completely suctioned to the bowl he's in, I just lifted the bowl out of one tank and dipped it right into the other tank. After the first round of meds the tank he was in was full of mucus and black pellets. It needed to be moved. The discharge has appeared to slow tremendously on day 2, so I may leave them be and change max amount of water 90-100 % and redose meds each day.

[Swayze27]

Foot is now completely suctioned to the bowl he's in, I just lifted the bowl out of one tank and dipped it right into the other tank. After the first round of meds the tank he was in was full of mucus and black pellets. It needed to be moved. The discharge has appeared to slow tremendously on day 2, so I may leave them be and change max amount of water 90-100 % and redose meds each day.

[pfan151]

Gig still looks a little flat to me but definitely better than the last pic. Do you have enough flow of in the QT?

[Swayze27]

That was taken immediately after light came on, minutes later....370182

[D-Nak]

Do you have both anemones in the same QT tank? If so, it's best to keep them separated. Otherwise, they may bounce the infection back and forth.

[Swayze27]

That's probably ideal but I've observed it done both ways with success.

[D-Nak]

That's probably ideal but I've observed it done both ways with success.

True, but the idea is to maximize your success rate and rule out any possible mistakes.

In my experience, haddoni tend to be more resistant, but once they are infected, they typically die. And they go down quickly. They can easily spread it to gigantea.

On the other hand, gigantea are slower to recover, but definitely can recover.

In other words, when haddoni become infected, I usually tell people just to consider it a loss. But with gigantea, it's worth trying to treat them.

When you combine them both in one tank, the results are unpredictable.

[Swayze27]

It seems many have treated haddoni with success.

[D-Nak]

It seems many have treated haddoni with success.

I think this is probably your interpretation. Many who I've seen treat haddoni didn't need to treat them in the first place. Some haddoni take a while to adjust to their tanks and don't dig into the substate right away, but they aren't sick. Furthermore, a lot of people who acquire haddoni don't provide them with the proper environment (typically not enough sand to make the haddoni feel "comfortable") so they start treatment thinking the haddoni is sick because they're moving a lot or not digging in.

IME when a haddoni deflates multiple times and exposes its siphonoglyphs and has a loose mouth, it's typically too late.

I don't remember seeing a thread where a haddoni deflated multiple times and survived.

[Swayze27]

Mine was deflating multiple times daily and spewing mouth out prior to beginning treatment. It hasn't deflated in two days and mouth is looking good. We shall see. I've kept the original haddoni I have now for 3 years.

[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

Pfan151, I did change my power head setup up and have much better flow now. Seems happier for sure.

[Swayze27]

3-24-2017, morning after water change and 3rd dose of cipro and the carpets appear to be doing well. The gig obviously needs to still recover from arriving bleached, however, with lights out it is appearing more and more yellow. Probably will go from yellow to tan over time. Still doing my best to get these guys healthy and keeping fingers crossed.
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[Swayze27]

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[Swayze27]

3-24-2017, 100% water change, carefully swapped the nems back into the 20 gallon, and added 4th dose of cipro.
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[Swayze27]

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[taylor t]

Am I wasting my time and effort or can gigantea recover from foot tears?
Not wasting time at all. They most definitely can heal, I've read several others having the same experience. I've ripped my gigs several times over the years. They always healed no problem, but I would never try shipping one that was ripped. A few of my gigs came cut in half, literally half an anemone. Today they are all full anemones. No evidence looking at them would ever be able to tell they had ever been cut. No scar, mouth centered like normal gigs (if such a thing).


Now gigs are very different from LTA. I've never seen or read anyone have a LTA rip foot recover. There may be a situation LTA recovered rip foot, I've never read or seen it, but many LTA rip foot die threads are out there. I've read and experienced gigs recover rip foot plenty.

[taylor t]

3-24-2017, 100% water change, carefully swapped the nems back into the 20 gallon, and added 4th dose of cipro.
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Was this sold to you as green? Looks like a bleached green to me?

