That's interesting because it's COMPLETELY the opposite here in the US. Gigs have a terrible rate of survival, while haddoni have much higher rate. Some don't even need treatment. I'm assuming that since gigs are local for you, they don't spend as much time in the supply chain, where the pathogen runs rampant.The only thing I disagree with here is that IME haddonis have a much lower survival rate than gigs.
I agree. I sold a purple gig for what I considered to be a hefty sum. He paid up front and I ended up holding it until he was able to pick it up in person, which ended up being a few months after I received initial payment.
I have no doubt that the vendor we're talking about is providing the best possible environment for the gigs, aside from what's most important--isolating individual specimens until they are free of the pathogen. They become just another vendor that has gigs in stock. And as with all vendors, the sooner you acquire the specimen the better.
Not sure about this one.. It may have the pathogen in check because of good conditions , immune response ,etc...then when stressed during shipping -it succumbs to the pathogen ..
Well unless the vendor did in fact ship an already visually sick nem, I don’t think they are healing completely as we know from the posts here. Not throwing shade at your LFS either, I have absolutely nothing against them. Just pointing out there’s better tactics when selling/shipping Gigs, and it shows. The money they lost on refunding a sick nem is probably more than what it would’ve cost to treat and ship a healthy specimen, and create better reputation for selling healthy nems.
I also have wondered about this. I set up my first marine tank when I was living in Beijing, China, in 2009, and I had very limited experience. I bought a green gigantea for around 40USD, no any treatment done, and the anemone remained alive, until I sold it when I had to move house again in 2010 or 2011. Looking now at the few photos I have of this tank, I see it was probably stretching for light, but never had any issues with bacterial infection. At the time there were plenty of these anemones available in beijing. They usually were all looking quite good in the shops. The blue and green ones went for about the same price. I guess they were sourced somewhere on the southern shores or not too far away, maybe Vietnam, and arrived in ok condition? Cant remember having seen any haddoni at that time in Beijing. Just remember the very tiny shops with tiny aquariums , some of them filled to the brim with several green and blue gigs. However gramma Loreto you could not find there at that time … I remember having searched a long time never found a gramma Loreto. I wanted a gig again in my aquarium when I restarted in 2019, but was quite worried reading about all the problems people were having with new gigs. This did not match my previous experience in China.The only thing I disagree with here is that IME haddonis have a much lower survival rate than gigs.
It's really not just a shipping issue, like I said previously, it's a supply chain issue. Some gigs spend days, possibly weeks, in sub-optimal conditions. If we equate the pathogen to something similar to marine ich, healthy fish have the ability to fight it off. But those left in sub-optimal conditions, oftentimes with other sick fish, will often succumb and die. More delicate species, like some tangs, are more susceptible to ich. This is probably the same scenario with gigantea. They are simply more prone to infection.
I think your assumption is correct--the gigs didn't come from very far away.
None were ..very few had open mouth with some tiny bit of spew.. all had nice color ..The one above looked excellent in the vendor's facility , had a tighter looking mouth than the one I chose ..I chose the one I did ,even with a slightly gaping mouth -because it had very intense color....
Dont mean to discourage you , but the last treatment failure I had wound up like that ..Foot could no longer hold , he was constantly flipping upside down even with mild current..After a few days -he wound up in my garden..
It's coming up to 2 weeks since I've had the gig and its been in cipro treatment the entire time. The nem has not shown any signs of improvement and because the water gets cloudy halfway through the day, I've started doing 2 water changes a day. It continues to release beige/white chunks and the foot is having a worse hold.
