My First Heteractis Magnifica!

[Idaho Mojo]

Hey all!
I just recieved a shipment from AquaSD today, shipment included my first H.Magnifica

I inspected the nem for damage/infection but did not see anything. I acclimated and introduced the nem to the DT where I had prepared a nice flat spot up high in the tank.

After a little coaxing and flow adjustments I believe it is settling into it's new home (it did go to the edge and attempt to fall off 2 times, but I gently brushed it back up to the rock.

I've included some pictures so far. I'm sure it will move a little, but I just hope it wont jump off and sting my zoas below it

The foot seems to be firmly attached all the way around except at the edge of the rock and nem, I'm guessing its figuring out how far it can go. There was also some very small purple markings on the under side if the foot which I did not get pictures of, I hope it's nothing to be concerned about.

And YES that is a budding offspring on the front of the nem in the pictures, that was a pleasant surprise! I hope it continues to grow and split off completely.

Please let me know what you think, good or bad, or if I should change anything. I am ramping up lights over the next few days still. Any advise or criticism is welcome!

 

[kcoykend]

is that a gigantea or a magnifica? i always thought gigs liked closer to the sand bed, but i am no expert.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

is that a gigantea or a magnifica? i always thought gigs liked closer to the sand bed, but i am no expert.

Yes it is a H.magnifica my mistake, I wrote up the wrong name ‍;Bucktooth

 

[kcoykend]

Thats awesome! i cant wait to see the growth and progress of it!

 

[Dragonreef202]

cool I want to get one but haven't decided on what designer clownfish to get before I do.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

cool I want to get one but haven't decided on what designer clownfish to get before I do.

From what I have learned, you want to introduce your anemone first, let it get acclimated to your system and settled into its home, and then introduce the clownfish.
Reason behind this is because the clowns may beat up the nem before its settled and stress it too much.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Very nice. Especially like the budding baby. Watch closely for deflating and treat with antibiotics if necessary. Good luck.

 

[D-Nak]

I concur regarding the bud. I'm wondering if it's a result of an injury. It's rare for magnifica to reproduce in captivity, and I've only seen this done via binary fission.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Very nice. Especially like the budding baby. Watch closely for deflating and treat with antibiotics if necessary. Good luck.

I concur regarding the bud. I'm wondering if it's a result of an injury. It's rare for magnifica to reproduce in captivity, and I've only seen this done via binary fission.

I did order 30x 500mg cipro yesterday morning, I hope it will be here early next week. I also have several tanks on standby in case I do need to treat.

Are there any signs of infection I should watch for? (Besides inflate/deflate cycles)

Yesterday shortly after the pictures I took, the mouth swelled up, opened and started expelling zooxanthelae, it was doing the inflate/deflate cycle for a few hours.

Last night it did a bit of a walk about, checking out the edges of the platform.

After blue channel switched on, it was still hanging over the edge but worked it's way back up before the whites came on.

The mouth is closed, but pointed outward, there is no major inflate/deflate going on, just a little bit at the base of some of the tentacles, and the body/neck a little bit, but nothing has shriveled up. Oral disc is firm, no discoloration anywhere.

As far as the budding goes, I am not experienced or familiar enough to know what caused it.
The oral disc is about 1 inch across inflated, it DOES have a mouth, and the tissue surrounding the bud is lighter in color. I dont see any scaring or signs of damage. I will definitely keep an eye on things as it settles in more.

Should I adjust anything so far? I have my lights turned way down right now, thinking it needs to light acclimate to the LEDs. I'm not sure what type of light(s) it was under at AquaSD.

 

[lapin]

Mine came from them. It was healthy, I did cipro it for a week. It went thru inflate and deflate for about a week. The deflate part was for very short time periods. It is fine under my Kessils. They ramp up to about 55% color, 65% intensity.
Mine stayed pretty much where I put it ofr a few days. Then moved into lighter flow then heavy flow then back again. Finally it made the big move across the tank to the highest spot, closest to a light. I figured the moves were for light and not flow.
I did not feed it for 2 weeks.