[Swayze27]

Was sold to me as tan but we shall see. Seems to be getting more and more yellow as time goes by. What do you think of the pics as far as health goes. They have for the most part remained inflated with closed mouths but do contort and make crazy shapes from time to time, lol. Definitely will continue treatment for a minimum of 7 days.

[taylor t]

Was sold to me as tan but we shall see. Seems to be getting more and more yellow as time goes by. What do you think of the pics as far as health goes. They have for the most part remained inflated with closed mouths but do contort and make crazy shapes from time to time, lol. Definitely will continue treatment for a minimum of 7 days.
As long as it NEVER deflates, you should be headed in the right direction. Looks good to me so far. Crazy (inflated) shapes are ok, deflated pancake is not. A deflate most often means a problem. #1 GOAL, NO DEFLATES. To me, it looks like you've got yourself the coveted (bleached) green gig lol. Give that thing 2000+ par, (AFTER months of recovery, not right away) it should turn yellow. Give it crazy random flow - with rests, you just might be super happy with tent length too.

[Swayze27]

Today is day 5 of treatment, both nems still seem to be doing good. No deflating since day 2 however the do seem to be shrinking a little. The gig is making odd shapes but not deflating and mouth is remaining tightly closed

[OrionN]

Anemone can shrink a little especially at night. They should be OK as long as the get better from the day before.

[Swayze27]

Today is the morning after the 5 dose of Cipro. Nems stayed inflated throught the night, so this makes at minimum 3 days straight without either nem deflating. Although I have had no issues with having the nems in the same tank during treatment, I did pick up another 10 gallon tank and an extra heater and with today's water change I will put them both in there own 10 gallon tank for the remainder of the treatment. I will continue to treat at least through day 7.
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[Swayze27]

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[OrionN]

They both look really good

[WatDatThing]

They look good.

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[Swayze27]

Woke up this morning to some cloudy water in the gigs tank and he looked deflated. Foot was completely attached and mouth looked healthy and closed tight. I wasn't due for a water change until this afternoon but I went ahead and did 100% because of water quality. He is perking back up. Should I count this as a deflate or considering the foot attached and tight mouth is it just a "purge". I still plan on treating until Wednesday.
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[Swayze27]

Also there has been no discharge (black pellets, etc.)in a while, mostly just a little mucus/shedding around the base from time to time.

[pfan151]

Also there has been no discharge (black pellets, etc.)in a while, mostly just a little mucus/shedding around the base from time to time.

Doesn't look good in that pic. The cloudy water isn't a great sign since it had not even been close to 24 hrs yet. It shouldn't look like that at any point if it was totally healthy. I'd definitely treat until at least wednesday if not longer and then leave it in he qt tank without cipro for a few days to make sure it's ok before it goes to the display.

[Swayze27]

It was only in 5 gallons, could that be the issue, should I increase water volume?

[Swayze27]

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2 hrs after last pic, seems to be perking back up but not where I like him to be. Foot and mouth have always looked good. When I get home I'm gonna double the water volume on him. He was doing better in the 20 gallon tank with 10 gallon water. I may have over medicated yesterday as well. Stick to the protocol :headwally:

[pfan151]

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2 hrs after last pic, seems to be perking back up but not where I like him to be. Foot and mouth have always looked good. When I get home I'm gonna double the water volume on him. He was doing better in the 20 gallon tank with 10 gallon water. I may have over medicated yesterday as well. Stick to the protocol :headwally:

I have never seen a gigs mouth puckered like that. I haven't seen a ton of gigs though. Strange, it looks like a Magnificas mouth. Can you get a close up pic of the anemone?

[Swayze27]

My wife is sending me pics throughout the day, lol. I'm not asking her for a close up, lol. I think it's just more visible with the bleaching. It's definitely not gaping that's for sure.

