New Gig

[mmmmmmm]

Hi all. I recently got a green gigantea and it has been looking ok so far. No serious mouth gaping and has only deflated twice a couple days apart when the lights were off on the HT. I am going to be away from the tanks for a couple of days at the end of the week and didn't know whether to start treating the nem now and only treat for a couple days and then continue treatment when I return or just treat when I return from my trip. Please let me know what the best course of action is. Thanks

 

[OrionN]

It really depends on if the anemone is sick. You cannot treat it if you are away. !/2 treat is not optimal either.
If you have a great sitter, this may help but I think you are caught between a rock and a hard plate. Good luck

 

[mmmmmmm]

Would it be better to add some cycled filter media to a little HOB filter and let him ride out the next couple days until I can do a full treatment? I haven't seen it deflate during the day and the tentacles are sticky and responsive. No cloudy water or waste discharge yet.

 

[OrionN]

I would not do this. I think it will not like the HOB box and will craw around to seek better place. Depends on what your box is like, it likely cause obstruction to the outflow of the HOB, since it draw to current. This may/will casue problem for your tank. I cannot really specifically comment of this since I do not know what your tank is like.

 

[mmmmmmm]

I meant adding a filter to the HT tank so he has some cycled media for the days I am away.

 

[OrionN]

How is this anemone? Is it still with us or in the great reef in the sky?

 

[mmmmmmm]

It is still around. Made it through a move but hid for about a week and bleached itself. Slowly moving back into the light and flow. I’ve been feeding every couple days some shrimp to help recover some zooxanthellae

 

[mmmmmmm]

@OrionN The anemone has gone back into the rock work seemingly trying to get away from the flow and lights. Any ideas?

 

[D-Nak]

CAn you share photos. What you're describing is completely the opposite of what gigantea prefer (high flow and high lighting).

 

[mmmmmmm]

I would but it is tucked away and I can only see a small part from a weird angle. I know for a fact that it is a gig which is why it is weird to me. I turned down the flow and lighting to see if that gets it to come out from the rocks

 

[D-Nak]

Are there any other anemones in the tank that could be bothering it? How are your water parameters?

 

[mmmmmmm]

One haddoni that is in the sump area that is healthy and has been in the tank with the gig for months now.
Nitrates- 15 ppm
Phosphates- 0.08
Salinity- 1.026
ALK- 8.2 dKH
Calcium- 350 ppm

 

[MartinM]

I've had anemones do this also. All you can do is feed, care, and also use carbon. I had a mag that finally crawled into the light after several months, then over the next 1.5 years got massive. Anemones are weird.

 

[mmmmmmm]

Hi all, the gig is still kicking. However he is now the size of a penny. He is pretty bleached and doesn’t really take food. He was hiding in the rocks for months and finally emerged a week ago. Any advice on how to get him looking his best?

 

[krak256]

Hi all, the gig is still kicking. However he is now the size of a penny. He is pretty bleached and doesn’t really take food. He was hiding in the rocks for months and finally emerged a week ago. Any advice on how to get him looking his best?

Photos would really help.

 

[mmmmmmm]

Here’s the best picture I can get.

 

[D-Nak]

I've had a gig do this -- got really small and looked like it was just going to wither away. Fortunately caught it in time, and it's been slowly getting bigger. I attribute this to using carbon and feeding.

Since yours isn't eating, if you're not already running carbon, I suggest doing so. This will help to eliminate any irritants in the water, which could be potentially coming from other anemones. In my case, I have other gigs in the tank and I attribute some of the issues to allelopathy.

Hopefully running carbon will allow your gig to get more comfortable, to the point where it'll start eating again. I've had luck with Benepets Benepellets LPS (though it needs to eat it quickly or the pellet quickly expands to the point where it can just drift away) and also frozen mysis with Polyp Lab Reef-roids mixed in. Lastly, adding amino acids seems to help, though anecdotally speaking. I use Brightwell CoralAmino.

 

[mmmmmmm]

Only other anemones are a couple of rfa’s. I will get some carbon and keep trying to feed.