 

[gig 'em]

I did order 30x 500mg cipro yesterday morning, I hope it will be here early next week. I also have several tanks on standby in case I do need to treat.

Are there any signs of infection I should watch for? (Besides inflate/deflate cycles)

Yesterday shortly after the pictures I took, the mouth swelled up, opened and started expelling zooxanthelae, it was doing the inflate/deflate cycle for a few hours.

Last night it did a bit of a walk about, checking out the edges of the platform.

After blue channel switched on, it was still hanging over the edge but worked it's way back up before the whites came on.

The mouth is closed, but pointed outward, there is no major inflate/deflate going on, just a little bit at the base of some of the tentacles, and the body/neck a little bit, but nothing has shriveled up. Oral disc is firm, no discoloration anywhere.

As far as the budding goes, I am not experienced or familiar enough to know what caused it.
The oral disc is about 1 inch across inflated, it DOES have a mouth, and the tissue surrounding the bud is lighter in color. I dont see any scaring or signs of damage. I will definitely keep an eye on things as it settles in more.

Should I adjust anything so far? I have my lights turned way down right now, thinking it needs to light acclimate to the LEDs. I'm not sure what type of light(s) it was under at AquaSD.

Watch for the tentacles shrinking and becoming flaccid. Watch for a gaping mouth. Watch for loss of structure in the column, instead of being a firm filled balloon, it looks more like a half deflated balloon that can't stand up to the movement of water and is just getting blown down in the direction the water is moving. It doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look super healthy either. I wouldn't expect a newly shipped one to look amazing right out of the gate, but if it's not showing signs of improvement, go ahead and do a full week of cipro treatment to be sure.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Watch for the tentacles shrinking and becoming flaccid. Watch for a gaping mouth. Watch for loss of structure in the column, instead of being a firm filled balloon, it looks more like a half deflated balloon that can't stand up to the movement of water and is just getting blown down in the direction the water is moving. It doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look super healthy either. I wouldn't expect a newly shipped one to look amazing right out of the gate, but if it's not showing signs of improvement, go ahead and do a full week of cipro treatment to be sure.

Thank you @gig 'em that is exactly the information I was looking for. Last night there was some loss of structure in the column, tentacles shortened but didnt deflate. It decided to go on a walk again last night, almost all the way to the bottom on the back of the rock structure but it's looking better today, nearly fully inflated.

I'm also wondering if the budding/reproduction is adding to the strain/stress of the transfer along with trying to split off? Could this process also effect the appearance of the nem?

 

[gig 'em]

Thank you @gig 'em that is exactly the information I was looking for. Last night there was some loss of structure in the column, tentacles shortened but didnt deflate. It decided to go on a walk again last night, almost all the way to the bottom on the back of the rock structure but it's looking better today, nearly fully inflated.

I'm also wondering if the budding/reproduction is adding to the strain/stress of the transfer along with trying to split off? Could this process also effect the appearance of the nem?

I have never seen a mag bud personally. I feel like I have seen people post about it in the past, and it eventually just disappears and doesn't turn into anything. As to whether it is adding stress, I doubt it. The major causes of stress to this point are being removed from the ocean, sitting in some unfavorable water conditions for days, shipments upon shipments, and now it's in a whole new environment it's not used to. Given those stressors, it's no wonder the immune system is compromised and it is more vulnerable to health declines. Give it a steady system and treatment, and it should rebound just fine over the course of a few weeks.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

I have never seen a mag bud personally. I feel like I have seen people post about it in the past, and it eventually just disappears and doesn't turn into anything. As to whether it is adding stress, I doubt it. The major causes of stress to this point are being removed from the ocean, sitting in some unfavorable water conditions for days, shipments upon shipments, and now it's in a whole new environment it's not used to. Given those stressors, it's no wonder the immune system is compromised and it is more vulnerable to health declines. Give it a steady system and treatment, and it should rebound just fine over the course of a few weeks.

Sounds like a good plan. Thank you so much for joining in and answering my questions, I've been wanting to get one to host my clowns that are now on 2 week observation after TTM, but I'm just stressing over whether or not I will be successful.