[D-Nak]

You should get a webcam. ;-)

Sick gigs act very different from healthy ones. A puckered mouth is not uncommon, but it's a good sign that it's not gaping. I wouldn't rely on it being completely attached as an indicator of health. I've had dead gigs still firmly attached to the plate they were sitting on. But the flip side is that I'd be more concerned if the gig wasn't able to attach.

The best you can do at this point is to stick to the recommended protocol and sit tight.

[Swayze27]

Hopefully just a bad day and he will bounce back. This has been a lot of time, money, and effort and I just want it to pull through. I will definitely continue to treat for a few more days. The Haddoni appears to be doing great, he latched onto my hand when I was moving him the other day. A fish would not have escaped that's for sure, grown man barely got free...

[OrionN]

How is the salinity and temp? All stable?
Maybe something not quite stable?
I would just continue treating and keep everything stable and hope for the best. They don't look normal but not sick either.
Best of luck.

[Swayze27]

Using tank water out of display so water should be stable. I did a tank transfer yesterday when I took them out of the 20 and put them each in a 10, so the flow and things like that are a little different. I'm going to up the amount of water and quit tank transfers. I think it appears to be more of a "unhappy" issue rather than a sick issue. I sometimes wonder if I should have treated the gig to begin with but the foot tears scared me. I think I caught him moving between two rocks when I killed the pumps, causing stress on his body resulting in the tears. Tears are fully recovered now.

[Swayze27]

So, I got home from work and did a 100% water change on the haddoni tank. He's looking good. The gig had perked up and was his usual self. I went ahead and did another water change and this time up'd the water to 10 gallons in the 10 gallon tank. I can already tell a huge difference in the atmosphere, especially the flow, it seems much more natural and you can tell he is much happier thus far. I advise that anyone running a 10 gallon QT tank to definitely run 10 gallons in it when housing a gig. Its more salt and more meds but hopefully a happier nem and more success.
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[Swayze27]

Looking good on day 7...
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[OrionN]

He is looking great. You can transfer him back to DT or keep him in HT for another day or two without med. Since there is no anemone in DT I would put the Gigantea in DT and keep the Haddon in HT for another day or two.

[Swayze27]

Would you leave him in the bowl and just let him move out of it in DT?

[Swayze27]

I transferred the bowl to the tank and gently peeled him from the bowl and placed him on the rocks. Gonna leave powerheads off for a while.

[Swayze27]

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6 hrs in display tank, fingers and toes crossed. Hopefully he stays healthy and begins to color up. Will add haddoni later this evening or tomorrow. Wish me luck.

[pfan151]

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6 hrs in display tank, fingers and toes crossed. Hopefully he stays healthy and begins to color up. Will add haddoni later this evening or tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Looking good. Make sure to give it some good flow once it's firmly attatched.

[Swayze27]

So the gigantea has been in display for about 24 hrs. Happy to report that there has been no deflates, mouth is good, and he is firmly attached to the rock I placed him on and soaking up the flow. The haddoni has been in display for about 20 hrs and has had no deflates, mouth is good, and he has dug in and attached to the base of the rock that I put him in front of. So far, so good. I will probably gradually bump up the lighting to help the gig in regaining his color.

[OrionN]

Good luck

[WatDatThing]

So jealous. I wish I'm ready for a gig.

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[Swayze27]

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Still looking good this evening

[Swayze27]

Well, I gave it my best shot but sad to report that the gig did not pull through. He was badly bleached upon arrival and bleached worse during treatment. I could not get him to eat and he just became weaker and weaker. The haddoni is still kicking and has taken small pieces of food. He is not out of the woods yet but is doing much better than the gig did. I would like to say thank you for everyone's help and advice. I feel if I would have received a specimen that was not bleached out I would have had success. The treatment process is highly demanding of time and salt (lol) and though I would love to keep a gig and feel that I have a good enough system to keep one, I am going to hold off on giving another one a try for now. Thanks again everyone