Gigantea In The Clear?

Liquid360 · Mar 29, 2018

Over a year ago I ordered a purple S Haddoni Anemone from an online seller. They sent me a Gigantea Anemone, close, but not a Haddoni and infamously difficult to keep. They agreed to let me keep the Gig and sell me a Haddoni, which I still haven’t seen, at cost. The gigantea, which was a beautiful very deep purple, but true to form, turned pale white over the course of first several months which means certain impending death. I kept waiting for it to die, but it’s proven one crazy tuff Anemone!!! It’s just recently begun to turn back to purple. I wish I could claim a victory of some sort, but all I did was leave it alone. It’s still eating and growing healthier. If you know Anemones, you know this pretty much never happens, at least it hasn’t to me. Once they turn pale white, it’s over. If it’s survived this long is the death march over?

nautical_nathaniel · Mar 29, 2018

I don't think you can safely say all your problems are behind you, but it's very good that you've got it on the mend and things are looking brighter

adtravels · Mar 29, 2018

I have one exactly the same, its not as bleached but is not 100%.
It came with a hole in the foot, It has not gone into a deflate cycle so like yours should be ok.
What lighting and flow do you have?

Taylor t · Mar 30, 2018

For one years captivity, that guy is not doing as well as it should be. For one year captivity, it should be doing much better than that. They can be slow to recover yes, but should look much better than that after a year.

Liquid360 · Mar 30, 2018

Taylor t said:
For one years captivity, that guy is not doing as well as it should be. For one year captivity, it should be doing much better than that. They can be slow to recover yes, but should look much better than that after a year.

You should’ve seen it a couple months ago. Almost bagged it and tossed it before it dissolved. It was pale white without a dot of color.

Liquid360 · Mar 30, 2018

adtravels said:
I have one exactly the same, its not as bleached but is not 100%.
It came with a hole in the foot, It has not gone into a deflate cycle so like yours should be ok.
What lighting and flow do you have?

Half the tank is under a Kessil A360 and the other half, a 250w halide. The Anemone settled almost, more to the halide side, in the middle and has remained there the entire time, which happens to be in front of an MP40. Other side of tank has a Maxspect Gyre. Can you tell I can’t make up my mind? Lol

dieselkeeper · Mar 30, 2018

Congrats man. Hope it continues to recover. Keep us posted.

D-Nak · Mar 30, 2018

It's definitely not happy. It looks like it's not getting enough light, but you clearly have enough lighting on the tank. How long is it on?

If I were you, I'd move the gig into the rockwork on the right side of your tank under the halide. They like a lot of light, so you can probably be fine if you move that donut-shaped rock on its side, and place the gig at the top.

You can do this by first turning off your pumps, removing it from the wall of the tank using a credit card, being careful not to damage the foot, and allow it to settle into the rockwork before turning the pumps back on.

Liquid360 · Mar 30, 2018

D-Nak said:
It's definitely not happy. It looks like it's not getting enough light, but you clearly have enough lighting on the tank. How long is it on?

If I were you, I'd move the gig into the rockwork on the right side of your tank under the halide. They like a lot of light, so you can probably be fine if you move that donut-shaped rock on its side, and place the gig at the top.

You can do this by first turning off your pumps, removing it from the wall of the tank using a credit card, being careful not to damage the foot, and allow it to settle into the rockwork before turning the pumps back on.

I’m hesitant to move it. It was at deaths door, but has gotten soooo much color back and seems to be healing. Stressing it out maybe in a move.... whatever it’s doing now is working. This nem seriously should be dead. I wish I had taken photos back then. There wasn’t a hint of purple. It was ghost white. Now it’s getting purple again [emoji4]

Also, it’s sticky as hell again, something it had also lost during its near death experience.

adtravels · Mar 30, 2018

I also think you should move it, here's mine

:

Taylor t · Mar 30, 2018

x3 with moving it.

Liquid360 · Mar 31, 2018

Taylor t said:
x3 with moving it.

I REALLY appreciate the advice, but it’s actually moving that way on its own. Here’s a photo of where it was yesterday and the today. I have enough experience (not with Gig) with reefs to have adopted the hands off approach. I believe you guys would agree had you seen this nem a couple months ago. It might appear unhealthy to you, but it was as close to dead as dead gets and now it’s getting better every single day.
Was here

Now here

And even more purple today

Liquid360 · Mar 31, 2018

Another photo showing its movement

gig 'em · Apr 2, 2018

Certainly not out of the woods yet. Would you be willing to sell it?

Liquid360 · Apr 2, 2018

I seriously doubt it would survive shipping. Check with me in six months [emoji6]

This is my father’s tank I grew up with. Checkout his gig..

Liquid360 · Apr 4, 2018

Still doing just awesomely! Even its base is turning a bright color again.

D-Nak · Apr 5, 2018

It's looking better. I bet it'll continue walking to a better spot.

Bleached nems aren't doomed. They just need better care. If yours was bleached, it wasn't getting enough light.

Yours looks like it has an ample amount of zooxanthellae to keep it alive, and it'll continue to get darker brown. If you feed it, it'll grow quickly.

Liquid360 · Apr 6, 2018

D-Nak said:
It's looking better. I bet it'll continue walking to a better spot.

Bleached nems aren't doomed. They just need better care. If yours was bleached, it wasn't getting enough light.

Yours looks like it has an ample amount of zooxanthellae to keep it alive, and it'll continue to get darker brown. If you feed it, it'll grow quickly.

From day one it’s been directly under a 250w halide. I have over 30yrs experience with Haddoni carpets, but not gig with the exception of watching my dad care for his which , if you’ll see previous photo, he was crazy successful at.
It doesn’t show well without flash photography, but it’s actually quite deep purple, no brown.
It is fed twice a week alternating between shrimp and scallops and it’ll even grab mysis when broadcasted.
Some think that’s too much and others not enough, but seems really good and can’t argue with results. It’s been my experience that the health of carpets can be told by color and stickiness. At this point, after this much time, I believe this gig will be fine. I don’t see any difference between caring for a gig and for Haddoni despite obviously being different animals. I’m certainly no gig expert, but after over a year, I know a tiny, tiny bit [emoji6]