All parameters are in check,
undetectable nh3/nh4, no2, no3, and po4
Calcium 440
Dkh 8.0, SLOWLY raising it to 10
Mag 1400
Ph 8.0
SG 1.025
Temp 78.9*F

Mouth is much less swollen today, no insides showing, not cycling, but not fully inflated either. Gaining a lot of green/brown color back on the column, I'm assuming that's the zooxanthelae growing back.

This is the best picture I can get for now as the bugger is on the back of the rock work, slowly climbing back up. This is the view from the side. Lights came on 1 hour ago.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Another update on the Mag

Went on another stroll around the rocks below its platform, climbing up the back side again.
No more inflate/deflate cycling, so I think I will hold off on a cipro treatment.
It looks nice and plump now. Mouth is closed tight.

Sorry for the blues, I was out riding sleds all day and wanted to post an update picture without disturbing the nem. I will get another update tomorrow!

 

[gig 'em]

All of that movement is a little unsettling. Usually a mag only moves around when something isn’t right. Whether it’s lighting, water movement, or water chemistry. Seems like it’s trying to find something better than where it is. Usually mags will anchor down pretty quickly and won’t budge until something changes that it doesn’t like. The foot definitely looks in the “wandering” mode. Tentacles look ok though. Glad it’s looking healthy, just wish it would settle in somewhere. Can you increase light intensity?

 

[Idaho Mojo]

All of that movement is a little unsettling. Usually a mag only moves around when something isn’t right. Whether it’s lighting, water movement, or water chemistry. Seems like it’s trying to find something better than where it is. Usually mags will anchor down pretty quickly and won’t budge until something changes that it doesn’t like. The foot definitely looks in the “wandering” mode. Tentacles look ok though. Glad it’s looking healthy, just wish it would settle in somewhere. Can you increase light intensity?

Yes I increased the light intensity today. I tried it previously and it stressed it out, mouth started opening and stomach showing. But today, it actually perked up a little more when I increased the intensity.

I'm also realizing how white/pink it was when I got it, as if it lost nearly all of its zooxanthellae, possibly during shipping?
The column has darkened up considerably.

I am running three viparspectra 165w lights with lenses removed, diffuser panels installed, lights sit roughly 4 inches above the water line, blues are at 30%, whites at 10%. I am still ramping up the intensity for all three, as I also introduced a bunch of coral along with the mag, all from AquaSD.

I've also been testing water daily to make sure my parameters are staying in check. I am using a jebao cp150 crossflow pump on the opposite site of the tank, directed across the top of the water, with the return nozzles pointed to break up the flow before it gets to the other side. Far right where the nem is, is very calm flow, middle is mid range flow, left (nearest the pump) is mid-high.

It has not fully returned to the top platform, I think it is trying to find a way up, and has been exploring through all the caves/openings.

I'm keeping a close eye on it, I do have 2 peppermint shrimp that I've made sure to scare off to the other side of the tank. I watched one barely touch it and dart away, maybe it got stung, but I just want to make sure the Mag doesnt become shrimp food

Edit: just an fyi, THIS NEM IS STRESSING ME OUT ;Nailbiting I want so badly for it to be happy and healthy

 

[ca1ore]

I’m not aware that mags can/will ‘bud’ by fission of the foot. I think it’s not a pending bundle of joy but a prior injury. One of my mags did that one time and the appendage was eventually absorbed.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

I’m not aware that mags can/will ‘bud’ by fission of the foot. I think it’s not a pending bundle of joy but a prior injury. One of my mags did that one time and the appendage was eventually absorbed.

It's strange, it seems that anyone with experience with a Mag says that they arent aware or it can't happen, but any other source I've read up about mags is that they can reproduce by bianary fission, budding, petal laceration, or planula from sperm/egg fertilization.
I wonder if maybe budding reproduction is something not normally seen in captivity.

 

[ca1ore]

Dunno, following along to see what happens. Mags under my care haven’t been much for budding, splitting, etc., usually I have to re-home when they get too large.